Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Coffee
434
A Seattle Coffeehouse Tour
Beyond Starbucks
Seattle, Washington
There's no better place in the United States
to overdose on espresso than Seattle,
Washington, the city that gave the world
Starbucks, for better or worse. Seattle
probably has more coffee bars per capita
than any other American city, and the qual-
ity is consistently high. Seattleites generally
subscribe to certain immutable tenets of
21st-century coffeehouse culture—opting
for recyclable containers, unrefined sugar,
and organic milk, while passionately argu-
ing the merits of different roasts and coun-
tries of origin, and parsing the finer points
of barista technique.
The original
Starbucks
store, which
opened in 1971, is still in operation as a
stand-up counter in the Pike Place Market
(1912 Pike Place). You'll know it by the
bare-breasted-mermaid sign outside—the
PG version of which has appeared on mil-
lions of cardboard cups since. Seattle's
oldest coffeehouse, however, is up by the
University of Washington,
Café Allegro
(4214 University Way NE;
&
206/633-
3030
), a student favorite tucked down an
alley around the corner from “the Ave,”
as University Way is nicknamed. (The cof-
fee may be even better, though, at comfy
University Zoka,
nearby at 2901 NE
Blakeley St.)
Seattle's best coffeehouses just keep rais-
ing the bar. David Schomer's perfectionistic
The Vashon Island Roasting Company—the original home of Seattle's Best Coffee.
