Road Trip: Portland Rivals Seattle's Coffee Scene
One day is not enough time for a coffee tour of an entire city. Especially not a city as well coffee'd as Portland. In fact, two days is not enough time for a coffee tour of a city like Portland. (Especially not when you have to go to two weddings on one of those days.) But this past weekend, two days in Portland were afforded to me, and it set me to thinking: Coming from Seattle, Portland is usually a weekend trip for most of us. Two days is about what we get.
www.caffeinatedpdx.com
Portland rivals Seattle's coffee scene, though not in sheer volume, in quality of micro-roasters and number of beautiful coffee-drinking spaces. It is not a scene to be missed, but it can be difficult to navigate, particularly on a tight time budget. So, with a considerable amount of dedication and self-sacrifice (ahem), I made a point of sampling a lot of espresso over the weekend, and here present to you a list of the three places (outside of the obvious and easy "Stumptown" recommendation) that absolutely must be visited when two days in Portland are all you have to work with.
1.) For the menu -- Barista, 539 N.W. 13th Ave. 
http://archpaper.com
While not exclusively serving Portland coffees, Barista is at the forefront of a recent trend in coffee establishments' developing a new kind of coffee menus. They typically have coffee on bar from at least two roasters: Portland's Stumptown, and San Francisco's Ritual Coffee. As indicated by the name, the barista is the focus, so expect excellently made coffee and knowledgeable conversation about the assortment of espressos on bar.
2.)For the space--Coava Roastery and Coffee Bar, 1300 S.E. Grand Ave.
http://coava.myshopify.com
Coava's roastery just might be one of the most beautiful coffee spaces in the Northwest. The space is shared with a flooring company called Bamboo Revolution, making it Coava's roastery and Bamboo Revolution's showroom: two unrelated stores under one roof, one of them specializing in coffee and the other literally specializing in being pretty. It makes for an open, airy, artistic visit. (Oh, and the coffee is pretty darn good, too.)
3.) For the espresso -- Water Avenue Coffee, 1028 S.E. Water Ave.
Tom Pikaart, of Water Avenue Coffee, writes a blog about pour-over coffee. It is super-nerdy, with graphs about things like temperature stability, and has essentially nothing to do with espresso. I'm sure the pour-over at Water Avenue must be good, but it was the single origin El Salvador Pacamara coffee that caught my attention as the best espresso of my miniature Portland tour. With a seamless blend of black cherry and baking chocolate, it stood out as one of the most unique and thoroughly enjoyable coffees I've tasted in the past month. If you happen to be in, around, or at all near Portland in the next few weeks, you should stop in and try a shot.
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