Confessions of a Coffee Snoot
I am deeply moved by the number of people who regularly ask me about the coffee scene in the Portland metro. Undeniably, the best coffee in town is Jim and Patty’s coffee shop on NE Fremont St. in the Beaumont district. Jim and Patty are the founders of Coffee People. They sold out when Jim decided to go to seminary. They have now returned and are roasting small batches of the beverage that best compliments the ambrosia of Mount Olympus. On the west side, the best coffee in Washington County is at Bella Espresso in the Streets of Tanasbourne. The owner started roasting his own coffee in Canon Beach and made his way into Hillsboro a few years ago.
When it comes to coffee (and most foods), I am a purist. I drink double shots of straight espresso. Unfortunately, the quality of coffee is only one reason for choosing a coffee shop. Other reasons as important as the quality of the coffee is the location and it being conducive to meeting people for enriching conversation. These reasons, in part, explain the popularity of Starbucks. (I must confess that I meet my dear friends at Starbucks every Tuesday morning.)
Recently we discovered that the French Press renders a fairly drinkable beverage at Starbucks, especially if one orders the Sumatra. I can’t believe that I am endorsing a drink at Starbucks! Speaking of French presses: this is the only way to simply make a decent cup of coffee at home. Trash your drip coffee makers - they produce swill, even when you purchase the best coffee. Invest in a coffee grinder, purchase whole beans from Jim and Patty or go online and purchase Black Tiger whole beans, grind and place in a French press. A French ape can successfully operate a French Press: heat water nearly to a boil; pour over your grounds; wait three minutes; then plunge the grounds; pour and savor.
If you are a member of a church which still uses those huge, cylindrical coffee makers, make them disappear. Try proper means, like proposals to the deacons or kitchen committee. If this fails, accidentally throw them into the trash along with the grounds when it is your turn to make and serve coffee. Petition your church to buy fair trade, organic, shade grown coffee, especially from sources that benevolently share profits with the coffee farmer. Then secure a method of making the coffee that produces a pleasant cup of coffee instead of burnt tar, which I derisively refer to as swill.
I know a man who salts his coffee. His generation has tolerated burnt coffee and the only way to take off the bitter edge, as far as he is concerned is to sprinkle table salt into his cup. (He buys McDonalds coffee for .25 cents, I believe.) But the other way to take off the bitter edge is to make the coffee corrrectly in the first place or to patronize shops that make it rich, fruity, and creamy.
As you may know, I consider Ava Coffee in Beaverton to be my office. I love the people who work there. The setting is beautiful! Cam’s baked goods are straight from Vienna! The barristas know what they are doing, even though they must work with a mediocre coffee product. Nevertheless, it is the center of Beaverton, and so, I schedule appointments and hang out there as often as possible.
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You remind me of a book I read a while ago. “Trading Up” chronicles businesses that cater to upscale customers, and the customers themselves. The point the authors make is that when they say “upscale consumers”, they mean the average person that has one thing, or service, where they always want the best. Examples are of a construction worker that throws his Callaway golf clubs in his beat up truck and plays every day. Callaway’s are expensive, but he says he wants the best. I’m sure he thinks he plays better as well! There’s a woman that shops at Wal-Mart for everyday items, but when it comes to having chocolate, she buys only the best! They’re usually snooty in one or two areas. With you, it’s coffee.
correct, with one exception. At least once weekly I drink swill because the location and people are much more important to me than my pallatte. You would have to press me hard to admit in such a situation, especially if I were a guest, that the coffee was not to my standards. The great thing about a blog, is that I can make my confessions as a snoot! Hand me another shot!
nathan.
Ave, fellow coffee connoisseurs!
If you are going to acquire the sine qua non of domestic coffee, the French Press, spend the extra money to get a stainless steel one. I finally bit the bullet after going through 3 of the glass variety. You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs, and apparently you can’t make coffee using a glass French Press without eventually breaking it as well. At least I can’t, in my household populated by various sizes of offspring.
Thank you, Andrew, for adding the stainless steel step! Glenda and I have done the same. It was I, not Glenda, who broke several glass French presses.
nathan.
Nathan you know my thoughts on this matter, as coffee is something near and dear. As a purist much like yourself in this matter I typically feel more comfortable pulling my own shot. There are only a select few people in town that I trust pulling me a shot when I am out and about these picks on the east side of town include, Billy and crew at the Albina Press on North Albina, Din and Nancy at Ristretto roaster which is on NE42nd and Fremont, the Bakery Bar in South east,any of the two Stumptowns, or Fresh Pots, and as you had mentioned the wonderful couple of Jim and Patty. Westside I typically hit up the downtown Stump, coffeehouse Northwest on Burnside and around 19th, or one of the two CoffeePlants. Still on my radar is this fair trade/missional coffee roasting idea, I think I need to take a hint from that big Beaverton establishment and “Just Do It”
Troy: You and I need to meet soon at Jim and Patty’s to discuss the launching of fair trade/missional coffee roasting. I am delighted to share the love of coffee with you. I am all the more delighted and encouraged by our greater love for Christ, our response to his infinite love for us. This love stimulates us more than a rich shot can ever produce, moving us to make coffee and use coffee as a connection to people all around the world, people made in God’s image and redeemed with his precious blood.
nathan.