The End: Part 2

So this is it……we drive north to Mt. Vernon to meet friends Matt and Jenni Malyon from Vancouver BC. Betsie is coming too….these are the Wrangler’s friends, he never gets to see them, he loves them…it is blog worthy.

We talk over stale organic Bolivia from the local Co-Op in Mount Vernon. It’s all good.

The End: Part 1

Today is our last day of wranglin’ and we want to take full advantage. Instead of trying out something different we decide to go back to our favorite place, Victrola.

We took the time to relaxe in the spacious cafe with some streamline and a cup of Guatemala Hermosa. Keith popped over from the roastery and gave us some samples for the road: Panama Kotowa Organico (Best of Panama #4) and Sumatra Retro Mandheling (new offering). Sumatra fans at Brewed get ready for the Retro!

To finish, we hop over a couple of doors down with Keith for some tasty IPA, tater tots and a nice time of geekin’. Scott from Barefoot Coffee Roasters (Santa Clara, CA) stops by and more geekin’ proceeds. We could’ve spent all evening talking coffee but we have a few more people to see before we catch our flight.

Thanks to Keith and the rest of the crew at Victrola!

Mr. Vivace

We are headed to Espresso Vivace….making this stop is kind of like paying homage. Vivace has been in the espresso game since the late 80’s. David Schomer, coffee guru and zany founder of Espresso Vivace, is responsible for the education of many proffessionals in the coffee industry. One of my first turning points as a barista was reading Espresso Coffee: Professional Techniques by Schomer. This book was basically my text book for getting started as a barista 3 years ago. So you can imagine my excitement for going to the place that planted a seed…for the ughm…coffee tree…in me. Yes!

The Vivace cafe is pretty spacious. It has a great wrap around bar with stool seating and a separate room with a roaster. Notice the gigantic mosaic rosetta on the wall above the synesso? Word.

Vivace was at the forefront of the latte art movement, in the cafe they have several walls devoted to pictures of latte art that have been poured there over the years.

We left flowers for Schomer and moved on. We have one more day in Seattle before getting on the plane that takes us back to humid land…

Victrola!

Victrola is half the reason for coming here….definately highlighted on the Wrangler’s daily planner, and now that day has come.

One day, the poster child of Brewed was visiting Seattle for New Year’s and was asked to go to this place called Victrola and bring back 5 pounds of Streamline espresso for the Wrangler. She did, I loved, we pull, 4 you (insert heart). Check it….we arrived in the roastery as Keith was preparing the components of Streamline.

We were able to watch Keith roast a few batches. Victrola’s roastery is less than a year old and is connected to the cafe (their second). The digs are superb.

After a few batches we are ready to cup some coffee….to the training room! On the table is Guatemala Huehuetenango – Finca Vista Hermosa, Ethiopia Harrar – Oromia Cooperative, and Sumatra Lake Tawar. Solid.

There was training going on in the training room….Victrola pulls from the heralded Synesso and Lindsay (the trainer who trains in the training room) was kind enough to let me interrupt and introduce myself….

It was a busy morning and a great time getting know the folks of Victrola. There are few people as friendly and as passionate about coffee….we’ll stop back tomorrow for more coffee and more conversation. But until then it is on to the next…..

Welcome to Seattle!

Here we go…Part 2…Seattle has a little different vibe than Portland….but nothing we can’t wrangle. We just need to get our bearings and we’ll be straight. So we walk down Queen Anne, one of many hilltop neighborhoods, and mosey into Caffe Vita. We’re excited to try something new and Caffe Vita roasts their own coffee.

The Caffe Vita on Queen Anne is mellow, charming and a nice way to start our first morning in Seattle. A couple of double spro’s and a cup of coffee to get the blood flowing…have I mentioned that the Northwest way is to serve fresh french pressed coffee everyday all day? mmmmmhhhh hmmmmm….hush that fuss.

We are meeting an old friend, a dear friend….the lovely Betsie Wilson and her butterball baby Ramona and freshly mustached daddy Allen. We head to Victrola on Capitol Hill for a nightcap. Oh the fun has just begun!

Cheers Portland!

Our last day in Portland and we are in love with this city….oh the tears. We started things off at Crema Coffe & Bakery.

Delightful! In-house pastries, Stumptown Coffee, and a busy cafe with outdoor seating….not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning. We dug this place.

So now it’s time to drive north to Seattle, but on the way we cash in on a tip and stop in Ridgefield Washington to check out Lava Java. This is the home of former U.S. barista champion Phuong Tran who is not behind the bar (it is Saturday). Dang! We still were able to get a couple of solid shots of single origin Costa Rica Finca Los Manantiales. A well rounded espresso with thick chocolaty notes.

Alright Seattle…we’re coming to wrangle!

Ristretto, The Annex, The Beach

Time to wrangle something other than the hairbender (the espresso of choice here in Portland). So we headed to Ristretto Roasters where they have a in-house roaster and their very own espresso blend.

Ristretto’s is a quiet and pleasant place. Like all of the indies here Ristretto’s display local art which attributes to a quaint and aesthetically pleasing atmosphere. Ristretto’s, however, did provide us with our first bottomless portafilter experience in Portland.

After Ristretto’s we wrangled our way back to the Stumptown Annex to have some coffee from the Clover and to purchase a couple of the single origins that we cupped the previous day. But you can’t be at the Annex without trying something else from their smorgasbord of coffee goodness…..C.O.E Colombia La Esperanza and Ethiopia Tega & Tula for the road.

There’s nothing quite like ending the day on the Oregon coast (Manzanita!) after a long, hard day of wranglin’.

Stumptown Annex

Day 3 and behind on the posts….relax, we’re busy….we decided to wrangle the Stumptown Annex. I (the Wrangler) have been anxiously awaiting this day!

The Stumptown Annex is a buffet of some of the finest coffees in the world. These gems are all on display and available to cup and/or drink until your heart’s content! Twice a day everyday the Stumptown Annex hosts free public cuppings. These cuppings provide an educational platform where you can ask questions and sample several different single origin coffees.

Some of the coffees we cupped: Ethiopia Tega & Tula, Ethiopia Yirg Wondo Co-Op, Panama Esmeralda, Nicaragua los delirios, two from Guatemala finca el injerto, and Guatemala Maragogype.

The cupping process brings out the distinct differences that each lot brings to the table.

We finished off the day at Coffeehouse Northwest on West Burnside. Our first Synesso experience (a new and much hyped espresso machine) and a fine tutorial from a fellow coffeegeek.

The Albina Press

Check it….Day 2….we trekked to The Albina Press to check out the digs and juice up. We met Rita who was pulling the shots and it just so happens that Rita is from Wisconsin by way of Milwaukee. We had a nice chat since blood runs thick in the Midwest. We talked about the Hairbender (the Albina Press uses Stumptown Coffee) and how it was tasting this week and how Albina is experimenting with teflon portafilters and steam wands. Rita also gave us lots of ideas on where to head to next. She was awesome and she pulled the best Hairbender of the trip so far.

Bugsy and the Wrangler travel to Mecca

Here we are….in Portland! The next few posts are brought to you by your hosts and humble coffee consumers…Bugsy and the Wrangler. We’re just exploring the city of Portland in search of good coffee and friendly people (to geek out with).

Our first day we flew into Seattle and drove to Portland…yeah, well, it makes sense to us….we’ll be back in Seattle shortly. To begin we headed over to Stumptown on Division Street in Southeast Portland. If you don’t know it yet Stumptown Coffee Roasters is sort of the Godfather of coffee in Portland. Most of the indies are pulling Stumptown’s Hairbender espresso blend and selling their stellar single origins.

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More to come….