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We cruise down the street to Boke Bowl, one of Portland's favorite new noodle houses, and order big. We get bowls of duck dashi with confit, seafood miso with olive oil poached shrimp, fried chicken steam buns, and soy pickled shiitakes. We eye the miso butterscotch Twinkies for sale by the register, but resist; we end up carrying leftovers around for the rest of the day. We discuss how awesome Portland is, and how excited we are that the Specialty Coffee Association of America's annual conference and trade show, and particularly the United States Barista Championship, which will be held in conjunction with the April event, will be here in this city. "It's our home turf!" Sarah says excitedly. "I float from Seattle to Portland almost bi-weekly lately. (As a competitor) I'm also excited to have a competition that I can drive to instead of ship to. It can be a little less stressful with that in mind. " Laila nods, and they exchange an aren't-we-lucky look that any barista competitor who has had to pack and ship their mountains of equipment and supplies to a competition can relate to. "Portland is a great city for this event," she says, then gestures to her food. "There is no shortage of amazing food and drink here. " It's true; we waddle out of Boke Bowl and head for Northeast. Soon, we're atop bar stools at Billy Wilson's BARISTA on Alberta in Northeast Portland. The sun's completely out, and we're in short sleeves, café windows open, with an assortment of coffees, beers and pastries in front of us. Sarah and I sip some macchiatos made with the Streetlevel espresso from Verve in Santa Cruz. Laila can't resist a seasonal single origin espresso from the company she works for, Stumptown Coffee. Anna shares sips. She says thoughtfully, "I think Portland has really become the new coffee mecca of the Northwest. There are so many shops doing so many things with coffee really well. " We all nod silently, and I know I'm not the only one considering the fact that Billy's café was among the first to make a sincere, pronounced effort to serve coffee from multiple roasters on the same bar. It's a trend that has taken off internationally. "It's true that Portland used to be overshadowed by the fame of Seattle being the founding city of coffee, but the tables have definitely turned, wrong—there the Seattle area that are doing an amazing job representing their coffees. But the ground you can cover visiting the hippest shops in a day in Seattle would take you a week in Portland. " We're lost in thought—not to mention our iPhones. Anna, Sarah and Laila have been Tweeting about our stops around Portland since we started the day, and attention goes back to the phones every 10 minutes or so (if we're lucky). Sarah elbows Laila and motions to a Tweet: "Can't believe it: @Lay_Luh, @sarahdooley, and @AnnaGutierrez80 here at BARISTA right next to me. Sarah smiles, fingers " flying. She Tweets back to him and invites him over to say hello. The guy is delighted, though visibly overwhelmed. We are on the move. Laila suggests we pop up the street for some ice cream at Salt and Straw. Word on the street has it that this is the newest, hippest ice cream spot in town, and we're up for giving it a shot. Our collective foodie brains hone in on the flavor options: pear with bleu cheese; Arbequina olive oil; cold brewed Stumptown Coffee with cocoa nibs; honey balsamic strawberry with cracked pepper; brown ale with bacon; bone marrow with smoked bing cherries—yes, I 64 barista magazine '' says Anna. Don't get me are still shops in