The Blue Kangaroo

As my friend Norman Bodek likes to say, life has a funny way of giving you gifts. Sometimes you can be pleasantly surprised by small things that happen. Your day might be brightened by a kind stranger, for example, as was the case for me when I went to Blue Kangaroo Coffee Roasters, located in the deep Southeast PDX neighborhood of Sellwood.

The Blue Kangaroo

The Blue Kangaroo café is a friendly place. It is fairly open, with several comfortable chairs and an area for the kids by one of the front windows. It would be a good place to take kids, or even better, it would be a good place to go after you dropped your kids off somewhere, say, at preschool. As you can see from the picture below, the café has its own splash of PDX weird—a flying pink pig hanging from the ceiling.

I didn't see any flying kangaroos

Flo, the co-owner of the Blue Kangaroo, was working the bar the day I was in there, and she told me the story behind the Blue Kangaroo.

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Heart Roasters

It is rough to live in a place where there is so much quality coffee available. After leaving the Spunky Monkey the other day, I walked around the corner to Heart, a two-minute walk over to Burnside and up a block. Heart opened in October 2009 and is owned by Wille Yli Luoma, a professional snowboarder from Finland who lives in Portland. The contrast between the two cafés was evident.

Heart

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Super-Funky Spunky Monkey Coffee

If you are a regular reader of Caffeinated PDX, it probably won’t surprise you that the other morning I left the house without a definite plan of where I was headed (If you’re not a regular reader, you might click on “wandering” in the tag cloud and see what I mean. I tend to wander a lot and have had some very interesting adventures because of that). I knew I wanted to try a new coffee shop but wasn’t sure which one. By habit, I was drawn toward downtown, so I headed for the #19 bus stop. As I was walking along the street, I saw a large pink delivery truck coming towards me. My first thought was “Mmm, Voodoo Doughnuts! I wonder if they’re going to stop in this neighborhood somewhere.” As the truck passed me, however, I was surprised to see that it was not the Voodoo Doughnut truck. Instead, it was the Spunky Monkey Coffee truck.

The Spunky Monkey! I had seen their booth at the farmer’s market at PSU. There was always a long line, though, so I never tried the coffee. Seeing the truck reminded me that I still had not been there and needed to go. Coincidentally, the #19 bus that I was planning to take downtown also swings back out into Northeast Portland close to the Spunky Monkey, so I wouldn’t even have to change buses to get there. It was a good omen—I was obviously meant to go for a visit.

A monk with spunk

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Water Avenue Coffee

Walking through the industrial district of inner Southeast Portland, you can find Water Avenue Coffee located in the same building as the American Barista and Coffee School. Bruce Milletto and his son Matt, who run the school, joined forces with Brandon Smyth to establish Water Avenue Coffee. Bruce Milletto is well-known throughout the specialty coffee industry for being an expert coffee consultant and Matt is an experienced barista/trainer/teacher. Brandon Smyth, a former roaster for Stumptown, is also part-owner and serves as head roaster for Water Avenue Coffee. With all of this coffee expertise, you would expect to find high-quality coffee and espresso drinks at Water Avenue’s café, and that is what you get. 

Attention: quality coffee nearby

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Public Domain- Live PDX Coffee Theater

Public Domain was the first stop on my  PDX trifecta the other day and I didn’t talk much about the café, so I would like to fill in some of the details today.

Public Domain used to be known as the Portland Coffeehouse and I had not been to the location since it was remodeled and re-branded. The difference between the two is like the difference between a dark, stormy night and a bright, sunny day. I was stunned by the transformation of what had been a grungy Portland coffee shop into the sleek, sparkling, super-hip-looking Public Domain.

Located one block north of Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland, Public Domain is a café owned by Portland’s Coffee Bean International. When you walk into the café, you notice two things. First, from the smell of the coffee, you know you are in a place that has high respect for the beverage. The aromas are strong and sweet, and they really stand out.

Public Domain

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