Photos by Dave Killen | The Oregonian/OregonLive

If there's one takeaway from The Oregonian/OregonLive's manically comprehensive, overly ambitious taste test of old-school Portland doughnut shops, it's this:

Don't believe the hype.

How do we know? Because last month, we set out to definitively answer a question that's never been answered before: What is Portland's best doughnut shop?

On a bright day in May, our team spread out across the metro area, buying doughnuts from every classic doughnut shop we could find, carrying them back to the office and tasting them blind.

For consistency, we looked for places that offered three classic styles: fritters, raised glazeds and old-fashioneds. For variety's sake, we bought our old-fashioned doughnuts with chocolate frosting. We bent the rules a bit to include Krispy Kreme and Blue Star, both of which make their old-fashioned-ish doughnuts with chocolate dough. With one notable exception (Blue Star again), the fruit in our fritters was apple. We picked out the prettiest doughnut at each shop to help with our visual tie-breaker.

Related: Portland's favorite oddball doughnut shops

(Places that specialize in nontraditional sizes or shapes, including everyone's favorite mini doughnut shop Pip's, are featured in a sidebar.)

And boy, were the results surprising. Until now, most Portland doughnut debates have fallen along an Old Portland/New Portland divide, with Keep Portland Weird mascot Voodoo championing the former, and brioche dough kings Blue Star standing in for the latter.

Next time you hear this argument, tell both sides to save their breath. In our blind taste-test, Voodoo and Blue Star were huddled together in the deepest, darkest cellar of our rankings, with the alt-favorite Coco just above in third-to-last place.

So what's actually good? For that, you'll need to read on.

-- Michael Russell

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Portland's best doughnut shops, ranked

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No. 12: Voodoo Doughnut

12th place raised glazed, 8th place old-fashioned, 11th place fritter

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Overall Score: 4.25 points out of 10

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It would have pleased the contrarians in us if Portland's most famous (and most famously hated) doughnut shop had made a middle-of-the-pack showing in just one of blind taste tests. But it wasn't to be. Instead, Voodoo clocked in with a last-placed raised glazed, an eighth-placed old-fashioned and was only saved from having the lowest-rated fritter by Blue Star's swampy lavender mess (more on this later). The most common complaint? "Bad," "funky" oil, with more than one judge noting a "fish sauce" flavor. Yuck. (22 S.W. Third Ave., 1501 N.E. Davis St., with a food cart at the Cartlandia pod, 8145 S.E. 82nd Ave. and locations in Eugene, Austin, Hollywood, Orlando)

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No. 11: Blue Star Donuts

Raised glazed (5th), old-fashioned (3rd), fritter (12th)

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Score: 4.29

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If Voodoo hadn't already claimed the title, Blue Star Donuts, with its brioche dough and fancy flavors, would be a slam dunk for the city's most polarizing doughnut shop. Still, we figured the $3.50+ price tag would buy them a top spot. And yes, after a middling fifth place for the raised glazed category, the nontraditional chocolate cake doughnut was a ringer in our chocolate old-fashioned rankings. Live by the nontraditional doughnut, die by the nontraditional doughnut. With its soupy middle and off-putting flavor, Blue Star's lavender fritter dragged its score down to this penultimate position. (Locations throughout Portland, Beaverton and Southern California)

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No. 10: Coco Donuts

Raised glazed (11th), old-fashioned (10th), fritter (8th)

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Score: 4.5

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What's that they say about not judging books by their covers? It works the other way, too. Coco Donuts, the smartly branded, expansion-minded shop consistently scored in the bottom half of our rankings. The best of the bunch was the Heidi-braided apple fritter, which some judges appreciated for its "crunchy crisp" exterior and "soft" interior. Though even that doughnut only came in eighth out of the 12. (Six locations throughout Portland)

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No. 9: Helen Bernhard Bakery

Raised glazed (7th), old-fashioned (11th), fritter (6th)

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Score: 4.71

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You might have gone by this converted home on Northeast Broadway a dozen times and not noticed there was a bakery there, let alone one that makes doughnuts. And that's OK. Helen Bernhard cracked the top half of our rankings with sixth-place finishes for both its raised glazed and its apple fritter. The anchor was the old-fashioned, which some judges said had an "odd" aftertaste, with one calling it "citrus-y" and another comparing it to "diet soda." (1717 N.E. Broadway)

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No. 8: Annie's Donuts

Raised glazed (4th), old-fashioned (6th), fritter (10th)

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Score: 4.75

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This old-school Roseway shop just avoids relegation for its generally bland doughnuts, earning a fourth-place finish for its raised glazed, a category that seems to reward blander doughnuts that blend in with the crowd. The old-fashioned also finished in the top half in sixth place, while the fritter was a misfire, coming in 10th. (3449 N.E. 72nd Ave.)

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No. 7: Krispy Kreme

Raised glazed (9th), old-fashioned (9th), fritter (4th)

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Score: 4.79

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How the mighty have fallen. This massive North Carolina-based chain, which once drew surefire traffic jams each time it entered a new market, couldn't even crack the top half of this relatively weak field. After ninth-place finishes for both their signature raised glazed -- a doughnut several judges described as having a "musty" flavor -- and their old-fashioned, the lone bright spot here was the fritter, which came in at a surprising fifth. (16415 N.W. Cornell Road, Beaverton; other locations in Happy Valley, Vancouver)

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No. 6: Heavenly Donuts

Raised glazed (9th), old-fashioned (4th), fritter (7th)

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Score: 4.79 (Heavenly wins tie-breaker with Krispy Kreme)

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When it comes to doughnuts, sometimes the best ability is availability. That's certainly true with this three-location mini chain Portland doughnut shops, all open 24 hours. Heavenly just sneaks into the top half of our results thanks to a strong showing in the old-fashioned category. (Heavenly tied with Krispy Kreme, but takes sixth thanks to its wild-card tie-breaker). (1915 N. Lombard St., other locations in Gateway, Gladstone)

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No. 5: Sesame Donuts

Raised glazed (2nd), old-fashioned (12th), fritter (4th)

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Score: 4.83

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With seven shops -- and, like Coco, a newer location near Portland State University -- Sesame took an under-the-radar path through our taste test. After its "dry" chocolate old-fashioned finished dead last in its category, the greasy-in-a-good-way apple fritter finished fourth and the innocuous raised glazed took second, carrying the shop into the top five. (1503 S.W. Park Ave.; other locations in Tigard, Hillsboro, Sherwood, Southwest Portland)

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No. 4: Donuts Plus

Raised glazed (3rd), old-fashioned (5th), fritter (9th)

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Score: 4.96

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This friendly Beaverton doughnut shop, first opened in 1981, scored well across the board, ending with a ninth-place finish for its apple fritter, fifth for its chocolate old-fashioned and third for its raised glazed. One judge called that "light," "fluffy" raised doughnut "a good baseline." "Perfect with morning coffee." (14740 N.W. Cornell Road, Suite 100)

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No. 3: Angel's Donuts & Ice Cream

Raised glazed (8th), old-fashioned (7th), fritter (2nd)

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Score: 5.21

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Prediction: Someone will scan this list, not immediately see the old-school Northeast Alberta Street shop Tonalli's and cry foul. If they were real fans, they would have noticed that their favorite changed its name earlier this year (according to the folks we talked to, Angel's ownership remains the same). The winner of our 2014 buttermilk bar challenge still serves a solid doughnut, particularly its apple fritter, one of the highest ranking doughnut in the entire competition. (2805 N.E. Alberta St.)

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No. 2: Top Pot Doughnuts

Raised glazed (1st), old-fashioned (2nd), fritter (3rd)

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Score: 6

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This wasn't supposed to happen. On the day of the taste test, our visit to Donut Queen found the fritter specialists unexpectedly closed. As a replacement, we grabbed some Top Pot doughnuts from the nearby QFC. And lo and behold, the supermarket version of this Seattle-based shop nearly won the whole competition, scoring all three doughnuts in the top three, with a first-place finish for their classic raised glazed. "Nicely puffy," one judge wrote of that raised doughnut, "with a glaze that is just the right thickness and texture." (Available at QFC supermarkets throughout the Portland area)

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No. 1: Delicious Donuts

Raised glazed (6th), old-fashioned (1st), fritter (1st)

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Score: 6.125

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If you've visited this friendly doughnut shop at the bottom of East Burnside Street, you've probably enjoyed a classic doughnut and a wish from owners Boun Saribout and Penny Nguyen to "have a delicious day."

If that doughnut was a fritter, congratulations, you just ate the highest-rated doughnut in our competition, a "crazy crunchy" fritter with "big fruit flavor" and a "marshmallow-y" note to the frosting. One judge noted the "fresh-tasting" oil, which "seeped into the dough like a smoke ring on good Texas barbecue." But this isn't a one-hit wonder. The chocolate-old fashioned also won its category, while the raised glazed cracked the top half-dozen.

Saribout and Nguyen are high school sweethearts turned business owners who have been making doughnuts here since 2005. The couple are parents to three sons, Aiden, 8, Jaeden, 7 and Raiden, 3 -- "we named him for Mortal Kombat," Nguyen says of their youngest -- plus a dog, Q-Tip. The secret to their award-winning doughnuts? Shop-made frosting, clean oil and "the love that my husband puts into it," Nguyen says. (12 S.E. Grand Ave.)

-- Michael Russell

Staff writers Tim Brown, Eder Campuzano, Jamie Hale, Molly Harbarger, Elliot Njus, Kristi Turnquist and Amy Wang contributed to this report

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