If you follow me on social media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) you may already know that I was in Portland (Oregon) last month. While I travelled on my own to attend a conference I made the most of it by arriving earlier and checking out the food and drink scene. Let's just say, I ate... a LOT. So much that I have enough content for a few Portland articles that I'm looking forward to sharing with you.
In my first blog post about Portland I wanted to share a short list of great speciality coffee shops I visited. With over 60 micro-roasters and numerous speciality coffee shops, Portland is heaven for coffee lovers. They've been pioneering 'Third Wave Coffee' for ages with individuals carefully sourcing beans, micro-roasting them and dedicating themselves to serving the perfect cup.
You can find many coffee shops in the Downtown area but they have them in every single neighbourhood and you could easily spend the day just visiting speciality coffee shops. As well as serving great coffee most of them have cracking interior design and seriously, the staff were super friendly everywhere I went. Not a condescending hipster in sight, I was very impressed.
Now here is the list of places I visited and loved. I'm sure I missed some other great ones but that's an excuse to come back, right?
Heart Coffee. 537 SW, 12 Av, Portland
This place was my local coffee shop for the week I stayed in Portland, just a few minutes away from my hotel. Heart is a speciality coffee roasting company with two coffee shops in the city. They select green coffee beans mainly from Central America, South America and Africa and roast them to perfection. The downtown location is bright and spacious with big windows. I love the atmosphere in the morning when the place filled up with locals getting their coffee fix.
Coava Coffee Roasters, 1300 Southeast Grand Avenue, Portland
Hands down the most beautiful (and hipster looking) speciality coffee shops I've ever visited. The Southeast branch was Coava's first location and they used to roast and produce everything from there. Now it's home to their 'tasting bar' and they share the space with a bamboo manufacturer. Visually it's just stunning and really wowed me. Coava are all about sourcing the best and producing consistent quality coffee. They offer two selections of hand poured coffee and two selections of espresso based drinks.
Stumptown Coffee Roasters (various locations around Portland)
I stayed only a few blocks away from Stumptown Coffee in the Ace Hotel and I also got to visit the Downtown branch a few times. Stumptown Coffee Roasters have been operating for a long time (they opened their first cafe on SE Division in 1999) and are regarded as having started the 'Third Wave Coffee' movement in Portland. They've now expanded to other cities in America such as NYC, Seattle, L.A and New Orleans. The Downtown location in Portland is their largest cafe, very spacious and filled with light, just around the corner from Voodoo Doughnut. They have a full espresso bar, drip coffee, brew-by-the-cup and cold brew on offer.
Water Avenue Coffee Company (various locations around Portland)
Water Avenue Coffee Company started off in 2009 during the recession and has since grown from strength to strength. They now roast the coffee in their warehouse in East Portland and have a cafe on Water Avenue and Downtown. I went to the Downtown location which is quite small but nicely designed and handy when you're in staying in that part of the city. Again they have a full espresso bar, cold brew and also some food available to purchase.
Dapper & Wise, 3158 SE Division Street, Portland
While I did some research before my trip and was planning to visit the previously mentioned places, I stumbled up on Dapper & Wise by chance on my last day. It is located on the uber hip SE Division Street (which deserves its own article). Once again, the aim behind this place is to source and roast the best coffees they can find and serve it to their customers. A nice spot with great coffee and friendly baristas!
Disclaimer: This is a fully independent, unsponsored post, with every single cup of coffee paid for by yours truly.
