Portland Café Guide: Part One

April 6, 2023 baristamagazine Locales Comments Off on Portland Café Guide: Part One

Here are four great shops to start your exploration of Portland’s specialty-coffee scene: Prince Coffee, Deadstock Coffee, Portland Cà Phê, and FUTURA.

BY EMILY JOY MENESES
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE

Cover photo by everett mcintire via Unsplash

The specialty-coffee world in Portland, Ore. is vast and vibrant—constantly evolving and expanding, with third-wave cafés being an integral part of the city’s culture. Whether you’re a Portland local or plan on visiting the City of Roses sometime soon—maybe later this month for the Specialty Coffee Expo—you’ll be met with no shortage of exceptional coffeehouses to visit. Today, we’re launching the first installment of our Portland café guide with Prince Coffee, Deadstock Coffee, Portland Cà Phê, and FUTURA. 

Behind the bar at Prince Coffee. Wide open shelves display cups, syrups, bags, and equipment. The bar has vertical light blue thin tiles. Plants hang overhead a La Marzocco silver machine, with grinders to the right.
Founded by Katie Prinsen, Prince Coffee is both a specialty-coffee shop and a natural wine bar. Photo courtesy of Katie Prinsen.

Prince Coffee

Founded by Katie Prinsen, Prince Coffee has two locations: one in Northeast Portland, the other in Northwest. The café serves multiple roasters, including local roaster Proud Mary, and features a different global roaster every year. This year, they’re working with Denmark’s La Cabra. In addition to being a specialty-coffee shop, Prince is a natural wine bar. They focus on working primarily with woman-owned wineries.

A barista in a red beanie and white hoodie steams milk at the espresso machine behind the bar at Deadstock. Sneakers and a plant are displayed on the wall behind the bar.
Deadstock is located in downtown Portland’s Chinatown. Photo courtesy of Nalani McFadden.

Deadstock Coffee

Located in downtown Portland’s Chinatown, Deadstock Coffee is a sneaker-themed coffee shop that was inspired by founder Ian Williams’ combined love for coffee and shoes. Williams worked as a footwear developer prior to launching Deadstock as a coffee cart in 2016. He has been fusing his two passions together ever since—even launching a shoe collaboration between Deadstock and Adidas in 2021 that sold out.

A Portland Ca Phe bag, a single origin grown in Vietnam. A phin filter is behind it on the counter, with some espresso beans spilled out of a second bag.
Portland Cà Phê specializes in single-origin coffee from the central highlands of Vietnam, which founder Kim Dam roasts herself. Photo by Analy Lee, courtesy of Kim Dam.

Portland Cà Phê

When Kim Dam launched Portland Cà Phê in 2020, she saw it as an opportunity to share both her love for specialty coffee and her passion for her Vietnamese culture with her community. The shop has two locations in Portland and specializes in single-origin coffee from the central highlands of Vietnam, which Kim roasts herself. Besides shining a spotlight on Vietnam-sourced coffee, the shop also highlights Southeast Asian ingredients in creative ways—such as ube lattes or pandan waffles.

Interior of FUTURA. Whote walls and ceiling, with exposed pipes on the ceiling. Flower lamps hang over the bar and counter with white barstools on the right. A long bench with tables lines the wall on the left. The counter has potted plants, a small chalk menu board, and a white and gold espresso machine.
FUTURA is dedicated to supporting small-scale farmers and regenerative agriculture. Photo courtesy of Sebastián Villamizar.

FUTURA

Started by the producers of Colombia’s La Palma y El Tucan, FUTURA is a specialty-coffee roasting company dedicated to supporting small-scale farmers. The company also stresses the importance of soil regeneration and regenerative agriculture (farming that uses techniques to improve land health). To support this goal, FUTURA invests in soil regeneration projects, while also investing to support the coffee regions that they work with. FUTURA has two locations in Portland, and most of their beans are sourced from Colombia, Panama, and Ethiopia.

Two coffee bags from FUTURA, one black and one white. The print is too small to read except for the logo: FUTUTRA COFFEE ROASTERS: together we bloom. The shop espresso machine is blurred in the background.
The majority of FUTURA’s beans are sourced from Colombia, Panama, and Ethiopia. Photo courtesy of Sebastián Villamizar.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emily Joy Meneses (she/they) is a writer and musician based in Los Angeles, California. Her hobbies include foraging, cortados, vintage synths, and connecting with her Filipino roots through music, art, food, and beverage.

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