CoffeeGeek - Regional: United States West, Portola Coffee in Orange County has a new location and website

Regional: United States West
Portola Coffee in Orange County has a new location and website

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Discussions > Regional > US West > Portola Coffee...

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philopsych
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Joined: 8 Jul 2009
Posts: 58
Location: Costa Mesa, CA
Expertise: I love coffee

Espresso: Krups Mini (steam)
Grinder: Baratza Virtuoso
Vac Pot: AeroPress
Drip: Melitta cone
Roaster: n/a

Posted Thu Aug 4, 2011, 1:02pm Subject: Re: Portola Coffee in Orange County has a new location and website

Yes, the roaster's name is Jeff. He is the owner.

Cerridwyn
Senior Member

Joined: 6 Jun 2010
Posts: 394
Location: Inland Empire California
Expertise: I live coffee

Posted Thu Aug 4, 2011, 6:07pm Subject: Re: Portola Coffee in Orange County has a new location and website

And yes, his sister is a nurse who works with me. I've not gone down there yet, haven't been able to make it. She's brought coffee in though and I've brewed it. Can't wait to go down there some day soon myself.

The world needs more outstanding coffee. do you game?: http://forum.paxcorvus.com http://www.outland.org

Cerridwyn
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Joined: 6 Jun 2010
Posts: 394
Location: Inland Empire California
Expertise: I live coffee

Posted Sat Aug 20, 2011, 5:09pm Subject: Re: Portola Coffee in Orange County has a new location and website

Actually their are two Roasters, both are named Jeff, but only 1 is the owner. I took the plunge and drove the 55 miles yesterday just to see the place. It was pretty noisy with all the construction going on but they had a steady business. I had Tanzanian Peaberry in the hario and it was good. Tanzanian Peaberry is rarely special but it was as good as what I have had at Intelligentsia or from Ecco. I wandered around and looked and ogled at the roaster, then wandered off for a quiet place to take a conference call for work. Came back and decided to try a mocha. It was good. They make the ganache on site. They put the chocolate in first and pulled the house espresso right into it from the bottomless portafilter on the slayer. They then added perfect milk and made nice art. They did not pollute it with whipped cream like so many places do. I would have liked a little more coffee to it, 3 shots is good, 4 is too many and a double from the slayer is really a quad. That is a disadvantage I think. The barista was nice and knew his products as did the Jeff (non-owner Jeff) that was there. There was also a female barista behind the counter and she seemed a bit sloppier than she could have been. I do have a pic of the mocha but it is still in the camera and I'm a bit lazy. Next door is an olive store that has some nice oils and vinegars if that is your thing as well. Good gifts for foodie friends. (And a spice shop is coming near by.) It is far enough away for me to not be a regular drive but I will go back down in the fall because there will be some good Yule shopping places in there when it is done.

The world needs more outstanding coffee. do you game?: http://forum.paxcorvus.com http://www.outland.org

yakster
Senior Member

Joined: 25 Feb 2009
Posts: 1,006
Location: San Jose, CA
Expertise: I live coffee

Espresso: Gaggia Factory / La Peppina...
Grinder: Vario / Kyocera
Vac Pot: Yama 8 + Pyrex Lox-in Rod
Drip: Brazen / Kalita / Chemex /...
Roaster: Behmor

Posted Tue Feb 28, 2012, 12:15pm Subject: Re: Portola Coffee in Orange County has a new location and website

I had a chance to visit the Portola Coffee Lab in the OC Mart Mix last week while in Orange County. They were pretty busy and I only had a chance to try a couple of drinks, but they had an impressive array of coffee brewing gadgets and a good library of books for sale. I had a Malawi on the Trifecta and a macchiato. I have a blog post about this visit here (Click for larger image)

-Chris LMWDP # 272

Cerridwyn
Senior Member

Joined: 6 Jun 2010
Posts: 394
Location: Inland Empire California
Expertise: I live coffee

Posted Sun Dec 9, 2012, 8:49pm Subject: Re: Portola Coffee in Orange County has a new location and website

Portola has a new feature, it's called Theorum. http://www.portolacoffeelab.com/theorem Best to read about it. Haven't tried it yet, takes reservations, going on Thursday when my daughter is down. Owners sister says it's really cool.

The world needs more outstanding coffee. do you game?: http://forum.paxcorvus.com http://www.outland.org

Cerridwyn
Senior Member

Joined: 6 Jun 2010
Posts: 394
Location: Inland Empire California
Expertise: I live coffee

Posted Fri Dec 14, 2012, 6:07am Subject: Re: Portola Coffee in Orange County has a new location and website

Okay we went late yesterday afternoon. The presentation area seats up to 6 and has a menu of three items they make for each week. It's all based around one coffee. This one was based around their holiday blend. It's a 2/3 El Salvador and 1/3 Worka blend. The presentation time is an hour. It starts, sort of like watching a Barista competition where you are sitting in the judges seat with him introducing himself and telling you about the coffee he is serving and it's characteristics. This was sort of unusual since, in honor of being named for Amundsen, who discovered the south pole, it was done primarily with a cold brewed coffee. The first remove was a duality of the same coffee with the same ratio served from the cold brew at slightly above refrigerator temperature and it served hot from a Chemex. All the time he is talking about the difference in hot and cold brew and how it brings out different qualities. We talked about cold brew in general while sampling the duality. The second, served in a very tall skinny glass, was made by lightly steaming a ratio of 90% cold brewed coffee and 10% milk so that what was served as light in color and has a bit of light foam header. I would say it was served at slightly less than body temperature and it almost had a caramel taste to me. The third and last remove, the coffee was put in one of those fancy gadgets that carbonate it. It was blended with a simple syrup that had been infused with about '14' herbs and citruses. And then it was served in basically and old fashioned glass over an iceberg, a large ice cube. It was a pretty neat experience and unique to anything I had ever tried before. It's not cheap. It's 25 a pop for each person attending, and it requires reservations. My daughter told me that she wants to come down from San Jose and try it again next year. She was very sad that the 3rd remove, the carbonated drink, that it was the only time she would ever taste it. She wanted more. Afterwards we walked over to Iron Press for beer and waffles but that's for a different post, somewhere else.

The world needs more outstanding coffee. do you game?: http://forum.paxcorvus.com http://www.outland.org

espressophile
Senior Member

Joined: 19 Dec 2001
Posts: 384
Location: Bottom of the Bay
Expertise: I live coffee

Espresso: Isomac Venus
Grinder: Innova
Roaster: iRoast

Posted Sat Dec 15, 2012, 3:43pm Subject: Re: Portola Coffee in Orange County has a new location and website

Going to be in the area next week and have plans to be at Portola on Thursday evening. Anyone have recs on brew methods to try or should I just order what I'm feeling at the moment? How's the Trifecta?

looking for signs in the sky following ghosts, following visions http://espressophile.blogspot.com - reviews of coffeeshops, mostly in the Bay Area http://www.twitter.com/espressophile - the every espresso project

MrSnoot
Senior Member

Joined: 14 May 2010
Posts: 3
Location: NYC
Expertise: I love coffee

Espresso: Silvia
Grinder: Compak K10 WBC, Baratza...
Drip: V60, Chemex

Posted Sat Dec 29, 2012, 11:15am Subject: Re: Portola Coffee in Orange County has a new location and website

I visit southern Orange County to see family often and I'm glad this location is open. I consider myself spoiled since I live in Brooklyn and have Toby's Estate, Variety, Sweet Leaf, Blue Bottle, café Grumpy, Gimme Coffee + more within a 15 minute walk of me. I often go a bit further to hit up Marlow and Sons for their George Howell's Terroir and Everyman Espresso in the city for outstanding baristas working with Counter Culture. I have to say that Portola is doing a swell job the handful of times I have been the baristas seemed well trained.

yakster
Senior Member

Posted Thu Jan 3, 2013, 2:34pm Subject: Re: Portola Coffee in Orange County has a new location and website

I stopped in to Portola Coffee Lab the afternoon of New Years Eve with my Father for coffee and espresso. I got my dad a Trifecta of the Guatemala they had and I took the El Salvador in the Trifecta and their house espresso. The coffee and espresso was good, the baristas friendly and engaging, and the line long. (Click for larger image)

-Chris LMWDP # 272

auxpomme
Senior Member

Joined: 5 Mar 2012
Posts: 88
Location: los angeles

Posted Fri Jan 4, 2013, 1:08pm Subject: Re: Portola Coffee in Orange County has a new location and website

hoping to hit them up on sunday. hopefully they're not still wearing stupid white lab coats.

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