Stop #35 AND #36:Pieper Cafe/Mudworks Roastery
10/1/2022
The fall season of coffee is back, and it honestly makes this whole thing so much more fun! I went to two coffee shops in the SE area (seriously, they are like ALL in southeast for the last few shops). First, I went to Pieper Cafe near Foster. It’s a little shop on the corner of the street, so you do have to park a little ways down. This one had one of the coolest interiors that I’ve seen so far — they had like a checkered floor, and it kind of reminded me of an old-fashioned diner. They had some tables inside, and a couple outside as well. When asked about what they had in terms of what was unique, they had a malted mocha. It was SO good! I was definitely in the mood for something more sweet, but I thought that the malt component actually evened out the drink really nicely, and made it a different kind of sweet then I am used to. This place was really charming; I would probably be a regular if I lived closer!
Now, Mudworks! Mudworks was a small roastery also in SE Portland. They roast all their own coffee, so we tried some of their drip, as well as a horchata cold brew and a chai. I was super happy with everything that we had, including the drip coffee, which is usually a little bit harder of a sell for me. The horchata latte was really refreshing on a hot day, and they also gave us some of their soft serve as a sample, which was incredible. I think this was one of my favorites in terms of friendly people and just good quality all around, plus the uniqueness with the ice cream made it stand out. Their ice cream is also dairy free and vegan, and the one we tried was Smores flavored. I think this one would be great for a summer day, or if you just wanted somewhere small, local, and high quality to support.
