A few months ago I reported that I’d heard Caffe Vita would be opening at Interstate and Alberta. Instead, it sounds like they may be opening downtown near Stumptown Coffee. As I said when I first reported the story, “This would be interesting, since they have four stores in Seattle, and one in Olympia. Could we be seeing the first counter attack to Stumptown’s assault on Seattle?”
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If every rumor regarding where Vita is opening a store was true, there would be more Vita locations in Portland than Starbucks. I’ve heard Interstate, Alberta, Central Eastside, SE Portland, PSU, and Downtown. Now this…
I hope they land here, but these rumors have been circulating for several years. As a former Seattle-ite, I’d welcome them here. But I’ll believe it when I see it.
I’m with seattle_lite;
I don’t particularly care for Stumptown’s coffee. Don’t like the bitter crap Starbuck’s sells either.
My fav so far is an Italian organic blend occasionally available at Hawthorne Coffee Merchants. I need to emphasize the “occasionally” aspect. It wasn’t available the past few months.
Sigh.
In my experience, the best coffee in the world is to be had in Italy.
I’m curious, why is Stumptown’s coffee “vanity coffee”?
Good question Jason. I’m all for Vita and more choice as Stumptown clearly has a monopoly, but I don’t understand seattle_lite’s comment. Stumptown serves great coffee. That’s why Ninth Street Espresso serves it in New York City, and that’s also why the company has done so well here. Granted, there are other great coffee roasters in Portland (Ristretto, Courier, Spella, etc), but none of these really compare at this point when one considers consistency, training, and sourcing. Vita will be a welcome addition if the rumors are true, but it’s just wrongheaded to call Stumptown’s coffee under-roasted or “vanity” coffee. I just think the Seattle-ites are jealous that Stumptown and Portland gets all the press these days.
Stumptown coffee by the cup is always great, but I’ve purchased whole bean coffee from Stumptown that was definitely under-roasted with pale beans and the accompanying sour taste. I’m not what most would consider a coffee connoisseur. It has happened more than once and now I usually buy something else.
Having a lot of experience with Stumptown (used them for 6 years in barista competitions) and having nothing to gain from promoting them, I can say that their coffee certainly is not under-roasted. I say this with the same mentality that says the choicest filet should be cooked medium-rare and not well-done.
The darker you roast a coffee the more nuance you take away from it (at a point). Their coffee is lighter than most that you will see, but that has to do with the extreme high quality of coffee that they are buying.
Google “Cup of Excellence” and “Stumptown” and you will see at what level our local heros work.
Actually, the choicest filet should be cooked between rare and medium rare.
And the best coffee should be roasted just enough to add some character, but not overwhelm the coffee flavor. I find the best roast for espresso is the Caffe Umbria Gusto Crema blend, which is roasted just right.
Just look at roasting coffee the same way as you would as putting wine in oak. The more the oak flavor becomes prevalent, the less actual wine flavor you’re getting. It’s the same with coffee, and I find that people who like heavy roasting flavor also usually like heavily oaked wines.
I had a friend yesterday call to say, he was trying to pull two Peet’s French Roast fans back from the brink, and might I suggest some coffees? I went with the Ethiopia Harar, thinking the fruitiness and deep chocolate notes might hit them in a commensurate coffee-pleasure-center in the brain.
To echo Billy: Stumptown (and Ristretto) coffees are not under roasted; they’re roasted to the points where you get the full flavor from each bean before you over-roast and start burning out the oils/flavor characteristics. (Billy’s steak comparison is perfect.) That said, many people are hooked on the “deep, dark” taste of a French roast, or a nearly-burnt espresso. These tastes are, to them, the tastes of great coffee. I understand this; they’ve acclimated to these tastes and come to love them. As a coffee purveyor, you just say, that’s cool, but try this, too. I remember the first time doing this at the shop, with a guy who’d just told me he’d never drink anything but Peet’s French Roast, and seeing a little light bulb go on when he realized coffee did not need to be as aggressive as a French Roast in order to impress.
I think Stumptown vs. Vita vs. whomever comes down to preference and who is making the coffee and how.
I love stumptown, but I’ve had some great pulls at places like Coffeehouse NW and some crappy pulls at Stumptown locations. The reverse for Vita.
Also, I don’t think roasting is infallible. It is as much an art as science. I’ve had some weird batches of things too at times.
Coffee is just so personal. After a recent blind tasting of Vita and Stumptown at a local cafe, I was asked which one was better. Neither. Both were simply different.
Still, what I think is important to remember is how SPOILED we are here in Portland. Try getting this much good coffee as easily as we do here in NY, or LA or wherever.
That said, I’d love to see a blind tasting and rating of the major and minor roasters here in town. Could be interesting.
There’s pretty good coffee in New York these days too. Gimme Espresso, Cafe Grumpy, Everyman Espresso, Ninth Street Espresso, Oslo, St. Helen, and many more.
Yes, there is good coffee in NY these days, but one must still seek it out with large areas of the island and burroughs dead zones. My midtown location this summer for example had me walking a very long walk to find decent coffee. We are spoiled as hell here in Portland.
I would venture to say that Seattle-ites are even more spoiled. They have Victrola, Ladra, Stumptown, Vita, Vivace, Zeitgeist, and a few more.
If we didn’t know where to get good coffee, would we easily find it? There really are only ten or so shops in Portland with exceptional coffee. It seems more obvious in Seattle. What do you think?
There is so much good coffee in this town, and still so much room for so much more. I say bring it! At the very least, I’ll go there to try it.
I recently visited Portland on a coffee tour. I like Stumptown, but actually had a crappy capp there. I loved Albina Press up on Hawthorne. Still: One thing that struck me is how you Portlanders love to brag about your coffee, but every cafe serves Stumptown. I told a friend this while visiting, and she suggested I go to Ristretto, which had great drip, but kinda sub-par espresso and espresso drinks as well. (Which is kinda funny for a place called Ristretto, no?) Portland is a great city, but you folks really need to stop complementing yourselves so often. Variety is the spice of life.
SF: Have you tried Spella?
The word you seek is “compliment”.
And yes I agree that Stumptown does have too much of a monopoly, but I see that as changing.
its caffe ladro — not ladra.
and you left off zoka – arguably the best roaster in the nw.
Zoka has weird locations so I’ve never actually been there. And yes, Ladro… whatever. It’s not really one of the better ones anyway.
I also have to take issue with SF Rituals assessment of PDX coffee. For one, Ritual was in part founded by Stumptown. Second, there is only three or four truly good coffee shops in all of SF so I don’t get your point. If you like over-roasted and watered-down pre-packaged vacuum-packed Illy espresso with bubble bath foam, you can always head to North Beach.
Second, I don’t think it’s fair to knock Ristretto based on a visit. It has a very serious following around town.
SF is a great food city that is much better than Portland in many, many areas. But when it comes to coffee, sorry friend: there’s just no comparison.