Going to Portland made me very sad about the lack of selection of good coffee houses in San Jose, and a big emphasis on good. Our first stop was to a new shop called Barista, but unfortunately they are closed on Sundays. It looked to be a really small shop. I was jealous of the fact that they had, not one, but TWO cute two-group espresso machines: a little Synesso (which is what my family's shop has) and a La Marzocco.They also had some other great looking equipment like a siphon bar, which I have never had a cup of coffee from.
It really was a shame that they were closed because they looked be serving coffee from Intelligentsia and Olympia (Oly), which I have never heard of before. These two coffees would have been a nice change to try, since almost every other place we went to serves Stumptown Coffee. Speaking of Stumptown, that was actually our first stop, since it was in our hotel lobby. More to come!