Last week I made a thoroughly enjoyable visit to the Corn Valley. I grew up in Albany, but my folks moved to Corvallis at the end of my senior year of high school, making both cities feel like home. I love having an excuse to visit my customers and my family. Let me tell you a little about some excellent places in Corvallis to drink Portland Roasting Coffee. First of all, if you are on the OSU campus, there are two cafes you must visit. In the Memorial Union visit a cafe called Java Stop (number 1, not to be confused with Java Stop 2). They have espresso, drip coffee, delicious 100% fruit smoothies, pastries and bagels, and it is an excellent spot to sit by the window and read. The other OSU cafe must-see is in the Kelly Engineering building. It is called the E-Cafe and also has espresso and drip coffee. Here you will also find delicious made-to-order sandwiches, salads, pizza, pastries, and more. Both of these cafes have excellent service and do a great job with the coffee.
If you aren’t on the OSU campus, you must go to Coffee Culture. They have three locations, each a little different, all are awesome. There is a drive-thru at the Timberhill Shopping Center (Corvallis insider translation: by Winco). Don’t assume that the quality is poor because this is a drive-thru. They make excellent espresso drinks here and brew up fresh drip coffee (smoothies and pastries too).
evergreen backdrop
Next on the Coffee Culture tour is the Main Shop. This is a full, sit-down cafe with a large food menu. The quality of everything they do is incredible. They make most of what they serve from scratch. They have sandwiches, panini, soup, salads, and more. They are located on Kings Blvd, near the intersection of Kings and Grant (Corvallis insider translation: up the street from Fred Meyer, not far from CHS. the building housed Blue Sky Chinese Restaurant in another life)
Rounding out our Coffee Culture tour is the Ninth Street location, now referred to as the Annex. Previously positioned on the corner of Ninth and Circle in the Rite Aid parking lot, they are now at home a little up the street, next to the bowling alley (Corvallis insider translation: former home of Gramma Dama’s Donuts!). They have both a sit-down cafe and a drive-thru window.
Annex
In addition to the homemade food items, they also make some unique drink flavors. They use Monin syrups for most drinks, but they also make their own lavender syrup to use in lemonade, iced tea, and after a customer request, lattes. I tasted the lavender latte and was delightfully surprised. Another surprise for me was a syrup they make-agave flavored with an infusion of rosemary and sage. The latte they make with this syrup was such a surprise, savory, sweet and rich.
Rosemary Sage Latte!
There is a bakery space at the Annex where they make delicious pastries for all the locations, in addition to focaccia and baguettes.
fresh baked baguettes!
One final story in my shameless promotion of Coffee Culture. The morning I was in Corvallis the Annex had a line of cars in the drive-thru, and the first customer paid for their coffees and also paid for the car in line behind them. The second car was so touched by this that they paid for the car behind them. The third car proceeded to pay for the fourth car. If there had been a longer string of vehicles, who knows how far this generosity would have extended. Apparently the kind and genuine attitude of the baristas is infectious.
So, for all of you doubters out there, thinking that I just have some incurable case of Pollyanna disease, I dare you to try it out for yourself. Visit these cafes and I guarantee you will meet some of the warmest, friendly baristas anywhere. Okay, I may have a mild case…
