There’s something about the hot, muddy water brew in Portland. It attracts even non-coffee drinkers. What is so magnetic about the many cafes and coffee shops around town?
It may be about our love of the drink, sure. Seattle is considered the coffee capital, but we have held our own. Legendary Stumptown Coffee had seven Portland locations before expanding to Seattle. And what city other than Portland could produce a Rails-powered, award-winning coffee tasting site?
There are plenty of cocoa and tea orders to show it goes beyond the love of coffee. It gets to the core of what makes Portland: community. We go to our neighborhood coffee shop because it’s our neighborhood coffee shop. We see friends, we enjoy the company of strangers, and we remember that we live in a city where people are valued.
So, yes, there is something in the muddy water, whether it’s from the Columbia to the north, the Willamette down the middle, or the brew from the shop around the corner. Whatever it is that keeps us coming together, I hope it never goes away, because when it comes to community, there’s no place like Portland.
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There is something great about Portland. You know this when you see a thriving independent coffee house community. Companies like Stumptown and Kobos are defining what it means to operating differently from the corporate giants. Go local, and you won’t be sorry.
As a tea drinker, I have to represent
We also have quite a few small tea houses here in Portland specializing in that other hot beverage. The Tao of Tea, Alberta Street Teahouse, Tea Chai Te, Fat Straw and more! Maybe it is something about the weather that drives Portland’s obsession with warm beverages?
I also think that Portland has a really interesting coffee / tea shop culture mixed with a technology focus. Walk into most coffee shops in Portland, and you’ll see laptops at more tables than what you might expect.
I usually go to a cafe with my laptop for some quality internet and coding time. It’s great to find a comfy spot with good ambient noise and there are plenty of places for that in Portland.
My usual preference is coffee and Stumptown tops that list. I’ve also found myself going out of my way to the Alberta Street Teahouse for some of their chilled coconut mate with agave.
For anyone who has ever lived in Europe, this isn’t unusual and actually quite normal.
In the U.S. I would go so far as to say that any college town has many coffee shops. I spent time in Santa Cruz, Boulder, and Eugene coffee shops when I was a kid…Portland has the same creative feel of a college town, but on a larger more professional independent scale.