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You are here: Home / Portland Area Coffee News / Review: Spella Caffe

Review: Spella Caffe

Last Update May 14, 2017 13 Comments

By guest writer Axel Benjamin

Spella Coffee Portland
Spella Caffe. Photos ©Tim Roth, Pupil Photo

Coffee Roaster Andrea Spella tells me over my morning cappuccino that he developed his love for coffee when he was just a kid.

[Updated: Spella Caffe now has a brick and mortar location at 520 SW 5TH Ave. You’ll find a new review of Spella here.]

Growing up in a second-story apartment above a bakery in Chicago, Spella’s Italian-American family would make stout stove top coffee with a Moka Pot. Today, coffee roaster Spella crafts his proprietary blend once a week at a tiny roasting facility in outer SE Portland. There, he roasts enough to supply his retail accounts, including Alma Chocolates and sell a few pounds each day from his downtown coffee cart, where he makes what’s among the best espresso in Portland.

Anyone who has ever tried knows that making great espresso is tougher than it looks. The slightest fluctuation in temperature or humidity can make a would-be perfect shot acerbic or bitter. That’s why at a good shop, you’ll notice, the grind is frequently adjusted. And, exposed to the elements five days per week in his cart, Spella doesn’t have the luxury of climate control. He must adjust his grind often, and yet, every time his espresso is perfect: deep and syrupy with lingering notes of citrus, caramel and chocolate. Topped with a thick veil of crema, it’s flavor that endures for minutes. It’s strong but balanced and never too bitter.

Spella also makes a divine cappuccino. It’s capped with a lush blanket of foam that lays nicely on your palate while the flavor of the espresso shot transcends the milk. If you were to classify his foam, it’d be somewhere between wet and dry. You couldn’t pour a rosetta with it, and that’s the way Spella prefers it.

Spella Coffee
Spella Caffe

“I like to make my drinks presentable, but it’s not the end-all be-all to make a rosette. I’d rather focus textures and flavors of the drink. And that’s where he’s different from many of the better Portland shops. Unlike the unfortunate side of attitude that all-too-often accompanies a nice cap, Spella is refreshing recourse. He’s a nice guy who does his own thing, which is making great coffee. “When coffee becomes too scientific, it loses its heart,” he says. Spella has soul.

Stick around awhile and Spella will tell you as much as you’d ever want to know about coffee, that espresso as we know today dates to 1948 when Achille Gaggia invented the piston machine, which internally regulated the water temperature to create crema for the first time. Spella says at least 90 percent of the flavor is in the crema, not the liquid.

Spella himself uses a hand-cranked piston-fired espresso machine that’s unlike any in Portland. It’s like any regular high-end machine, but with a manual lever that allows Spella to regulate pressure by hand, adding another layer of complexity. “It’s the only one in the Pacific Northwest.”

Spella sells more coffee in the summer than in the winter, which sounds counter-intuitive, but then again, people don’t like to stand and drink coffee in the rain. That’s also why Spella has debuted a bricks-and-mortar downtown café in downtown Portland.

  • Location: 520 SW 5TH Ave., Portland, OR 97204
  • Phone: 503-421-9723, 503-572-0264 respectively
  • Hours: Monday – Friday 7.30 AM – 3.30 PM
  • Spellacaffe.com

Related

Category: Coffee, Portland Area Coffee News. Related posts about Spella Coffee. Filed Under: Coffee

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Reader Interactions


13 comments:

  1. mzwong says

    March 6, 2008 at 10:06 am

    where is the cart, please? thanks!

    Reply
  2. MyNextMeal says

    March 6, 2008 at 10:11 am

    SW 9th and Alder Parking Lot

    Reply
  3. Food Dude says

    March 6, 2008 at 1:54 pm

    Oh geeze.. sorry. I’ve come down with the flu, and my mind has left me. Thanks NextMeal. I need to verify the hours, but am pretty sure they close weekdays at 4:00pm

    Reply
  4. Cuisine Bonne Femme says

    March 6, 2008 at 6:22 pm

    I updated information in the post including hours (Mon-Fri 9-4) and phone number.

    Reply
  5. xristrettox says

    March 8, 2008 at 11:01 am

    Good to see more variety in Portland! Way to go Spella!

    billy wilson

    Reply
  6. muglife says

    March 9, 2008 at 9:54 pm

    He does a great job, and is a genuinely good person. I’m really glad to see him getting more recognition for what he does.

    Reply
  7. dmwelch says

    March 10, 2008 at 7:52 am

    Nice work Andrea. Can’t wait to see the bricks & mortar Spella. And yes people he is that nice.

    Reply
  8. jono says

    March 10, 2008 at 1:19 pm

    Ditto, Andrea is the man, and his espresso and coffee are as good if not better than anything else in town. And while I’m not a chai drinker, others have told me that his handmade chai – which can take five minutes to brew! – is exceptional. Also noteworthy are his wonderful biscotti as well as that perfect foil for a sluggish summer day – Spella’s affogato [handmade gelati swimming in espresso].

    Reply
  9. CNW says

    March 11, 2008 at 12:47 pm

    Andrea’s encouragement and conscientiousness over the last few years have meant a lot to me, and I’m glad to see a more public recognition of his character and ability. I highly recommend his espresso in particular, though I’m confident everything he does is equally excellent.

    Reply
  10. kfm says

    March 17, 2008 at 11:17 am

    I tried Spella Caffe for the first time last week. It was above average but not outstanding. I didn’t talk much to Andrea or the woman that was working with him, so I can’t say much about the customer service either way.

    His coffee blend was interesting because it does offer some variety compared to other blends around town.

    Would I go out of my way to get coffee from Spella Caffe? No. Would I enjoy it as a change of pace? Sure.

    Reply
  11. Margherita says

    April 3, 2009 at 5:39 pm

    Thank you Andrea for the informative and delicious presentation to the Unico group. We loved it!

    Reply
  12. land_carp says

    June 22, 2009 at 7:32 am

    Spella is still the best, and still just as friendly and nice a person…always has time to chat and remembers peoples’ names, asks about their families, etc. A cousin of mine from Germany says his coffee is as good as the best Italian espresso she’s had in Italy.

    Reply
  13. dp says

    November 12, 2009 at 2:53 pm

    the neighborhood is ready for you on SW Fifth at Washington…Bring it on…pretty please.

    Reply

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