#WeekendCoffeeShare 4/3/16

If we were having coffee…at this hour it would be an after dinner treat probably with a piece of chocolate or over ice cream…affogato style. I would be regaling you with the highlights of my recent trip to Portland. And you would probably be leaning in to get a closer look at my phone as I scroll through all the photos I took.

I would also have to apologize for the photos of my nephew getting his first bath (which his grandmother enthusiastically albeit questionably shared in our family group…which I haven’t had a chance to move off my phone yet). He’s cute and his expression is priceless but it’s waaay too much of him for you (or anyone other than his parents and immediate family) to see so soon in his very young life.

I would tell you about my impressions of Portland – big city features but really a small town at heart. Imagine, I was there on Easter Sunday and the city pretty much shut down. The mall was closed *gasp* except for H&M and Forever21!

The food scene is amazing and I had the absolute fortune to be visiting during their Dining Month. Think three-course meals for only $29. Brunch was also a favourite of mine. I would also tell you…that for a coffee lover like me it is paradise. Portland is the most coffee-centric city in US…and yes, that includes NYC, LA and Seattle. I tried quite a few coffee shops during my visit and they all embraced their own identity. It made for a very happy time discovering and exploring  each one.

I would tell you that my absolute favourite coffee shop…was not a coffee shop at all. It was a coffee truck! It was called Ole Latte Coffee and I made sure to stop by every day that I was in the city. When you ask me what was it that I loved about the coffee truck…I would grab my phone again and go to my photos of my favourite thing about them.

Ole Latte had what they call a “Suspension Board”. It’s where you can pay it forward by purchasing a coffee for someone who cannot afford to buy a coffee. The baristas at Ole Latte don’t touch the board. You put the mark on the board next to the coffee you bought and the recipient takes the mark off. You don’t need a resume to get the coffee…only that you need it. I LOVED THE IDEA. And I wish more business owners would think about such practical ways to put good karma into the world.

By now we would probably be finished with our coffee treat. I would ask if you would perhaps like another…but you most probably want to see more photos of my trip since I didn’t share that many on Facebook or Instagram and I just spent all the time over dinner and dessert talking my ass off. So of course I would hand you my phone, so you could see the best ones yourself. So here you go:

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*****If we were having coffee, you’d also want to know more about this awesome link-up where coffee (or some other awesome beverage) is being shared over some great conversations.

#WeekendCoffeeShare originated at Part Time Monster:

I started the Weekend Coffee Share last year after lots of feedback and several months of writing posts that imagined a conversation with my blog readers that started with the “if we were having coffee” line. The coffee share runs on the weekends, and there aren’t a lot of rules—-posts just need to be formatted like a conversation over beverages (we’ve had tea-drinkers and cocktail-hours as well as coffee) AND be written within the past week (so you don’t need to publish on the weekend to join the link-up). The hashtag #weekendcoffeeshare is in use all weekend on Twitter and Facebook, and it is sometimes used a bit during the week as well. .~Part Time Monster

Feel free to join in this weekend’s coffee share here.