Well, I was scheduled to run a half marathon in Las Vegas, but due to outrageous airfares from the Twin Cities, I decided to book a last minute trip to Seattle instead. I have been wanting to go to take a latte art class, visit LM, and all the outstanding cafes that are there. So trip is booked - two short weeks from now! I will be there for 4 days, so should be enough time to have some caffeine overload.

I know there are lots of previous Seattle threads, so I will try not to reinvent the wheel. I have just started with the planning, but so far here is what I have:

1) Latte art class at Seattle Barista academy. I have watched a lot of videos, but am still struggling, so decided I needed some personal instruction. Also may book some more individual instruction if I can find anything else that looks interesting.

2) Visiting LM, will do the LMLM vs GS3 demo. Want to learn more about those machines. They are on my short "upgrade" list along with Decent (which is likely what I'll end up with). Thinking of going to Slayer as well, since I will be out there. Has anyone done that before?

3) Of course, need to try as much espresso as possible. I am still quite new to this, but seem to gravitate to the comfort/Italian side of the equation. Definitely going to Espresso Vivace, Victrola Coffee, Caffee Umbria, Starbucks Roastery, Cafe vita, Milstead, and Slate. Still going through other threads to see what else to visit. I would like to go to Caffe Lusso, although the hours are somewhat limited during the time I am there. I can't tell - do they actually serve coffee there or is it just the roaster?

4) Any suggestions on places that have great nitro cold brew?

Any other suggestions are welcome. I am actively researching food as well. Should be a very educational and fun long weekend!

Kuma and Olympia are two roasters I would definitely add to your list, and would bump Vita and/or Umbria if you need to make room time-wise. Along with Victrola and Slate, those are my favorite local roasters. Elm Coffee Roasters is just a few blocks from Slate (both in Pioneer Square) and definitely worth a visit.

LM is a fun visit, especially because they have demo machines in the cafe that you can make shots on. Not usually many people doing so, hence often no wait. They always have interesting coffees available too. Milstead is also a multi roaster cafe.

What are your dates? Maybe we can get some people together for a cafe crawl.

The trouble with recommending visiting any cafe is of course that your experience is going to depend on the barista who's working and how busy the cafe is. My experience at La Marzocco and Milstead & Co has been wholly positive for the purposes of geeking out a bit with the baristas and getting a quality espresso / drink. Slate, imo, is a very hit or miss experience but I think your best bet is the pioneer square location. They do roast on the bleeding edge of light, with the exception of their blends. Victrola is great, but usually a steady line and more busy. Reliable coffee and espresso, though.

Completely agree about Kuma coffee. Top of my list for local roasters.

Cafe Lusso, being on the east side, will be a PIA to get to and out of your way from the rest.

If getting out of Seattle, you might consider Narrative coffee up in Everett.

As for 4) nitro, I think that Anchorheadcoffee (they have a Seattle location) is into the cold brew thing. I don't see anyone else suggesting an answer for that.

I don't know of any cafes that trend toward the "comfort/italian side of the equation" and get a lot of love on these pages, but I would suggest that you are right on with Vivace, Vita and Victrola in that direction. Also Caffe Umbria has a location quite near Pioneer square and italian style coffee is their thing.

I am not often in Seattle, but I have had great coffee over the years at the Stumptown locations and they may yet have 3 pm cupping at one of the Capitol Hill locations.

Last year's USBC champion, Cole McBride, is working at Ada's Discovery Café now, and it would be on my list for that reason alone if I were visiting.

- https://www.discovery.adasbooks.com/
- https://sprudge.com/cell-phones-robots- ... 37151.html

Umbria's Pioneer Square location is a block from Elm, so you could hit those two plus Slate in short order.

Agreed on Ryan's point re: barista on shift. Luckily you can stock up on fresh roasted beans no matter what - and I was just at Slate and they have plenty of the Adisu Kidane natural, just a fantastic coffee (which we've discussed before in the coffee forum: Slate Ethiopia Adisu Kidane Natural). They are pulling shots on a Slayer and most all of the staff know what they are doing.

grog wrote:Umbria's Pioneer Square location is a block from Elm, so you could hit those two plus Slate in short order.

Agreed on Ryan's point re: barista on shift. Luckily you can stock up on fresh roasted beans no matter what - and I was just at Slate and they have plenty of the Adisu Kidane natural, just a fantastic coffee (which we've discussed before in the coffee forum). They are pulling shots on a Slayer and most all of the staff know what they are doing.

Any Slate location is worth the visit just for that Adisu Kidane. It's a stunner.

Iowa_Boy wrote:Well, I was scheduled to run a half marathon in Las Vegas, but due to outrageous airfares from the Twin Cities, I decided to book a last minute trip to Seattle instead.

I think you may find that Twin Cities coffee rates pretty favorably in the end! (And if we got the few people with Decent espresso machines or Slayers from the Twin Cities I've seen on this forum to host us we could do a pretty spectacular class of our own, I bet...)

But you'll enjoy your Seattle coffee crawl. My favorite out there was actually in Olympia but I doubt you'll get that far down.

Thank you everyone!!

I will be in town Nov 9-12. Would definitely be open to a cafe crawl if anyone is motivated.

Tentative plan so far:
Friday PM: Caffe Lusso (hoping to try coffee from a Monolith), Espresso Vivace, ADA Discovery Cafe
Saturday AM: Olympia, Monorail, Anchorhead
Saturday PM: La Marzocco
Sunday: Elm Coffee Roasters, Caffe Umbria, Slate, Yuma
Monday AM: Starbucks reserve, Victrola, Cafe Vita, Slayer

I think that is about as much as I will be able to fit in terms of coffee (or maybe more than is doable)!
Any modifications?
Researching restaurants now...

@MNate: Totally agree! Love Wesley Andrews, and Quixotic is great for nitro cold brew. Would love to do a DE or Slayer get together! About to order some Paradise coffee next to try.