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Coffee Culture: Thoughts on Coffee Consumption in Portland Continue reading on Examiner.com Coffee Culture: Thoughts on Coffee Consumption in Portland

A familiar sight in Portland on a Saturday afternoon.  Students, friends, families, empty nesters, foreigners, the among the things that many of them have in common are the need for a good cup of coffee, companionship, ambiance, and maybe even a little peace and quiet.  As winter gives way to spring, they will grab their cups and populate the cafe patios and occupy the parks to soak in the short season of natural vitamin D, otherwise known as sunshine, here in our fine city.

Coffee drinking is called by some a cheap luxury.  Even with the increasing threat of higher coffee bean prices being passed on to coffee house patrons, it is still a relatively cheap way to pass the time.  If you are truly concerned about rising coffee prices, you can effectively hedge against the rising cost of your caffeine addiction by placing a portion of your portfolio in an Exchange Traded Fund like the iPath Dow Jones-UBS Coffee ETN, whose stick ticker symbol JO must have been cleverly devised by some brilliant marketing mind.

Fortunate Patrons at a Portland Cafe

A familiar sight in Portland on a Saturday afternoon.  Students, friends, families, empty nesters, foreigners, the among the things that many of them have in common are the need for a good cup of coffee, companionship, ambiance, and maybe even a little peace and quiet.  As winter gives way to spring, they will grab their cups and populate the cafe patios and occupy the parks to soak in the short season of natural vitamin D, otherwise known as sunshine, here in our fine city.

Coffee drinking is called by some a cheap luxury.  Even with the increasing threat of higher coffee bean prices being passed on to coffee house patrons, it is still a relatively cheap way to pass the time.  If you are truly concerned about rising coffee prices, you can effectively hedge against the rising cost of your caffeine addiction by placing a portion of your portfolio in an Exchange Traded Fund like the iPath Dow Jones-UBS Coffee ETN, whose stick ticker symbol JO must have been cleverly devised by some brilliant marketing mind.

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For years, it had been accepted that Starbucks’ wild success had cemented Seattle’s place as the coffee capital of the world.  If the average coffee drinker were to partake of his or her 3.1 cups per day in Seattle, they were considered privileged.

As Starbucks, which now pours 1 out of every 100 cups of coffee served on the planet each day, struggles to find a place to expand in the northwest that is not within five blocks of one of their existing locations, coffee connoisseurs are quietly speaking of Portland as the new Mecca of coffee culture.  As Starbucks continues to go global, local Portland roasters like Stumptown continue to develop what just may be the best coffee in the world.

So wrap your hands around a cup of locally brewed coffee and know that not only will you make it through another seemingly endless winter, you are one of the privileged 500,000 to live in what will soon be recognized as the coffee capital of the world.  After athletic shoes and coffee, could the movie and tech industries be next to defect to Portlandia?

Portland

Reflections on the Stump on the Park Blocks

The other day, as we strolled down the Park Blocks between NW Flanders and Glisan, we came upon a stump.  Trees in this part of the Northwest are not uncommon.  Neither are stumps, for that matter.  Yet this was no ordinary stump; it was a large, low cut stump which bore a striking resemblance to Gondwanaland.

What was also striking about this stump was its location.  The Northwest Park Blocks, stretching from Burnside to NW Hoyt street along 8th Ave, are home to a great many oversized trees.  The trees stand, lining the blocks like a royal guard creating a corridor for kings and queens to pass.  The kings and queens of Portland’s NW Park Blocks represent all ages and walks of life.

The Stump: Evoking memories of Gondwanaland

These grand trees have observed and endured many a changes in their surroundings as Portland the frontier town has grown into the pleasant city which we now enjoy.  The trees, circa 2011, enjoy the delight of children racing through the playground, the musings of men and women as they commune on the many benches lining the blocks, and the gentle, respectful pace of both car and bicycle as they quietly traverse the paved portion of the blocks.

The trees serve as a constant reminder to the contemplative passerby that our noble lives are but a whisper on the winds of time.  Much of what one does will be forgotten, and in an age where information is abundant but wisdom is in short supply, the trees offer a humble reminder that in order to stand tall, one needs roots which run deep and branches which extend to embrace.

This day, amongst the grandeur and wisdom which the trees continuously display, the stump served as a reminder that even the grandest of trees can be laid low on a temporal whim.  There is nothing to gain by lamenting its passing.  Rather, as with all loss, we must take the opportunity to pause and reflect on our daily actions.  Perhaps the stump’s resemblance of Gondwanaland is not an accident, for it offers a glimpse of the eternal time in which everything around us yearns to live.