Ristretto on a Rainy Day

November has arrived in Portland, bringing cold, gray, damp miserable weather. Grayness, however, is just an excuse for me to drink more coffee. Hooray! So on a rainy Portland afternoon, I took the yellow MAX line north to the Overlook Park stop. From there I walked up Failing Street, crossing over I-5 and through the trendy Mississippi Avenue neighborhood. After walking for about fifteen minutes, I reached Ristretto Roasters.

Ristretto is one of the places I have had on my list to visit since I read about it in MIX magazine in September. The company has two stores, the Beaumont cafe on Northeast 42^nd and the one on North Williams. The Williams café (the one I visited) is considered their “flagship” store, though they still roast their coffee at the Beaumont café. When I walked in the door, I could immediately tell that Ristretto is a place focused on the coffee and not just the café experience. The aroma in the air that greeted me told me that much.

Ristretto

Walking up to the bar, I saw on the board that they had two espressos available—the Beaumont Blend and an unnamed single-origin. I asked the barista which single origin she had on grind. Her eyes lit up and she exclaimed “Panama!”

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Coffeehouse Northwest

I struck out the other morning for Coffeehouse Northwest (CHNW), one of the leaders in Portland’s single-origin espresso movement. I was confident that I was going to drink some good espresso and learn more about coffee, which is something that I would not have guessed from its appearance. The first time I saw the café, I was walking along Burnside and had just passed a bunch of taverns, so I didn’t give it much credit as a café. I wrote it off as just another Burnside dive. I was grossly mistaken. Fortunately, Brandon Arends corrected me. The people inside Coffeehouse Northwest are very knowledgeable and passionate about their coffee.

You might not realize what's inside

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Coffee Fair (PDX)

I took a quick trip up to Coffee Fair this morning at the World Forestry Center. For $8 you could try coffees from ten or twelve different roasters. It was a pretty quiet event compared to last week's Coffee Fest. Many of the roasters were from Portland, but some had come from as far away as Sisters, Oregon and Olympia, Washington.  My favorite coffee from the morning was Nossa Familia's Italian roast, brewed in a French press. It was a sweet and toasty dark roast. For those interested in roasting their own coffee, Mr. Green Beans (Trevin Miller) was there to help you decide which coffee to roast and how to do it. I didn't stick around for too long, and only managed to get a couple pictures worth sharing.

An interesting contraption for cold-brewing coffeeTwo booths were giving out free samples of vacuum pot coffee. If I had only known. . .

The vacuum pot was a popular attraction

The Magic of the Vacuum Pot (My $9 Cup of Coffee)

When you read what I did yesterday, you might want to ask me: Are you f---ing nuts? Believe me, I asked myself that question more than once. What did I do? I’m almost ashamed to admit it, but I spent $9 on a cup of coffee (12oz). No, that’s not a misprint. I promised a reader (Jake) that I would write about the vacuum pot, or siphon method of brewing coffee. I knew that Barista in the Pearl District had them, so I went there on a mission—seek out a vacuum pot and report on its mysterious powers. Then I got there and saw the price. It almost made me cry, but I had made a promise. . .

What is so special about the siphon brewing method? Well, for one thing, it’s great coffee theater.  A vacuum pot looks cool—almost space-aged, even though it has been around for nearly 150 years! You don’t see them in use very much, so when you do get to see one it is worth watching. I stood there captivated as the barista prepared my precious coffee, an Ethiopia Sidama from Intelligentsia.

This is how the siphon method works: First, the barista measures out the correct amount of water into the lower bulb of the vacuum pot. The bulb is then placed over a heat source. It could be a flame or a hot plate, but at Barista, they have specially-designed heat lamps that heat the water (it looks cooler that way). While the water is heating, the barista then measures out and grinds the proper amount of coffee, setting it aside until the water is ready.

Warming up

When the water begins to boil, steam travels up a tube, condensing back into water as it travels upward. When it reaches the bowl on top, the water is about 202 F, just the right temperature for coffee extraction. When nearly all the water has reached the bowl, the barista adds the ground coffee and stirs it, making sure that the all of the grounds are in contact with the water. While the extraction is taking place, the small amount of water in the bottom bulb continues to rise into the extraction chamber, helping maintain a constant temperature. The coffee is allowed to brew for two to four minutes, depending on the grind.

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A Taste of Seattle

I was able to sneak out of Coffee Fest last weekend for a few minutes to check out a couple Seattle coffee shops. My first stop was Seattle Coffee Works. Located near Pike Place Market and across the street from the first Starbucks café, Seattle Coffee Works catches your eye with its distinctive sign outside and then it catches your taste buds with its interesting coffees. The café has an espresso bar and a “Slow Bar” for those who are interested in a pour-over or vacuum pot of coffee. A blend of Brazilian and Indonesian beans were “on grind”  along with a direct trade single-origin Guatemala (or El Salvador?).

Seattle Coffee Works

My second stop was Stella (not to be confused with Spella in Portland). I had been told that Stella has a 100% Robusta espresso blend that is the best in the city. Unfortunately, I went there about 5pm and—take note other late-afternoon coffee drinkers—Stella closes down its espresso bar at 4pm. The barista told me to come back Saturday after 10am.

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Brown Scent?

My friend Jennie, an MIM grad who lives in Korea and writes the blog Not Just Kimchi, sent this to me yesterday. It’s the picture of a coffee shop in Seoul. Interesting name, don’t you think? 

I doubt if Howard Schultz is going to try to steal their marketing manager

What's Happening

Coffee Fest

Road trip! This weekend I am headed up to Seattle for Coffee Fest. Coffee fest is a trade show that combines educational activities, networking opportunities and new product demonstrations. I plan to attend some classes, meet some people, see what’s new for 2011 and drink lots of coffee. When I’m not at the show, I plan to explore Seattle a little bit and check out some of the Emerald City’s better cafés. Right now, I have a list of seven places that people have recommended. Hopefully there will be time to see them all! I’ll be posting updates on Twitter (@CaffeinatedPDX) throughout my time in Seattle and will share the stories that I just can’t fit into 140 characters here at caffeinatedpdx.com. It’s going to be a fun trip and I look forward to telling you all about it.

Coffee Fair

Next weekend (November 6-7) is the Coffee Fair at the World Forestry Center in Portland. It is an opportunity to check out several local roasters’ coffees without traveling all over town to do so. The fair is open from 10am-3pm each day and there will be tastings and demonstrations of various brewing techniques. I’ve never attended the event, so if any of you know what is a can’t-miss event at the fair, please share it with all of us. If you see me be sure to say hello!