Coffee highlights of the week plus links

[Note: I just made two corrections to this article. The first was the spelling of the name of the espresso at Oblique. I changed Derailer to the proper Dérailleur. I also had written that Oblique's owner was Jim Chandler. It is not. His name is John. Sorry for the mistakes!]

I tried two different coffees this week that were worth mentioning. The first was an espresso of the Dérailleur Blend at Oblique Coffee. The shot was balanced, chocolaty and super smooth—almost silky. It went down very easy, without any sugar. John Chandler, Oblique’s owner, said that since the weather had become warmer, his espresso machine seemed to really be “dialed in” and was pulling great shots. I’m not sure why that is true, but I would have to agree with him.

The second noteworthy coffee was a cup of Stumptown’s Kenya Gatomboya, brewed on a Clover (normally, you only find Clovers at Starbucks, but Vancouver’s River Maiden Coffee still has one from the early days). Stumptown just released the Gatomboya this week, and the early reviews have been good. The flavors that came through were cherry and butterscotch. Tasty!

Here’s some links to get you through the weekend:

You can no longer get cannabis in the coffee shops of Amsterdam (link), but you can still get coffee in the cannabis shops of Portland. link

Portland Roasting Coffee made it into an article in Sustainable Business Oregon. link

Instead of me discussing rising coffee prices, I’ll let an article at Salon.com do it. link

CNN Money has another analysis of prices that says pretty much the same thing: in the near future they’re only going UP. link

In the other Portland (PWM) this week, Dunkin’ Donuts was selling iced coffee to help support cancer research. link

Time magazine asks if you would hang out in a Subway café. My response? An emphatic no. link

Howard Schultz was in Vancouver, B.C., this week, talking about his company, coffee prices and a multitude of other things. link

You might have heard of a CSA for vegetables, but have you ever heard of one for coffee? link

There’s a movement underway to rid Seattle of disposable coffee cups (yeah, right). link

Enjoy Memorial Day Weekend. Summer is (reportedly) here! #whenits55andrainingthatsnotreallysummer