i'll be more specific. the coffee culture in portland is incredible, i don't really know exactly the history of portland in terms of coffee but i'm sure stumptown have had some large role to play. i think stumptown itself has about 6 stores in portland. they also have the annex which kind of acts as a retail store that use to (i'm not sure if it still does) do daily cuppings as well. i good majority of the stores in portland use stumptown coffee anything but there are still a couple of other roasters one being 'Portland Coffee Roasters', i'm pretty sure barista and fresh cup are both based in portland as well.
the best thing i think portland demonstrates is that an american city can fill its incredible thirst for coffee in an sustainable, ethical and most importantly TASTY way. there are coffee shops everywhere and a really large majority pour awesome coffee, as oppose to the minority. i could definitely talk about portland forever, and i think it probably helps that the city as a whole is absolutely fucking awesome - i couldn't recommend it enough for a holiday and there is no doubt in my mind that i'll one day retire there.
here's james blog about when him and anette visited
http://www.jimseven.com/2007/06/15/the- ... -portland/