Finding the best espresso in one of the homes of 3rd-wave coffee.

The Plan

In the spring and summer of 2023 I started a list of coffee shops to evaluate. By the end of the summer I hope to have established a rough ranking of the best shops, along with some honorable mentions for great shops to work from.

Here are some of the early contenders:

The second shop to get a 10/10 on my arbitrary rating system blew me away. I’m not usually a huge fan of fruity espresso, but the double-fermented Las Frutas roasted in-house was the best espresso I’ve had to date. The columbian beans were sealed in water bags for 72 hours before another 30 hour wet-tank soak were incredible. The roaster and barista recomended Sterling Coffee Roasters for my next espresso, so I’m hopeful that Sterling will rate pretty highly as well.

Ovation Coffee and Tea was the first shop to be awarded a perfect 10/10. The location in PSU’s campus right off the North-South streetcar line has plenty of space to work and REALLY cute porcelein cups.

Behind the Museum

The Behind the Museum cafe’s beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows and Japanese pottery along the walls make for an especially nice work environment, especially when it’s raining - the rain rolling off those massive windows immediately puts you at ease.