Water Avenue Coffee

Walking through the industrial district of inner Southeast Portland, you can find Water Avenue Coffee located in the same building as the American Barista and Coffee School. Bruce Milletto and his son Matt, who run the school, joined forces with Brandon Smyth to establish Water Avenue Coffee. Bruce Milletto is well-known throughout the specialty coffee industry for being an expert coffee consultant and Matt is an experienced barista/trainer/teacher. Brandon Smyth, a former roaster for Stumptown, is also part-owner and serves as head roaster for Water Avenue Coffee. With all of this coffee expertise, you would expect to find high-quality coffee and espresso drinks at Water Avenue’s café, and that is what you get. 

Attention: quality coffee nearby

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Christmas Eve 2010 Links

Coffee news (and other stuff) from this week:

Ethiopian Coffee is sitting at the top of the table, three points ahead of Defence, as it prepares to take on St. Georges in the EPL (Ethiopian Premier League) this week. link

Coffee and Free Speech- A group of Baristas who simultaneously quit at Gorilla Coffee in Brooklyn and then sent their grievances to the New York Times are being sued for defamation by their former bosses. This week, Nelson Mandela’s former lawyer decided to defend them. link

Starbucks and Mississippi River Pulp are working to improve and increase the recycling of paper cups. link

The Oregonian says that TaborSpace, a café built in part of the Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church, might be the “most distinctive coffeehouse in Portland.” You can be the judge. link

More bad news for coffee drinkers’ wallets next year. Brazil’s agriculture minister said this week that the 2011 crop will be 23% smaller than the 2010 crop, the lowest in four years. link

Dunkin’ Donuts would like to see limits on speculation in the coffee market. link

I know it’s a little late for this Christmas, but here’s something to keep in mind for that person who already has everything: a coffee enema in a can. You will love the illustrations. link

I think the TSA could use one. link

Merry Christmas to all! Or, if you prefer, humbug!

Why Your Lattes Are Inconsistent

A friend of mine recently asked why the quality of her lattes varies so much between cafés. Why is it, she asked, that when you go to one café, the coffee is delicious, but when you go to another, it’s barely drinkable? The short answer is that not all cafés are created equal. However, that doesn’t really explain much, so I would like to discuss what goes into making a great (or not-so-great) latte.

Before finishing this article, I talked to a couple different baristas to get some of their opinions. One of the baristas said that “once [the cafés] are in the big leagues, you’re going to get a good latte, and it just comes down to which barista makes it the way you like it.”

He was referring to the better cafés in Portland when he made that statement. While what he said may be true, not all cafés are in the ‘big leagues,’ and no matter where you get your latte, the quality is still determined by four main factors. These are the three ingredients—coffee, water and milk—plus the barista, who brings them all together. The quality of these four components is what determines how good your latte is, and as you will see, there are lots of places where things can go wrong.

Made with love

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Public Domain- Live PDX Coffee Theater

Public Domain was the first stop on my  PDX trifecta the other day and I didn’t talk much about the café, so I would like to fill in some of the details today.

Public Domain used to be known as the Portland Coffeehouse and I had not been to the location since it was remodeled and re-branded. The difference between the two is like the difference between a dark, stormy night and a bright, sunny day. I was stunned by the transformation of what had been a grungy Portland coffee shop into the sleek, sparkling, super-hip-looking Public Domain.

Located one block north of Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland, Public Domain is a café owned by Portland’s Coffee Bean International. When you walk into the café, you notice two things. First, from the smell of the coffee, you know you are in a place that has high respect for the beverage. The aromas are strong and sweet, and they really stand out.

Public Domain

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Friday Afternoon Links-December 17

A few links to help you feel “in the know” about the coffee world for the last week:

Coffee futures continue to rise on coffee supply concerns combined with fund buying (BusinessWeek) link

In addition, the International Coffee Exchange is changing the rules about how coffee contracts can be fulfilled, effectively reducing the supply available to fulfill contracts. This is not going to help coffee prices come down anytime soon (note: the following link only available to Wall Street Journal subscribers, but you can also access the article if you are using Starbucks’ in-store wireless network). link

No more weed with your coffee in Holland-The Netherlands government is not going to allow cafés to sell marijuana to non-Dutch citizens anymore. link

A nice analysis of the Kraft-Starbucks breakup from the Omaha World-Herald. link

In Tehachapi, California, the coffee will come to you. link

If you’re interested in knowing how much caffeine your Starbucks coffee has, Energy Fiend has a fairly comprehensive list. link

The “coffee from a cat’s arse” that we linked to a few weeks ago is going to cost you $30 per cup in Vancouver, Canada. link

Tiny Footprint Coffee claims to have a carbon-negative coffee. link

Coffee in Pictures: Tree to Cup

As someone who grew up in agriculture, I realize how little we know about some of the foods and drinks we consume. For me, it's always fun to find out where foods come from and how they are produced, so I thought I'd share with you some pictures that give you a better idea of how coffee travels from tree to cup.

Coffee trees growing in Panama. Photo by Gilian on Flickr.

The coffee tree produces a delicate white flower that has a jasmine or orange-like smell.

Coffee flowers in Indonesia. Photo by Deepak Bhatia on Flickr.

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Dog River Coffee Company

If you happen to be driving to Portland from Eastern Washington and you just cannot drive another hour without stopping (if you’ve got kids, you might know what I mean), Hood River is a good place to get out and stretch your legs. When we drove back to Portland after Thanksgiving, I was hoping to drive all the way to Portland without stopping. However, I was outvoted 3-1, so we pulled off the freeway and drove up to Oak Street, the main street in the touristy part of town. We parked and hopped out, looking for a café. Just up the street, beyond the absinthe bar, we spotted the Dog River Coffee company.  It looked like the type of place where we could get a little boost for the last leg of the trip (the café, not the bar).

Dog River Coffee 

For those of you who don’t know, Hood River is a small town about an hour’s drive east from Portland on I-84. It is located on the southern bank of the Columbia River and is a well-known destination for wind surfers who come to take advantage of the Columbia Gorge’s ever-present winds. It is also a popular place for people who are in transit to/from Mount Hood for camping, hiking or skiing. The downtown is geared for tourists and is full of small shops, restaurants and cafés. If you venture up the hill very far, the town offers some spectacular views of Mount Adams across the river to the north.

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