I love coffee. I love the taste, the smell, the uniqueness of each roast…basically I’m obsessed. When I was in college, I was working at Starbucks as well as working at my university’s campus coffee shop. Long story short, at one point during my senior year I was drinking about 6 cups A DAY. It took pretty much overdoing it on the caffeine for me to realize that I had developed a sensitivity to it. Long story short, I’ve switched to drinking primarily decaf, although I do indulge myself once in a while if there’s a must try roast at my favorite shops. And, contrary to popular belief that fact doesn’t make me “weak” or “lame”, it’s just forced me to go out of my way to find a wider variety of coffee shops. Lucky for me, Portland is crawling with them. Today I’m going to be sharing my absolute favorite Portland area specialty coffee shops, and I highly suggest that if you’re in PDX, you try out every single one of them!
Lionheart Coffee Company– I might be a little bit biased, but Lionheart is (in my opinion) one of the best shops in the Portland area. Located in Beaverton, Lionheart loves to feature a different local, specialty roaster each month, giving customers the opportunity to try a wide variety of different coffees on an vast assortment of different brew methods. Follow their awesome Instagram @lionheartcoffee
Heart Coffee Roasters– Heart has SO many different roast options for customers to check out as a cafe-made beverage or to bring home in beans. They feature their own house made nut milks, too, so be sure to try one of those in the shop! Heart has a location on E Burnside, one in Downtown and a soon-to-be open location in the Woodstock neighborhood. Follow their Instagram @heartroasters
Water Avenue Coffee Company– I have never tasted a roast of their’s that I did not like. Water Ave has two cafe locations (one in Downtown and one in SE) as well as a roasting warehouse. Follow them on Instagram @wateravecoffee
Upstream Coffee & Eatery– I found this cute little shop on a walk in the South Waterfront neighborhood of Portland. They serve up Stumptown Coffee (a classic Portland staple) and have Brew Dr. Kombucha on tap. Check out their Insta @upstreampdx
Simply Samantha B. 