The first cup of the day is our favorite part of any trip, so we've paid attention. This is our short list of the best coffee in Eugene, Manzanita and Mt Hood, plus Neskowin and Pacific City, with a note on what we do at each home before we've even put shoes on. Every kitchen has a grinder and something to brew with, because we like the quiet version too. But part of the pleasure of being somewhere new is walking to a counter where someone else made it.
Eugene
Eugene takes coffee seriously in an unfussy way, which suits us. From The Eugene House, the answer is the trail: a pleasant walk along the path out the door brings you to Hideaway Bakery, tucked behind Mazzi's, where the bread comes out of a wood-fired oven and there's a courtyard to sit in with the dog and a cup. That walk has become the first morning of nearly every stay.
When we're downtown, Vero Espresso in a Craftsman house near the university is where we go to sit for an hour. Wandering Goat in the Whiteaker roasts its own and feels like the neighborhood, which it is. Tailored Coffee downtown is the one for the person in your group who cares about the roast. Farmers Union in the Whiteaker is another we like, and Full City has been doing it in Eugene for longer than most. On a Saturday, the market downtown has a coffee cart and that's a perfectly good plan too.
Manzanita
Manzanita Coffee Company on Laneda is the town's living room. You'll see the same people at the same tables, and after a few days you'll be one of them. Bread and Ocean is where we go when we want a pastry to go with it — their morning bun is the reason we set an alarm. Yolk is the sit-down option. From Puffin Lane, it's about a ten-minute walk into town, and doing it early, before the street wakes up, with Neahkahnie in cloud behind you, is one of the small pleasures of the place. On the way back, the golf course is quiet and the porch is waiting.
Neskowin and Pacific City
Neskowin is tiny, and we mean that fondly. The morning ritual at The Weekender is usually coffee made in the cabin, taken out to the deck while the fog decides what it's doing. When we want to go somewhere, Hawk Creek Cafe pours a decent cup, and the Neskowin Trading Company will sort you out if you need beans. Fifteen minutes north in Pacific City, Stimulus is the real coffee stop, right by the beach at Cape Kiwanda with a bakery case that's hard to walk past. The Grateful Bread is the other one, more bakery than cafe, and worth the trip on its own.
Mt. Hood
The mountain is a little more spread out, so plan the coffee around the drive. Mt. Hood Roasters in Rhododendron, a few minutes up the highway from Wildwood Basecamp, roasts on site and is where we stop before a hike or a ski day. Coffee House 26 in Welches is the other regular, close enough to walk to if you're feeling ambitious. Up in Government Camp, the Huckleberry Inn is less about the coffee than the fact that it's open at all hours and has been forever, and a diner breakfast there before first chair is a tradition we don't argue with.
But honestly, the best cup at the cabin is the one made on the screened porch while the wood stove catches. Big table, hammock chairs, trees everywhere, and no reason to hurry.
What we bring and what we leave
We bring our own beans when we're particular, which is most of the time, and we leave a bag at each home for whoever comes next. The kitchens have the tools. What we can't pack is the walk — the trail in Eugene, the empty street in Manzanita, the deck in the fog — and that's the part that makes a cup in a new place taste like the trip.
More on each town at Eugene, Manzanita and Mt. Hood. If you find a place we've missed, tell us. We'll be there next trip.