The Best Coffee Shops in Portland, Oregon + What Is a Coffee Cupping?

When I think about Portland, I picture those golden trees with leaves galore, the nippy mornings, the endless walking, the delicious donuts, & the coffee. Oh, the coffee. In order to stay alive & function with all the steps we trekked, Fred & I definitely needed some caffeine.

Related reading:  How to Spend 48 Hours in Portland, Oregon: A Travel Guide

Thanks to Third Wave Coffee Tours*, Fred & I spent one morning exploring some of the finest coffee options in Portland, Oregon. I opted for their Pioneering Eastside Roasters Coffee Tour, a three-hour guided tour on the east side of the Willamette River.

The Eastside tour starts at 10 a.m. on Fridays & introduces you to top-notch espresso, cold brew variations, & even a cupping experience — the practice of observing the tastes & aromas in brewed coffee, basically a coffee tasting. This tour introduces you to the pioneering micro-roasters that sparked the third wave coffee revolution.

The tour began at Portland Roasting Coffee —  a sustainable & carbon neutral company —  where we waited a few minutes for the rest of the tour members to join. We tried the small but mighty macchiato with a bite of cookie before we were on our way to the next stop, Steven Smith Teamaker.

Yep, we went to a tea place during the coffee tour. Steven Smith is actually the mastermind behind Tazo Tea as well as Stash Tea. Go figure. We tried nitro chai tea with a touch of half & half. It was utterly glorious; I still dream about it. We also sampled both the iced & hot tea versions of the Sparkling Strawberry Honeybush. As a tea fan, this was my favorite stop of the day.

Then we began the journey to Stumptown Coffee Roasters, a brand that focuses heavily on sustainability, direct trade, & paying their coffee farmers liveable wages. The Stumptown visit was abundant in its information & coffee samplings. We sipped on quite a view varieties, but I was particularly in love with the Stumptown Chocolate Cold Brew, which is essentially coffee spiked chocolate milk. Yes please.

Next up on the tour was Coava Coffee Roasters with their cool & open wooden interior. Instead of using the traditional but wasteful paper filters, they created their own handmade cones with tiny holes to strain the coffee. We tried a single shot Guatemala macchiato & nibbled on bits of a cookie.

What is a Coffee Cupping?

A cupping is a coffee tasting where you observe the tastes & aromas in brewed coffee. For our cupping experience, we ventured to Buckman Coffee Factory. The cupping begins with smelling the freshly ground coffee & pointing out any odor descriptors such as earthy, floral, spicy, etc. Step two is to add water & smell again. The third step is to break the crust by taking a spoon & pushing the floating coffee grounds away while smelling again. The last step is to taste the coffee & compare notes with the others.

Our last coffee shop spot was Upper Left Roasters, where we sipped on their cold brew coffee with hazelnut macadamia milk. To wash everything down, we got a bite of their delicious country wheat toast with macadamia nut butter & banana. I'm not ashamed to admit that I grabbed a second piece of toast.

I left the Pioneering Eastside Roasters Coffee Tour feeling high on coffee & ready to take over the world. It's the perfect experience for any coffee lover, & I give it bonus points because there was time for tea. If you're in Portland & enjoy your fair share of coffee, Third Wave Coffee Tours is spot on.

* Disclaimer: Third Wave Coffee Tours provided the tour in exchange for an honest blog post about my experience. All opinions are 100% mine aka Carmen's. Learn more about my disclosure. :]