Spella Caffè
Graphic with the stylized text "Spella Caffè"
Photograph of the exterior of a building
Exterior, 2022
Restaurant information
Owner(s)Andrea Spella
Street address520 Southwest 5th Avenue
CityPortland
CountyMultnomah
StateOregon
Postal/ZIP Code97204
CountryUnited States
Coordinates45°31′11″N 122°40′36″W / 45.5197°N 122.6768°W / 45.5197; -122.6768

Spella Caffè is a coffee shop in Portland, Oregon, United States. Andrea Spella started the business as a cart in 2006, before opening a brick and mortar space in downtown Portland in 2010. The business has garnered a positive reception, and has been cited as an influence for other coffee company founders.

Description

Spella Caffè is a coffee shop in downtown Portland. Willamette Week has described the business as "microroaster-retailer featuring traditional Italian-style espresso".[1] The menu includes various coffee and espresso drinks such as shakeratos, as well as affogato, chais,[2][3][4] gelato,[5][6] and Italian sodas.[7] Food options include baked goods such as biscotti, cookies, and quick breads.[2]

History

Andrea Spella founded Spella Caffè in October 2006,[8] initially operating from a cart and using an Italian Rancilio lever machine.[9][10][11] The Oregonian's Christina Melander said in 2008: "In less than two years, Andrea Spella's espresso cart Spella Caffe at the corner of Southwest Ninth Avenue and Alder Street has earned a reputation for the smoothest espresso shot in town — hand-pulled to order from his own fresh-roasted beans." Melander noted that the business' espresso-based drinks would become available at Alma Chocolate, a artisan confectionery in east Portland.[12] In 2008, Andrea Spella expressed opposition to City Center Parking's request for carts at the parking lot between Southwest Ninth and 10th avenues and Alder and Washington streets to "limit power use to 20 amps of current to stop the outages".[13][14]

Andrea Spella opened the cafe in downtown Portland in 2010.[7] The business has one of the only hand-pulled lever espresso machines in the Pacific Northwest, as of 2012.[15] A Spella Caffè espresso bar was also available in the Italian food hall and marketplace Cooperativa,[16][17] prior to its closure in 2022.[18] Shortly after, Spella, Cascadia Coffee Roasters, and Sterling Coffee announced plans to share a 2,750-square-foot (255 m2) production facility in northeast Portland, with the goal of expansion for each.[8]

Spella Caffè coffee has been used by local restaurants; a dark roast was used for Raven & Rose's Irish coffee,[19] and Fire on the Mountain's Vanilla Bourbon Coffee Stout was brewed with beans from Spella.[20] Spella Caffè has been cited as an influence for other coffee company founders.[21][22]

Reception

Photograph of the exterior of a building
The shop's exterior in 2022

In 2008, The Oregonian's Noelle Crombie called the food cart "an ode to the perfect cup of espresso".[23] Other writers of the newspaper said:

Spella's hand-roasted Brazilian beans are softer and sweeter --more Italian if you will --than what typically flies around town. The result? A thick, rich, roasty espresso with a creamy, bubble-tight cap of crema on top --the kind of mythical sip you stumble upon in Rome. Everything here is worth sampling, from barely sweet mochas with Italian cocoa powder to toothy, real-deal biscotti meant for dunking.[10]

The newspaper's food critic Karen Brooks said Stella had Portland's best espresso in 2008.[24] She included the business in a 2009 list of the city's top ten food carts and said Spella had "the best Italian-style espresso and cappuccinos around".[25][26] David Stabler called the shop "locally acclaimed" in 2010.[27] In 2011, writers for The Oregonian said Andrea Spella "hand-pulls some of the city's best espresso".[28] In the newspaper's 2017 list of downtown Portland's ten best coffee shops, Samatha Bakall described Spella as a "perennially packed, closet-sized Italian cafe tucked into a downtown office building". She recommended it "for a quick espresso (sipped standing, of course) or an early afternoon affogato, where hot espresso is poured over a scoop of gelato", but suggested workers take their drinks out, noting there is "barely enough room to wait".[29]

Photograph of a sign on the exterior of a building
Exterior sign at the shop in downtown Portland, 2022

In the book Best Places: Portland (2010), John Gottberg and Elizabeth Lopeman recommended Spella for "flawless, roman-style" drinks and affogato "as a refreshing treat" in the summer.[30] In her Food Lovers' Guide to Portland, Oregon (2014), Laurie Wolf recommended the "dreamy, chocolate-flaked stracciatella gelato in the warmer weather", acknowledging she "would eat it outside in a snowstorm".[31] The Portland Books of Dates (2021) says "splitting a rich affogato in the window of the Italian-style (and adorably miniature) Spella Caffè is an experience unlike any other in town".[32]

In Willamette Week's 2016 list of five "essential old-school Portland cafes", Jordan Michelman said Spella offers the city's best shakerato and wrote, "Andrea Spella's love letter to the Italian espresso tradition is still as relevant and quality-focused as ever, celebrating 10 years at his postage-stamp-sized cafe... The place is intentionally unbeholden to the whims of fashion, instead aiming for a consistent daily offering".[33] In Food & Wine's 2019 overview of Portland's coffee scene, David Landsel wrote, "Andrea Spella's welcoming little cafe, with its well-trained baristas, holds an outsized spot in the heart of many a downtown worker. This one's for the grownups [...] who, every now and then, require a delicious affogato to make it through their afternoon."[34]

Teresa K. Traverse called the shop "charming and cozy" in The Daily Meal's 2014 suggestions for "how to spend 12 hours in Portland".[35] Delia Mooney of Tasting Table included Spella in a 2017 list of Alton Brown's favorite coffee shops as part of his Eat Your Science tour.[36][37] In a 2021 list of 14 "distinctive Portland cafés that roast their own coffee", Eater Portland called Spella "a proud homage to Italian coffee making".[7]

References

  1. ↑ "A Sample Of Portland Coffee Roasters". Willamette Week. April 21, 2010. Archived from the original on July 8, 2017. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  2. 1 2 Crain, Liz (September 2, 2014). Food Lover's Guide to Portland. Hawthorne Books. ISBN 978-0-9904370-1-7.
  3. ↑ Dresbeck, Rachel (March 1, 2011). Insiders' Guide® to Portland, Oregon, 7th. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7627-7477-7.
  4. ↑ Dresbeck, Rachel (March 18, 2014). Insiders' Guide® to Portland, Oregon. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4930-0781-3.
  5. ↑ "Spella Caffe". Portland Monthly. Archived from the original on June 15, 2021. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  6. ↑ "Scoops' out for Summer: Day 3". Willamette Week. July 3, 2012. Archived from the original on February 4, 2022. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 Yentch, Katrina (June 14, 2021). "14 Distinctive Portland Cafés That Roast Their Own Coffee". Eater Portland. Vox Media. Archived from the original on June 15, 2021. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  8. 1 2 "Portland Roasters Cascadia, Sterling and Spella Combine for Shared Roastery". Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. June 7, 2022. Archived from the original on May 4, 2023. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  9. ↑ Francis, Jamie (June 13, 2008). "Italian-coffee lovers rejoiced". The Oregonian. pp. X32. Italian-coffee lovers rejoiced when the Spella Caffe cart opened in downtown Portland last year, with hand-pulled shots and some fine affogato.
  10. 1 2 Gelber, Teri; Porter, Roger (June 13, 2008). "The Italian obsession". The Oregonian. p. 31. From his daytime trailer-cart headquarters, Andrea Spella hand-pulls espresso shots with an Italian Rancilio lever machine, which allows for the kind of hand control a serious coffeehead demands... Spella's hand-roasted Brazilian beans are softer and sweeter --more Italian if you will --than what typically flies around town. The result? A thick, rich, roasty espresso with a creamy, bubble-tight cap of crema on top --the kind of mythical sip you stumble upon in Rome. Everything here is worth sampling, from barely sweet mochas with Italian cocoa powder to toothy, real-deal biscotti meant for dunking.
  11. ↑ Gelber, Teri; Brooks, Karen (July 27, 2007). "platter food finds, restaurant news and dining trends". The Oregonian. p. 23. Portland has a new espresso king: Andrea Spella. Five days a week from his Spella Caffe cart in downtown Portland, Spella pulls his espresso the Old World way with an Italian Rancilio lever machine. The results? The best and most authentic espresso in town. Spella claims the manual pull gives him more control than the automatic machines used in most cafes. The top layer of crema --that golden foamy crown from the final stream of espresso "is the most important part of the equation," he says. Smooth, rich and chocolaty, every cup Spella pulls is sheer liquid gold ($1.25). When Spella isn't working at the stand, he's in a nearby rented garage roasting beans. He uses from-the-farm beans from Brazil (not Indonesian, the preferred bean of most Northwest roasters), where a lower elevation produces softer beans that result in a sweeter, Italian style coffee... Spella's beans retail for $6 a half-pound. Coffee was important in his half-Polish, half-Neopolitan household, where as a toddler he began sipping stovetop espresso... For a sweet option at his coffee counter, look for walnut espresso brownies ($1.75) made by a friend of Spella's. Spella knows good gelato, too. He serves three changing flavors of Stella Gelato, Eugene's extraordinary but little-known artisan ice cream. Order a scoop (often hazelnut or pistachio or fruit sorbetto, $2.25). Or better, get the affogato --Stella gelato drowned in Spella espresso: It will make you giddy ($2.75). Acclaimed Italian food writer Faith Heller Willinger was spreading the Spella gospel after visiting the stand on a recent visit to Portland. "The other 'S' coffees in town," she says, have nothing on Spella's. Spella hopes to have a sit-down cafe with live music in the next year or so. His motto, "I won't serve a coffee that's less than perfect," is proving true.
  12. ↑ Melander, Christina (August 1, 2008). "platter: food finds, restaurant news and dining trends". The Oregonian. pp. R25.
  13. ↑ Butler, Grant (October 2, 2008). "Electric drain hurts food cart vendors". The Oregonian. One of them is Andrea Spella, who runs the espresso wagon Spella Caffe. He says the new 20-amp restriction isn't realistic, given that it takes 20 amps just to run his espresso machine, not to mention his other equipment. Spella says his $450-a-month rent is supposed to include all the electricity and water he needs to stay in business, and he guesses that most carts on the block need an average of 30 amps of power.
  14. ↑ Butler, Grant (October 2, 2008). "Drain on electricity saps food cart vendors". The Oregonian. pp. B02.
  15. ↑ Neuschwander, Hanna (January 1, 2012). Left Coast Roast: A Guide to the Best Coffee and Roasters from San Francisco to Seattle. Timber Press. ISBN 978-1-60469-284-6.
  16. ↑ Hamilton, Katherine Chew (November 25, 2021). "A Guide to Portland's New Wave of Italian Markets". Portland Monthly. Archived from the original on May 21, 2021. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  17. ↑ Cohen, Jason (November 11, 2020). "Cooperativa Didn't Plan on a Pandemic, but the Market-Cafe Hybrid Turned Out to Be Ready for It". Willamette Week. Archived from the original on February 26, 2021. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  18. ↑ "Portland's Italian Food Hall Cooperativa to Close September 3". Portland Monthly. Archived from the original on August 31, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  19. ↑ "The 11 Best Irish Coffees in America". Thrillist. Archived from the original on February 21, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  20. ↑ "What to Drink at Every Brewery in Northeast Portland". Willamette Week. April 5, 2023. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  21. ↑ "St. Paul's Roots Roasting keeps things traditional when roasting coffee". Twin Cities. November 15, 2018. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  22. ↑ "Fort Worth's coffee shop scene is having a major moment". Dallas News. January 20, 2020. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  23. ↑ Crombie, Noelle (December 5, 2008). "Arts & Entertainment". The Oregonian. That's how I found out about Spella Caffe, Andrea Spella's downtown food cart that's an ode to the perfect cup of espresso.
  24. ↑ Brooks, Karen (October 5, 2007). "Welcome to Best Bites". The Oregonian. p. 02. We asked a team of food hounds to share their secret food finds --including, yes, the best espresso (Spella Caffe) and the cookie that can change your life (the chocolate chewy from Nuvrei).
  25. ↑ Brooks, Karen (October 9, 2009). "Portland's top 10 food carts". The Oregonian. ... Spella Caffe will slap your foggy morning brain upside your head. Andrea Spella does the unthinkable: turning out the best espresso ($1.75) and creamiest cappuccinos ($2.75) from a trailer kitchen, using farm-direct Brazilian beans that he micro-roasts in a rented garage nearby. No wonder the city's best baristas are regulars... Spella hand-pulls each shot with an Italian Rancilio lever machine, which in turn allows for the kind of control and texturizing a serious coffeehead demands... Now 3 years old, Spella was a pioneer of Portland's new high-craft curbside scene, and it's still unlike any place in the country. His pursuit of excellence runs through everything - the hand-shaken iced coffee, the elegantly spare, barely sweet mochas. For his amazing affogato ($3.50), Spella pours a double shot over the best gelato around; they're super-creamy, small-batch artisan flavors made in Eugene. The results are like a new coffee ice cream that's off the atomic chart. Pink Martini's Thomas Lauderdale orders it for breakfast. Who could argue with him?
  26. ↑ Brooks, Karen (November 22, 2009). "Radar". The Oregonian. Spella Caffe: The best Italian-style espresso and cappuccinos around, hand-pulled to order from owner Andrea Spella's hand-roasted beans.
  27. ↑ Stabler, David (January 5, 2010). "Cellist roasts up a new career". The Oregonian. After experiments on the home barbie, he met Andrea Spella of locally acclaimed Spella Caffe at a time they both needed to produce on a larger scale than their existing equipment allowed. They bought "Rossalina," a 12-pound commercial drum roaster in Oklahoma City for $13,000. Kagan and Spella, who recently opened his second coffee hangout, roast their beans separately but share expenses. Kagan's company is called Badbeard's Microroastery.
  28. ↑ Prichep, Deena; Centoni, Danielle; Bauer, Kathleen; Butler, Grant (July 7, 2011). "Portland's 50 best summer sips". The Oregonian. Shakerato at Spella Caffe: Andrea Spella hand-pulls some of the city's best espresso with his small-batch, hand-roasted beans. But with sunny skies, trade in that cappuccino for the shakerato, the Platonic ideal of iced coffee. Italy's caffe shakerato --usually just espresso and simple syrup vigorously shaken with ice --gets a shot of milk at Spella. Following tradition, each drink is hand-shaken, martini-style, until nice and cold, then quickly strained so the ice doesn't water down the intense, rich brew.
  29. ↑ Bakall, Samantha (May 17, 2019). "Downtown Portland's 10 best coffee shops". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  30. ↑ Gottberg, John; Lopeman, Elizabeth (June 1, 2010). Best Places: Portland, 8th Edition. Sasquatch Books. ISBN 978-1-57061-699-0.
  31. ↑ Wolf, Laurie (January 14, 2014). Food Lovers' Guide to® Portland, Oregon: The Best Restaurants, Markets & Local Culinary Offerings. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4930-0670-0.
  32. ↑ Dawn, Eden; Simonian, Ashod (January 5, 2021). The Portland Book of Dates: Adventures, Escapes, and Secret Spots. Sasquatch Books. ISBN 978-1-63217-326-3.
  33. ↑ Michelman, Jordan (November 8, 2016). "Five Essential Old-School Portland Cafes". Willamette Week. Archived from the original on December 8, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  34. ↑ Landsel, David (February 20, 2019). "The Best Coffee in Portland Is Right Downtown". Food & Wine. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  35. ↑ "How to Spend 12 Hours in Portland". The Daily Meal. August 8, 2014. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  36. ↑ Mooney, Delia (April 25, 2017). "Alton Brown Is on a Coffee Crawl Across America". Tasting Table. Archived from the original on June 15, 2021. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  37. ↑ "Alton Brown's Favorite Coffee Shops". Tasting Table. April 25, 2017. Archived from the original on December 4, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
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