Above Grnd Coffee

Above Grnd sits on the second floor of a sneaker store on SE Grand at Belmont, run by first-generation Somali and Muslim immigrants and known as Portland's first Somali-run cafe. The room is airy and spacious with the kind of late-night hours most specialty shops do not keep. The menu is the actual draw: housemade Somali chai with a matcha variation, Arabian recipes in the food program, and a coffee bar that pulls clean espresso alongside. The shop sits above the floor of sneakers, which is a more honest cross-section of Portland than most cafes manage. Late afternoons fill with creatives, sneakerheads who came up to wait out a release, and regulars who treat the room as a third place. Order the Somali chai if you came to taste something you have not tasted before. Order the matcha chai if you want the house specialty in a slightly cooler register.