CoffeeBeer >> Double Shot Buzz >> Portland 3
When I was visiting America a few months ago, I met up with my Bay Area friend Rick in Portland for a few days. It had been ten years since our last meeting in this city. On that trip we barely made a dent in all the things to see in Portland, much less the countless pubs and coffee venues. So we were looking forward to exploring Portland Version 2024.
Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers, Portland is the biggest city in the state of Oregon. First populated by the indigenous Multomah and Clackamas people, in the 1840s the area was quickly populated by European settlers who travelled across the country on what was called the Oregon Trail. First referred to as Stumptown because of the massive felling of trees to clear way for construction, the settlement was incorporated as the city of Portland in 1851. During the late 1800s it became populated by sailors and gold miners, and by the turn of the 20th century it was considered one of the most dangerous port cities in the world. By the 1960s, like much of Western Oregon, Portland experienced a large influx of hippies, environmentalists, and social activists, and by the 1990s, as had many cities up and down the Pacific Coast, it had developed into a hub of technological growth and innovation.
Our accommodation was conveniently located in downtown Portland, and of course the first business of each day had to be a light pre-breakfast and an initial dose of caffeine. So on our first morning, after a pleasant short walk, we stopped at Case Study Coffee Roasters. The cafe is nice and roomy, with a central counter and barista area. On this morning I went for my usual Cortado, which was perfectly made in a proper glass shot glass, while Rick’s cappuccino was also in the correct cup, not oversized as many places tend to go for these days. I also had a plain croissant which, to balance out the tasteful cup sizes, was massive enough to consume the entire city if it was hungry, while Rick went for a pleasingly coiled pain au chocolat. We sat at a corner table by the window where, after logging into the WiFi, we began to research the day's possibilities. Our drinks and pastries were very good, which helped.
Besides selling a lot of different coffee roasts, Case Study Coffee Roasters also sells tea and coffee making equipment, travel mugs, t-shirts, and tote bags. And they offer what they call “espresso catering”, complete with trained Case Study Coffee baristas and either single or double espresso cart packages.
The company started as a coffee cart which started operating in 2005 by Wes Russell and Christine Herman. At the present time there are five cafes around Portland, including the downtown location we visited, which opened on a site formerly occupied by a toy store. The company was apparently named after a mid-20th century architectural movement of the same name. Case Study houses were experiments in affordable American residential architecture for the post-World War II boom in house buying. 20 of the 24 houses still exist, including one in my home town of Long Beach. So I suppose, if one were to take this inspiration literally, that would leave room for 19 more Case Study coffee cafes.
On our last day in Portland, Rick and I returned here for an early breakfast before our flights onward. This time we both had cappuccinos, which were just as cappuccinos should be, and I also had an Everything bagel with cream cheese. And we shared a bottle of strawberry smoothie, just to round out the breakfast.
Back on our first morning in Portland, we decided to walk across the city to the Japanese Garden. As we passed through the area called Goose Hollow, we stopped off for our second coffee and breakfast of the day at Fehrenbacher Hof. Opened in 2001 by the Clark family, this coffee and brseakfast cafe is a really casual and friendly space. I couldn’t help noticing on the coffee menu there was a Caffe Dougie, which made me think of my little plastic minicat that I keep handy in my handbag. We ordered cappuccinos and decided to split a small breakfast sandwich. We then found a little table in the tiny back room where we brought out both Doug and Lync, Rick’s plastic minicat, so that we could take photos of them lounging under our coffees. Our cappuccinos were crowned with leafy rosettes, which seemed most appropriate in this green tree-rich city.
Fehrenbacher Hof calls itself a coffee house and study room, which seems appropriate as it definitely feels like a place for intellectuals to meet and discuss issues of the day, or for individual visitors to while away the hours reading. The Clark Family, who run the place, were apparently inspired by the great European coffee houses of yore. So although Rick and I didn’t really solve any of the intellectual conundrums of our day while we were there, we did successfully express our artistic natures by photographing plastic cats.
Just as we were walking out the front door, a man walked out of the Goose Hollow Inn adjacent. It turns out he owns both the bar and the cafe, and he invited us to come back later when we felt like a pint. As I recalled from my preparatory beer notes, the Goose Hollow Inn makes the best Reuben in the city, including a veggie version, and they also put on a Coffee Beer festival every year. But sadly we didn’t have the time to go back. Once again there were way too many places to explore in this town...
On the last full day of our trip, Rick and I travelled across the river to the Southeast side of Portland for lunch. And after enjoying some excellent smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels at Spielman’s Bagels, we walked on down the road to start the afternoon off with a feline-inspired coffee at Flying Cat Coffee Company. For feline aficionados searching for a caffeine fix, the walls and ceilings of this cat-themed cafe, as well as every conceivable table top, are decorated with both two-dimensional and three-dimensional flying cat art, and there are also shelves and tables full of cat-themed books, dishes, and accessories.
We took a seat on a sofa that was provided with two cushions in the shape of cats. Our Cortados, made with Nossa Familia beans, were pretty damn good and definitely did the job, and this cat-themed break was just what we needed. Aside from coffees and teas the cafe offers vegetarian sandwiches, pastries, bagels, “purr-itos”, and smoothies, so it would have also been a good place to stop for lunch.
According to founder Susan Klages, the cafe opened in 2008, with an actual flying cat as the inspiration. I’m afraid I don’t know the details of this story, but I can easily picture an actual cat leaping off of an unexpected height and flying past one’s field of vision. Or perhaps the cat was flying off to Catalina Island or the Catskills for a weekend away. I suppose one would have to ask Susan for the actual story. Needless to say, Rick and I really enjoyed our break here, and the only thing that could have made it better is if there were some real cats roaming about. Oh well, at least we had some stuffed ones.
There were a few more cafes we visited, but they can wait for upcoming columns. In the meantime...well,I’m afraid I don’t have any related amusing conversation extract with which to end this column. I suppose I could tell a joke. Let’s see: a duck walks into a bar. No, you’ve probably heard that one. Wanna hear what I saw on the bus the other day? No, probably not.
I know! How about a few photos of some California cats I know?
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