Heard Around Town

Slow economy? Not here in Portland. Our coffee market is all but booming with more shops opening and expanding at a swift rate!

By now most Portlanders are aware that the famous Albina Press is going to open a second location on SE Hawthorne and 50th. It's been slow-going, but excitement is certainly building around this SE coffee addition and it should be worth the wait.

Also replicating themselves is Ristretto with a new location under construction at N. Williams and Failing in NE Portland. They will be in the same complex as Nutshell and since it is on my commute route to work, I think I'll be stopping by very often.

Remodeling work is coming to a close over at Random Order Coffee. Hopefully the spiffed up shop will give the bakers a more efficient space with which to churn out those lovely pies.

Having previously served Stumptown coffee, Extracto is currently trying out a few different beans lately. They just finished a rotation of Seattle's Caffe Vita coffee and are currently serving Barefoot Coffee from out of California's Bay Area.

I'm not so much a fan of this Barefoot stuff, but not to worry, Extracto is just having some fun bringing in different beans before they start roasting their own. As soon as April they will begin cooking up their very own blends.

Just today while at Extracto I ran into Dani Cone from Fuel Coffee in Seattle. She was a fantastic barista at Caffe Vita before opening her own coffeehouse and then quickly expanding to three locations around Seattle.

Dani is currently working on a book about her fellow baristas in Seattle and wanted to add some Portland flavor to the mix. She had visited Albina Press, Crema, Stumptown on Division and the Fresh Pot before stopping by Extracto to snap some shots of baristas in action. Look for the book to be out this winter.