Address:
SW Alder Street & SW 9th Avenue
Portland, OR 97205
Phone Number:
503 421 9723
Portland clearly has a passion for food carts, and a passion for coffee, so it was no surprise that a local decided to combine the two concepts. Tony (“Tonx”) Konecny tipped me off to Andrea Spella’s trailer near the Ace Hotel, saying the owner produced his favorite shot of espresso from the past year on his manual machine. The idea of a coffee trailer is a romantic notion, so I was probably predisposed to like Andrea’s operation. Still, he did manage to deliver carefully crafted espresso and macchiato using “hand roasted” coffee beans.
The Spella Caffe trailer has occupied the Southeast corner of a food cart village for two-and-a-half years. Spella roasts his coffee beans off-site.
A small blackboard touted a fairly compact menu of “Hand Roasted” espresso drinks, plus tea and Italian soda.
Spella pulled a lever to extract a shot of espresso ($1.75) with rich color, a healthy amount of crema and a nice finish. Was this the best shot of espresso I’ve had in the past year? No, but it certainly exceeded most coffeehouse experiences.
Spella’s macchiato ($2) featured exactly the right amount of milk and foam.
After our short visit to Spella, it was clear that he has a passion for coffee. It also left me wondering what other treasures could be found in the food cart village. Also, why doesn’t L.A. have a food cart village?
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that’s so genius: food cart village. dang, i have to go here, it’s just too cool!
“Hand Roasted” Holding green coffee in your bare hands over an open flame is pretty hardcore compared to the rest of us that just use a coffee roaster.
That’s a funny image. Nice site, by the way.