A four day "Caffeine Tour Of Seattle"

[jonbauer]

Hi All,

Long time no post.

Dave at EspressoParts has been posting some great Flickr shots of his recent trips to some amazing Seattle coffee shops http://www.flickr.com/photos/old_timey_dave/ He inspired me to book a last minute trip to Seattle this weekend to check out some of the great coffee myself. Yahoo Travel had a last minute excursion deal-e-o that included flight, hotel and car for about 285.00. Pretty good deal...

I'll be uploading pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonb...72157594527471659/

Dave gave me a bunch of coffee and food suggestions that I'll be hunting down through Monday. So far, his suggestions have been great! For pizza, Via Tribunali is one of the best I've had.

Here's my short list:

1 Zoka - 2200 North 56th Street Seattle, WA 98103 or 2901 NE Blakeley Street Seattle, WA 98105
2 Lighthouse Roasters - 400 North 43rd Street, Seattle, WA 98103
3 Trabant Chai Lounge - 1309 NE 45th St, Seattle, WA
4 Vivaci - 227 Yale Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109 or 321 Broadway Avenue East, Seattle, WA 98102 or 901 East Denny Way, Seattle, WA 98122
5 Victrola Coffee - 411 15th Avenue E, Seattle, WA or 310 E Pike Street, Seattle, WA
6 Top Pot - 2100 5th Ave, Seattle, 98121
7 Caffe Fiore - 3125 NW 85th St, Seattle 98117
8 Hotwire - 17551 15th Avenue NE, Seattle, Washington 98155

Added a few more too:

El Diablo Coffee Company
Caffe Vita
Caffe Ladro

Am I missing any great ones?

- Jon

[another_jim]

Cafe D'Arte, 125 Stewart Str, is an old time fave of among posters.

[jonbauer]

Thanks Jim. Went there this morning. I had already had 3 or 4 latte's and I don't think I paced myself well... It's HARD to do a caffeine tour after 3 or 4 lattes!

Am now hanging out at Caffe Ladro in Queen Anne. Nice place! Pretty good latte - ugh.

- Jon

[jonbauer]

Am now at Lighthouse Roasters. Excellent cup.

Wanted to mention a few things about my day...

1 So many La Marzocco's my head is spinning!
2 The dude at Top Pot was committing major faux pas! He was pouring fresh milk on top of already steamed milk. Very surprising.
3 Seattle is a much cleaner city than San Francisco.
4 The Yahoo weatherman sucks. The prediction for rain was horribly wrong, thankfully.
5 Having a GPS on a trip like this is a MUST.
6 Too much coffee in causes too much coffee out. If you know what I mean.
7 The coffee scene in Seattle makes the San Francisco scene seem like amateurs.
8 Seattle is a much calmer city than San Francisco.
9 I feel that Seattle would be a bad investment property investment today - so many places for sale!
10 There is no 10

- Jon

[starry]

I don't know if this thread is totally dead. I'm hoping not. I've worked in Seattle since 1987 and have still NOT made the rounds. Having become more interested in the world of espresso, I was wondering if there are any additions to the list of espresso-joints I should check out. Any suggestions anyone?

[Matthew Brinski]

I don't know if this thread is totally dead. I'm hoping not. I've worked in Seattle since 1987 and have still NOT made the rounds. Having become more interested in the world of espresso, I was wondering if there are any additions to the list of espresso-joints I should check out. Any suggestions anyone?

There are a couple of Stumptown locations there now. One on Pine, and the other on 12'th.


.

[starry]

Thanks. I'll check it out. Any others?

[Nick]

Neptune Coffee http://www.neptunecoffee.com/
Herkimer Coffee http://www.herkimercoffee.com/
Stickman Coffee http://stickmancoffee.blogspot.com/

Neptune has a fascinating one-cup brewing system that has just come on the scene... called "Dandelion." Check it out... a GREAT cup! I'm not kidding!

[peacecup]

Don't miss Caffe Umbria if you can avoid it. Emanule Bizzarri is a third generation roaster - his grandpa started in Italy, and his dad founded Torrefazeoni, before it was bought by Starbucks. He recently moved back into the original shop near Pioneer Sqaure.

http://www.caffeumbria.com/

And the Good Cofffee Co. has been roasting their own since Zoka was just a gleam in someone's eye - a complimentary lever shot with every bag.

Peace,

PC

[malachi]

Zoka
Lighthouse
Vivace
and...
of course...
Stumptown.
End of Story (really)

[desrever]

Caffe Fiore in Queen Anne: http://caffefiore.com/. The Old Ballard location, the newest store, is also a very nice cafe. The espresso blend is roasted by Vita, but I like it better than other Vita offerings. The best baristas work the morning rush, M-F.

Regarding Stickman in Fremont. It's only been open for a month or two, but I agree with the other poster, it has some promise. I was more impressed by the espresso than by either of two Clover-brewed cups I tried. Interior looks unfinished, I hope that's temporary.

[starry]

I went by Good Coffee twice now at mid morning and both times it didn't seem open and their hours aren't posted, so I called. The gentleman told me that it wasn't "a coffee drinking place" but rather it's a place to buy beans. Somehow I must have missed that somewhere! Duh!?

[NeptuneDan]

bummer

[starry]

I made an "espresso map" on Google that shows the places mentioned in this thread so if anyone is interested, they can find the names and addresses all in one place. You can see it here.

[roadman]

Thanks Ralph! I'll be visiting in Seattle in summer and this map will be a huge help.

Jon

[starry]

It was fun. I quickly learned that the density of these places in downtown is about 3 establishments per square mile. If you add-in S---bucks, Tully's, Seattle's Best and the others....yikes....we are one very addicted city!