The Coffee Files
That daily cup of joe is burning a hole in your gut. What about your wallet?
Table of Contents: | Here Are The Results:
November 26th, 2008
They Make You Wanna Shout | Memo to anti-gay protesters: Portland doesn’t have a Swedish consulate…or much sympathy for your cause.3 comments
November 26th, 2008
Rogue of the Week • Associated Creditors Exchange | Chasing a debt to the ends of the Earth.4 comments
November 26th, 2008
The Score • A Mess With Taxes | How can Oregon give a $10 million tax break to a company whose affiliate may owe taxpayers $20 million?5 comments
November 26th, 2008
Letters to the Editor • Inbox1 comment
November 26th, 2008
A Matter Of Trust | A high-profile defense lawyer in Portland faces allegations that could end his career.9 comments
November 26th, 2008
Murmurs • A Heaping Plate Of News2 comments
November 26th, 2008
The Weekly Fix • Our Spin On 7 Days of News0 comments
November 26th, 2008
Cover Story • Paulson’s Pitch | Why does Hank Paulson’s son want $85 million of your money?38 comments
November 19th, 2008
Meltdown Lowdown | So how is Portland’s new, new economy looking now?7 comments
[September 3rd, 2008]
It’s no secret that “cheater pints”—those tall glasses of beer that are supposed to contain 16 ounces of alcohol but really have only 14—have been disgracing local watering holes for years (see “Caveat Drinkor,” WW, June 18, 2008).
But that made us think: Are Portlanders being cheated by their baristas—as well as their bartenders? In Wisconsin, reporters with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently discovered not all “16 ounce” cups of coffee are created equal.
To find out if that was true here, WW decided to perform an undercover test last week of 12 coffeehouses in Portland. At each of the locations, we purchased 16-ounce cups of coffee and declined “room” for cream. Once outside, we secretly measured how much liquid the cups contained to see if the cafe’s 16-ounce cups actually contained 16 ounces of liquid.
The results were surprising, but for a good reason.
Why? Two out of three of the 16-ounce cups of coffee we purchased were not filled to the top. Only three coffee joints gave us completely full 16-ounce cups of coffee—Boyd’s Coffee in the Pearl, Starbucks on Northeast Broadway and Common Grounds in Southeast. At Albina Press we were allowed to pour our own.
But all of the stores were using 16-ounce cups, as advertised, the java joints that did short us did so only by the tiniest margins. If we lost money, it was only a couple of pennies.
^ Here are the results:
Story continues below
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True Brew
3370 SE Milwaukie Ave.
Ordered Guatemalan Organic Coffee @ $1.75 for 16 oz.
Received 15.75 oz.
Tiny’s
1412 SE 12th Ave.
Ordered Stumptown Coffee @ $1.85 for 16 oz.
Received 15.75 oz.
Common Grounds
4321 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Ordered Cafe Umbria coffee @ $1.70 for 16 oz.
Received 16 oz.
Starbucks
1441 NE Broadway
Ordered Pike Place Blend @ $1.75 for 16 oz.
Received 16 oz.
Peet’s
1510 NE Broadway
Ordered Gaia Organic @ $1.80 for 16 oz.
Received 15.75 oz.
Albina Press
4637 N Albina Ave.
Ordered Stumptown Panama Carmen Estate @ $2.25 for 16 oz.
Self-serve: We poured 16.5 oz.
Bikini Coffee Co.
520 SW 5th Ave.
Ordered house blend @ $1.60 for 16 oz.
Received 15.75 oz.
Portland Coffee House
603 SW Broadway
Ordered Panache Brand @ $1.60 for 16 oz.
Received 15.66 oz.
Nordstrom Espresso Bar
701 SW Broadway
Ordered Riva Coffee @ $1.60 for 16 oz.
Received 15.75 oz.
Armory Cafe
128 NW 11th Ave.
Ordered Nossa Familia Coffee @ $2.25 for 16 oz.
Received 15.75 oz.
Sweet Masterpiece
922 NW Davis St.
Ordered Bad Beard Blend @ $2 for 16 oz.
Received 15.75 oz.
Boyd’s Coffee
404 NW 11th Ave.
Ordered Boyd’s Coffee @ $1.60 for 16 oz.
Received 16 oz.
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