Coffee

I was a late bloomer in my love for coffee.

In my tiny hometown, there wasn’t much to do in high school. My friends and I would spend our mornings sitting around a booth in the local diner. They sipped on cup after cup of black coffee, spouting either dark philosophy or giggling over high school shenanigans. I giggled with them, but never ever over a cup of coffee. I would slowly snack on spoonfuls of diner sugar. Coffee was hot and bitter and left a strange acidic taste in your mouth. Sugar was light and sweet and could make me just as jittery and hyper as my friends’ coffee made them.

Talk to my dentist about the wisdom of that decision.

When I started college, I got my first job. In a coffee shop. I gradually started drinking coffee– it was free; I added tons of sugar and flavoring; and I was in college (which meant staying up late and writing papers. Or more accurately; staying up late and avoiding writing papers).

As I got older and wider and realized that coffee-flavored sugar water wasn’t necessarily that great for me (and neither were the huge cinnamon rolls I consumed on a daily basis), I sort of drifted away from coffee.

Until I moved back to Portland a few years after college. Portland is the home of microbrews (really good beer), strip clubs (the most stripclubs per capita in the nation), and micro roasters (exquisitely prepared coffee).

I started brewing my own coffee in a $5 Goodwill coffee maker. Instead of adding sugar, I would sprinkle a little cinnamon on the grounds before brewing, and when I was feeling extra-special fancy, a little vanilla or almond extract. TIP: If you brew coffee at home and like a little flavor, try this!

Over the past few years, I’ve ventured out to coffee shops in Portland, drinking more americanos, lattes, and even shots of espresso.

When I was in New York in February, I even went on a coffee tour with my boyfriend.

And now, when I order an espresso drink, I can taste the nuances of each. I remember being overjoyed when I sloshed a little americano on my hand and as I licked it off (cuz I’m classy like that), I tasted notes of caramel. I had arrived!

My top four favorite coffee shops in Portland:

Heart

Stumptown

Cloud 7

Barista

These four all make exquisite, fresh and surprisingly delicate and flavorful coffee. You know you’re in a place that treats espresso seriously when they have these kinds of descriptions on the menu:

Black Cat Organic Espresso

Carlos Sergio Sanglard almost certainly produces the most consistently fantastic organic certified coffees in Brazil. This lot of Serra do Bone delivers astounding mouthfeel, with clean flavors of molasses and red cherries. Sweetness is abundant, finishing with a resonant coating of dark chocolate.

(You’ll usually find Black Cat Espresso at Barista or Cloud 7)

TOPIC FOR DISCUSSION: Do you drink coffee? Were you a late bloomer, like me, or did you start early, like my high school friends? If you live in Portland, what’s your favorite spot to go? If you don’t, does your town have a great coffee shop?

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