it was a short visit this time around but there was still time to have coffee thrice!
coffee and the times. espresso at prodigy coffee. Coffee roasted by George Howell Coffee Company. My tasting notes: muted brightness, buttery and light. enjoyable.
neat vibe, very friendly baristas, nice light. this was a good visit.
everyman espresso. despite the barista’s expression at the moment I shot the photo, they were great and there was nothing disgusting about the experience. they are located in a cool spot near union square in the lobby of the classic stage company.
espresso – espresso toscano by counter culture coffee. tasting notes: bright, not much sweetness, light fruit aftertaste, hints of vanilla and peach
macchiato. but it was the drip that Diane ordered that stole the show. the baroida papua new guinea from counter culture
was amazing. delightfully fruity.
this year’s real new york bagel was had at Absolute Bagels – an everything with nova lox and cream cheese. I had to go to “recalibrate” my bagel sensors as Israel would say
and the next day, back to the always-great third rail coffee – serving stumptown. this is a macchiato but my espresso was light and citrusy
February 19th, 2013
Category: Uncategorized • Author: phil • Comments: No Comments
From another day walking around Northwest:
At Voodoo Doughnuts. They’ve got a large menu. It’s so hard to decide.
There’s a mango tango, an old dirty bastard, a portland cream, and an old fashioned glazed.
Cappuccino and a shot of espresso from Stumptown coffee
We stopped by the Saturday winter farmer’s market at Shemanski park to meet some friends. there were lots of colorful carrots including these white “creme de lite” carrots.
American Dream Bingo in the NW Pearl District. “Dream More”
Upside down bicycle route sign
A beer at Deschutes Brewery. I don’t remember which one :(
We ran into some folks on a Brewcycle Portland tour at Deschutes. Andrea guides this 15-person Crawler Fabrications vehicle between breweries for weekday and weekend mini-tours.
US BanCorp Tower
This is an old Gary Fisher Hoo Koo E Koo bike hooked up to a mill to grind flour at the Portland Homestead Supply Company in the Sellwood district in Southeast Portland. It still has front fenders and a back rack.
A neat mosaic-y use of reflective tape on the fender and the rim and spokes
A shot of espresso from Blue Kangaroo Coffee Roasters. I think I had found a recommendation to visit them from chow.com. It was a decent cafe but I was disappointed with the shot. The one from stumptown above puts it to shame.
Tilde had some neat items, really nice people, a great window display (shown above) and some beautiful art on the walls. I was really impressed by Marnie Karger’s hand-cut work that she sells under the named “Crafterall”.
A house in sellwood
We took a little trip to Dairy Creek to finish off the evening. Here are the pool cues and some of the many beer signs at the dairy creek tavern.
April 4th, 2012
Category: Uncategorized • Author: phil • Comments: No Comments
stumptown coffee espresso at thinking cup at 165 tremont st, boston.
I stopped by here soon after they opened one morning and had a nice, quick shot of espresso to wake me up. They’re the first coffee shop in downtown boston to serve stumptown exclusively, according to their website. It was a nice little walk to get the coffee – I love seeing the city wake up and it’s pretty nice being near the boston common.
thinking cup, early in the morning.
I also had a nice bacon cheddar and chive scone here. Just a hint of bacon and a yummy scone-y texture. it was just about a perfect savory scone. They also have an affogato on their menu, which I would have gotten had it not been morning.
May 12th, 2011
Category: Uncategorized • Author: phil • Comments: No Comments
Every trip I take somehow ends up becoming a bike and coffee (and sometimes beer) tour. We did some preliminary research on chowhound and coffeegeek for the coffee and beer and found a place for bike rentals. Also handy was this interview of Stumptown owner Duane Sorensen by Oliver Strand of the New York Times It’s been a couple of months since our trip so my memory is a bit hazy but I’ll try to piece things back together with the help of these photos and the internets.
Die Koffie Salon Storefront
Coffee was my first priority. We walked from our hotel to de koffie salon (Utrechtsestraat 130) based on recommendations from one of the above threads. Patisserie Kuyt is across the street and these two were probably taking pictures of the storefront. I did the same later, of course.
Impressive looking lever machine at Die Koffie Salon.
not as impressive-looking espresso from Die Koffie Salon
The espresso from Die Koffie Salon was pretty disappointing. Light-bodied and not so good. Drinkable though. I don’t remember much else about it. We moved on to across the street.
Patisserie Kuyt storefront
Patisserie Kuyt was a treat. We ended up getting a variety of sweets, including the famed Appeltaart.
Bike rentals were from Dam Bike (New 26). Cheap bike rentals, pretty crappy bikes. But most bikes in Amsterdam were crappy. We had some brake and wheel-truing problems, but hey, we didn’t expect much. Another factor in choosing this bike rental place: we didn’t have to ride the super touristy orange bikes. We were still touristy of course.
Nespresso storefront
I stopped in here to see if there were any Nestle-fueled single serve espresso innovations. I didn’t see any, but I did see some (apparently top secret) designer Nespresso machines. There were patterns screen printed on some of the plastic panels. They kicked me out of the store for taking photos. First time for a coffee shop – in the past it’s usually been for taking pictures in churches.
Lots of orange going on – we were nearing the quarterfinals of the the world cup.
women walking along albert cuypmarkt
After hanging out for a bit in Vondelpark, our next stop was Stumptown Amsterdam. The market was super crowded and the actual store front was obscured by tents. Lots of semi-crappy stuff but it was all interesting nonetheless.
an overexposed view of stumptown amsterdam
stumptown amsterdam: cupping station
Stumptown Amsterdam had a similar feel to other Stumptown locations but also had a more boutique-y feel to it. The barista was a bay area guy (if I remember correctly) and it sounded like a pretty sweet gig to be working at that pop-up coffee spot with an apartment paid for by the Stumptown folks.
stumptown espresso
The espresso was predictably good, of course.
Bazar
Dinner was at Bazar (Albert Cuypstraat 182). We got some sort of kebab platter and though I was stuffed afterwards, I was intrigued by their mint syrup + ice cream + fruit dessert combination.
dessert at Bazar.
Canteloupe, honeydew, apple, grape, ice cream, whipped cream, mint syrup, pineapple, and strawberry. The mint syrup was too sweet for my tastes but it was an interesting combination made a bit refreshing by the mint.
Albert Cuypstraat, post market
The market had shut down and the cleaning crews were tidying the street as we walked out of Bazar.
Albert Cuypstraat, post market
biercafe gollem
A recommended beer place, Cafe Gollem (Raamsteeg 4), was nearby, so we sat down and had a beer. Good selection with a very low-key vibe. The only thing that sucked was a woman sat down next to us and started smoking. The breeze was blowing all of her smoke right at my face. She must have had about 3 cigarettes while we had about 2 beers.
biercafe gollem – at the bar
We left Cafe Gollem to return our bikes to Dam Bike and then walked home.
dam square at night
kind of a sweet bike design.
It doesn’t look very practical but it’s kind of cool how the rack is integrated and how there’s tons of standover clearance. The decal says “Nationale Postcode Loterij” Not sure why they’ve branded a bike with their decals or who the manufacturer is though.
the intercontinental amstel amsterdam hotel
The last shot of the night was of the fancy-looking InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam Hotel (Amstel Hotel). FIVE STARS PLUS!
October 18th, 2010
Category: Uncategorized • Author: phil • Comments: No Comments
This is part 3 of the bike and coffee tour.
(part 1 of the tour and part 2)
the cruiser, parked across the street from lit fuse
my time for the rental was running out and I was meeting friends at pacifico for dinner. I left lit fuse and rode through downtown brooklyn to get back to recycle a bicycle.
there were a lot of bike lanes going on here under the manhattan bridge (sands st and jay st)
happyface sadface
chris at recycleabicycle invited me in to take more pictures.
ridiculous amount of used bikes and parts.
left crank arms
forks
lots and lots
crates of brakes
right crank arms
I took the subway back to my sister’s place in manhattan. It was kind of sad to leave the cruiser behind.
I caught this before the end of the night:
chop
your brake levers overlap! but I suppose it’s good to at least have brakes.
I had to work the next day but continued the bike shop and coffee tour the day after that, on foot with my friend sam.
first stop: stumptown.
I was debating whether to post this. ok shepard fairey, you win.
stumptown barista
I was really impressed with stumptown (18 West 27th Street New York, NY). It’s a really well done little spot attached to the swank ace hotel.
stumptown: menu
the line was about 8-10 deep, which was a bit long but manageable.
stumptown: grinding and brewing
there was lots of fun stuff, coffee and not coffee related on the walls.
stumptown: espresso
stumptown’s espresso was my favorite of the tour by far.
saw this guy parked outside stumptown:
is this comfortable? I kind of wanted to hop on and try it out.
has anyone ridden a no-nose saddle before?
next stop: conrad’s in tudor city.
conrad's store front
conrad’s bike shop (25 Tudor City Place New York, NY) looked like they got pretty serious with the bike fitting:
conrad's interior. bike fit setup is the 2nd bike in
conrad's interior
there was a decent selection of apparel and accessories as well as many fancy bikes on the floor.
sam and I walked down to the east village next, to hit abraco.
this guy had a good look:
riding a strida? on 10th st
and this note, hilarious:
nobikes, bike, note
“Don’t come crying when we cut your chain and remove your bicycle from the fence! THAT’S A BIG SIGN!”
one more to go. part 4 comes next.
May 25th, 2010
Category: Uncategorized • Author: phil • Comments: No Comments
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