TaborSpace - Coffee and Contemplation

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Starting on the north side of Mount Tabor, if you were to descend toward downtown Portland via Belmont Ave., you would find at a crook in the road a grand-looking gray stone church with a matching gray roof. The sign in front of the main entrance would tell you that the old building is the Mount Tabor Presbyterian Church, built in 1910. On one of Portland’s gray cloudy days, you might find it hard to know where the church ended and the sky began (which, in a metaphorical sense, is fitting). On a sunny day, though, with the bright blue sky in the background, the 100 year-old church jumps out as a landmark that is worth a second look.

Ever the explorer, you could hop up six concrete steps at the base of the church’s bell tower, through a set of double doors and into a room that might surprise you.

Atypical coffee shop

What is this, you might ask yourself, a coffee shop inside a church?

Yes. The café you would have stumbled upon is called TaborSpace, and it resides in one wing of the Mount Tabor Presbyterian Church. I made my first visit to the café the other day.

Walking in, the first thing you see is a row of small wooden tables to your right, along the wall beneath a row of stained-glass windows. When I arrived, they were full of people chatting over coffee. There did not appear to be space for me to sit down, but I was mistaken.

After the barista greeted me and took my order, she asked if I needed change. I was perplexed—baristas don’t usually ask that question (the only people who do are waiters, and they shouldn’t—but that’s a discussion for another day). After a quick glance at what was inside my wallet, I told her I didn’t.

“Have you been here before?” she asked.

“No,” I replied, not knowing any better.

“We operate as a non-profit,” she said, “so we only take donations. You pay what you want to and put your money in the box. We have suggested prices up here [pointing at the menu board behind the counter], but you don’t have to follow them. If you want to use a card, you can. swipe it and enter how much you want to donate.”

With only a $1 bill and a $10 dollar bill in my possession, I needed some change. The barista cheerfully made change for me from the cash register, and I put my $2 (the suggested donation) into the box while she made the espresso.

The tables were still full when I got my coffee. Looking for somewhere to sit down, I stuck my head around the corner and peered through a set of wide-open double doors. I was struck by the quiet beauty of the scene in front of me. The space was dark, with a mahogany brown color theme. Seeing few people inside, I hesitated.

“That’s the commons,” said the barista, who noticed my questioning look. “Feel free to sit in there.”

Taking her encouragement, I walked in and sat at one of the many tables.

The ‘commons’ is a great space. At first, you get the impression that you are entering a sacred area, a place for contemplation and deep thought. Large, imposing wooden beams hang overhead and brightly-colored stained-glass windows line the walls, adding an air of splendor.  Sitting there, I felt like I should keep quiet, or at least speak in hushed tones.

You don't see windows like this in most cafés

Unfortunately, once the awe of the space wore off, I realized it wasn’t quite as tranquil as I first thought. From a table along the wall, you could hear classic rock music from the café speakers filtering through the doors. Two men chatted across the room in front of a large white hearth. A few minutes later a group of retired men gathered around two tables pushed together and began to talk loudly, their voices echoing throughout the chamber. They looked like a crowd you would expect to see at a local diner, lingering over coffee and telling stories about fishing or home improvement projects.

Sipping a cup of Ristretto Roasters’ Beaumont Blend, I put Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto on through my headphones and got to work. The music helped restore some of the grandeur.

As I sat there, I thought it would be nice if the people would treat the commons more like a library, speaking quietly or not at all. The space is inspiring, and it would make the perfect place to write or to read a book.

However, TaborSpace is a meeting place—a commons, after all—so it is good that visitors feel comfortable using it as such. I just recommend you get there early, before they do.

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Vitals
Address: 5441 SE Belmont, Portland, OR 97214 (map)
Phone: 503-238-3904
Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 7:30am-4:30pm
            Wednesday 7:30am-9pm       
            Saturday 8:30-4pm
            Sunday CLOSED
Coffee: Ristretto Roasters (pastries by Nuvrei)
Free Wi-Fi? Yes (ask for password) 
Recommendations? Arriving early to take advantage of the quiet
Website: http://taborspace.org/

Friday Links - August 19

Some coffee-related links to distract you from your Friday afternoon work:

I have a hard time imagining anyone getting kicked out of a Portland coffee shop for bringing in their guide dog, but Dovercourt, Essex (UK), is not Portland. link

Guatemalan coffee is famous around the world for its quality, but coffee from Honduras, just next door, isn’t. This is changing, according to the WSJ. link

Green Mountain Coffee’s founder is betting big on the revival of Krispy Kreme’s fortunes. Chairman Robert Stiller now owns over 7 million shares of the donut chain. link

Here’s a link for coffee-loving science enthusiasts. Have you ever seen a coffee stain on a napkin or tablecloth and noticed how there seems to be a dark ring around the edge of it? Ever wondered why? Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have figured out why, and it has to do with particle shape. link (includes a video)

Starbucks is trying to limit Laptopistani colonization in some of its New York cafés by covering up electrical outlets. With extended-life batteries that are increasingly more common, I doubt the move will have much impact on the number of laptops in the cafés. link

Speaking of people using computers in cafés, check out this guy (shall we call him a Macistani?): link

Score one for free speech. A defamation lawsuit by Gorilla Coffee, a NYC coffee shop, against former employees who posted their complaints against the company online, has been thrown out. link

Starbucks has been in the news in China lately, receiving criticism for selling mugs with a drawing of a famous 11^th century Chinese judge on them. Apparently, the deceased judge’s 36^th-generation ancestor saw the image and was not happy. This is a great example of how much longer historical memories are in some countries than in the United States. link

I don’t normally link to companies’ press releases, but since this one is from Portland, and is sort of related to coffee (a coffee shaving system?), I figured I’d pass it along. #keepitweirdpdx  link

Enjoy the weekend!

Flying high and keeping your costs down

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When you go to Coffeehouse Northwest (on West Burnside) and look at the menu board, you might choke a little bit when you see that an espresso costs $3. I know I did the first time I saw it. Even with the run up in coffee prices over the last year, most cafés still charge between $2.00-$2.50 for an espresso, so $3 seemed spendy. However, there is a way to get around the lofty price, by ordering a “flight,” something you won’t find on the menu. A flight is a pair of espressos, one of each of the two types of coffee on grind (my guess is that calling it a “flight” has something to do with how you feel if you drink them too fast). CHNW keeps two different espressos available, usually from Sterling and often both single-origin coffees. Today’s offerings were from Ethiopia and El Salvador, respectively.

If you order the flight, they only charge you $4.00 total for both of them. If you plan to spend more than an hour there, this is a good deal. Coffeehouse’s baristas know what they are doing, and they pull good shots. They will also let you spread out your espressos so that you don’t get buzzed too quickly.

That’s your bargain-hunting tip for the day.

On a side note, while I was sitting in the café today, I overheard an interesting conversation about stripping (I just report what I hear, okay?). Three women at the next table were having a very open conversation about how to make good money working at a strip club. It sounded like the most important rule is that you sell the customers without letting them know they are being sold. According to the most experienced of the three, between “acts” you get down off the stage and work the crowd—talk to the customers, shake their hands, ask how they are doing, etc. The more social you are, the better, because creating a connection with the customers pays dividends.

I’m sure there’s a business lesson in there somewhere…

Starbucks' new concept

The other evening, after stopping for sushi with fellow MIM alumnus Cory Klatik, we were looking for some coffee down in the Pearl District. It was about 7pm, which meant that our choices for finding coffee close by were limited. We walked over to Caffè Umbria thinking it would be open until eight, but they now close at seven Monday through Wednesday.

Stymied in that effort, we decided to try the new Starbucks across from Powell’s Books. Cory knew it was open until 11pm, and since I hadn’t been there to check it out yet, I agreed.

If you haven’t heard, in an effort to increase late afternoon and evening sales, Starbucks has opened a few new concept stores where they sell beer and wine. The new Starbucks in the Pearl is the first of this type of store outside the Seattle area. The store’s interior design is quite a bit different than a typical Starbucks, with more wood paneling and lounge-style furniture. It has a nice ambience. Nonetheless, it is not so different that you forget you’re in a Starbucks.

More elegant, but still very familiar

For the first time ever, I tried a single-origin espresso at Starbucks—in addition to the regular espresso, they were also serving the Kenya. It was the first time I had ever seen a single-origin espresso available there, so I couldn’t help but try it. My first impression: if you are really craving a single-origin in the evening and Starbucks is your only option, pony up and spend the $9.00 for the single-origin Pinot Noir instead of espresso. Your money will be better spent. Trust me.

Another option would be to cross the street and go to the World Cup Coffee in Powell’s, also open until 11pm. You won’t find any single-origin espresso or comfortable chairs, but you will get better coffee. 

Save it for later

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My grandmother was a saver.

When I was growing up, my grandmother, like many of her era, was well-known for saving things. She grew up during the Depression and World War II, and those times left a pretty strong impression on her. Having gone through some pretty lean times, small possessions became more valuable, and Grandma didn’t like to throw anything away, even when she could afford to. She saved greeting cards, paper clips, rubber bands, canisters, cardboard boxes, jars—lots of small items that in today’s throwaway culture we might not think about saving. Some of the stuff she ended up using. The rest of it—well, that’s what the cellar was for.

I’m sure that the Recession has left a considerable impression on many in our country, though probably not quite to the same degree (yet). We still seem to throw away a lot of stuff,  though it does appear that we are holding on longer to our more expensive possessions (e.g., cars).

If one result of the economic turmoil is that we end up buying fewer things and appreciating them more, that would be a good thing. Industry might not agree, but it already produces more stuff than we can buy and keeps trying to sell more to us—on credit.

All that to say, today when I was walking downtown, I saw this and it reminded me of my grandmother. Someone had the idea to make a dress out of used coffee filters. It is an example of saving that even Grandma never would have considered.

The preferred gown for the CoffeeFest Saturday night afterparty

Whether you are a saver or not, I think you can appreciate the effort it took to make the dress. By my estimation, there are about 500 coffee filters in the dress. It was sewn to raise awareness (it worked!) about what happens to all of the coffee filters that are used in this town every day. You can read the description for yourself (click to enlarge).

I’m not suggesting that you start saving your coffee filters to turn them into retro chic clothes (the compost idea sounds like a better use to me—easier, at least), but it might be a good idea to think about what you’re buying beforehand so you don’t just end up throwing a bunch of stuff away.

Or saving it, if you’re like my grandmother. 

This week's links: July 29

It was a quiet week for coffee news, but nevertheless, here are a few links:

Coffee drinkers worried about high coffee prices may get some relief in the future. It looks like Brazil is set to have record coffee crop in 2012. link Ghana is also set to increase its production over the next several years. link

Need a caffeine jolt? An entrepreneur from Berkeley is selling a cold vacuum-brewed coffee concentrate with 40 times the amount of caffeine that regular coffee has. That’s right—40 times. I hope it comes with a warning label. link

Apparently, specialty coffee is unique enough to make it onto Bizarre Foods, a Travel Channel show. link

I already gave some of my thoughts on Dunkin’ Donuts’ IPO earlier this week, and CNBC has an interview with the company’s CEO about what he thought. One interesting fact in the article was that the only DD on the West Coast is located in Portland. link

Wait! That might not be true. I tried to find out which Portland neighborhood was lucky enough to have the store, but according to Google Maps, all three former locations are closed. Aww, too bad… link

Here’s a “Portland” photo for the week:

Enjoy your weekend!

A study in cappuccino art

This was the cappuccino that the artist at Case Study made me today. It was so beautiful I wanted to share it with you. 

Made with lots of care

The espresso was a single-origin from the Duromina region of Ethiopia. It was ‘juicy’ (citrusy), and even with the milk, the acidity came through. Overall, quite nice.