Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Caffe Vita on Alberta

Caffe Vita is originally a Seattle roaster and has about nine locations, including one in New York City.  They recently opened this shop in an old storefront at 2909 NE Alberta Street.  The shop has a beautiful stainless steel Synesso espresso machine (Synesso is also a Seattle company) and a Probat roaster.  There's not much else in the shop, other than big sacks of unroasted beans and a few inexpensive chairs and tables.  I like their priorities.

You may see the full manufacturing side of the business if you come here during the morning, from roasting to weighing and putting the finished beans in sacks labeled for delivery to accounts all over town.  Below is the roaster, dominating the middle of the room and ready to be put to work.





All of the roasts I have tried from this place are impressive (a  bag of yirgacheffe that went way too fast is particularly memorable).  The espresso shots are well made.  The staff doesn't go out of its way to be friendly, but sometimes that's just what one wants: caffeine and privacy.  Here's their espresso service setup, in a photo taken during a sun break on a soggy fall day.


Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Belmont Stumptown

I may as well start out with one of the granddaddies of the craft coffee movement: Stumptown.  A decade or so ago, just when the mergers and acquisitions of the coffee giants seemed on the verge of swallowing the last small coffee purveyor, Stumptown emerged to lead the way to the next level of coffee obsession.  This was, to a large extent, because of a counterintuitive strategy: unlike the big guys, Stumptown offered coffees that were medium roasted, instead of the dark and oily french roasts that were (and are) so popular.  For espresso, that means Stumptown's signature Hairbender blend, which is complex, sweet and without the big bitter hit that tends to mark darker roasts.

On one of the very last gorgeous days of a remarkable Portland summer that stretched into mid-October, I rode over to the the Stumptown at the corner of 33rd and Southeast Belmont.  This was one of the first locations of the company's small empire (it recently added outposts on Manhattan and in Seattle).  As you can see in the photo, the shop's design is minimalist and timeless.
 

The staff was friendly and helpful.  One of them noticed me staring at a wall of 12 ounce bags of single origin coffee beans, and asked me if I needed help deciding what I wanted.  Actually, I was looking for one that cost less than twenty bucks.

They use a La Marzocco Strada to make espresso, which has a saturated grouphead that stabilizes temperatures and allows for consistent controllable results.  The shot was pulled with great care and some ritual (the shop wasn't busy, allowing the barista some leisure).  The resulting setup is shown in the accompanying photo.  The shot, made with Hairbender, was just as delicious as I'd come to expect, with dark thick crema and a final sip that was intensely sweet.

Monday, October 29, 2012

The Plan

The cliche is true: Portland, Oregon, has a lot of coffee.  And, being Portland, another thing is true: the DIY ethic is irrepressible, so much of the coffee is crafted in small batches by passionate entrepreneurs. My plan is to visit as many places that make good coffee as I can.  And, being Portland, I plan to visit them all using some mode of transportation other than a car.

The point of this blog is to capture my notes about each coffee shop on my journey.   Espresso is my passion, so that will be the focus.  If a shop can pull a decent shot, the chances are good that the rest of their coffee drinks will be well made.

Along the way, I hope to learn more about coffee, people and my city.  Thanks for joining me.  -AP