Review: Coffee Plant Roaster Eugene

facebook.com/coffeeplantroaster

Finding the right coffee shop is hard. It’s even harder to spill the espresso beans on a place that is great-because sharing means potentially dealing with more people. Eugene isn’t huge, but it isn’t that small either. Because of the large student population, coffee shops have long aimed for the University area to support undergraduates on their way to crippling debt by feeding them coffee and free wi-fi. But this means a patron has to endure the stories, the flashcards, the weird entitlement of one person taking up a table for four because their backpack, laptop, jacket(s), books, and phone barely leave room for their fancy, too-sweet coffee. Some of us are older, and drink coffee black, and just want to pout and pretend to work in peace. Unlike the university crowd, we know the sad truth that whatever we’re writing isn’t going to be the next great American novel, the meeting we’re going to have might not even pan out to a good project to distract us from our day jobs, and sometimes being alone in public is such sweet delight that our hearts would break if we were forced to chat instead of staring into space. Maybe these folk could be called “hipsters”, but let’s err on the side of generosity and instead call them “people”.

facebook.com/coffeeplantroaster

For the time being, there is a haven for such people. Far enough down West 11th to dissuade those without transportation (well, until that EmX expands) and not too close to any major high school, Coffee Plant Roaster has taken enough lessons from Albina Press and Water Avenue Coffee to make sure the above “people” feel right at home. With chalkboard accents and wood panels, Coffee Plant Roaster is bright and inviting to those that know how to spend copious hours in coffee shops. There’s a rock collection to the left and a wall that houses art to the right (currently they are featuring Janale Peterson’s reclaimed pine wood burnings). The staff is nice enough, having enough tattoos and piercings for me to trust them but not so much joie de vivre that I think I’m at a Dutch Bros. Their house coffee is CPR, a strong, nutty brew with a little bitter finish. The more you look around, the more little details you’ll find that show these people are pretty serious about their succulents, cold brew and skinny jeans. But then again, so am I. With enough outlets that you can stay past your battery life, feel free to look for cheap flights to far away places, eat some food that is made on-site and wonder what why you don’t have a book agent.

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