As part of my career gyrations in the recent past (which is one of the reasons I've been writing so little here) I've been having coffee with a lot of people. Combined with our long weekend in Portland, I've had a chance to sample some coffees and form opinions.
Victrola Coffee has an excellent and well deserved reputation. When I drink coffee at a cafe these days I normally have a machiatto or an americano, depending on whether I think the place is likely to be any good or not. The machiatto at Victrola was silky smooth, it was all I could do to not interrupt the conversation and run back to the counter to order five more immediately.
A new bakery has opened in Kirkland called The French Bakery. You'll never guess what they serve. The coffee there was quite Italian style, and good for that. My guess is that they use Illy beans, but a review says they have beans flown from Bologna. Um. Okay. Did they fly them in green and roast them locally, or are they just trying to make sure they're not fresh?
In Portland we had a Stumptown Coffee Roasters shop in the hotel (Ace Hotel) we were staying at, and it also has a well deserved good reputation (and one for taking themselves a little too seriously). Their style is more Pacific Northwest.
With espresso drinks you can go a few different directions with the taste, one is the Italian style which is usually smooth with a bite (from robusta beans), the PNW style which is a very dark roast to give the bite in a different way, or totally smooth. Over the past week I've now had a sample of a very good cup of each, and it has been great. My wife keeps asking me to decide which one is better, but when they're totally different styles the comparison doesn't work too well.
