Slate Coffee Roasters
Description on Slate Coffee Roaster’s website: For us, quality is always the result of collaboration. To that end, we pursue relationships with everyone from the producers of our coffee, to our wholesale partners, suppliers, community, and guests.
Neighborhood: Pioneer Square
Address: 602 2nd Ave, Seattle, WA 98104
Music playing: Witch Hunt by Wayne Shorter
What we ate/drank: Deconstructed Espresso(Ethiopia Gotiti)
Comments: Let’s get one thing out of the way first. Just an fyi, you ain’t gonna find no frapuccinos here.
The word that comes to mind when visiting Slate Coffee Roasters is “Passion”. This passion might get in the way of what some people may want out of a coffee shop, such as super fast preparation, cheap drinks or flavored drinks. If any of these things are important to you, better to go somewhere else. But if you want quality coffee prepared by baristas who are passionate about the product and take pride in it and can speak about it in detail, Slate Coffee Roasters is the place for you.
I wouldn’t bring grandma visiting from out of town who normally drinks Folgers and just wants to catch up over coffee. I’d bring my out of town coffee nerd friend, who has heard so much about Seattle coffee culture and says, “Take me to a coffee place that can prove it!”
It’s literally yards right outside the Pioneer Square Link Light Rail Station exit, so if I’m meeting somebody in Pioneer Sq for coffee, I tell them to meet me here. Just as an fyi, if I’m meeting somebody for a beer, I tell them to meet me at Collins Pub right down the street.
Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but whenever I go it’s super quiet. This particular time, I could hear every conversation each customer was having with the barista, but everybody was strictly business, ordering their coffee. No small talk. I guess the customers match Slate Coffee, minimal, simple and to the point. The space is long and narrow with high ceilings with white walls and concrete floors. I noticed they have a record player with a bunch of albums. While I was there, they were playing jazz. In the front is a raised area with counters and stools in the front and a few individual table. The main part of the space has the counter where you order and where they prep the drinks. There’s a long wooden bench along the wall with individual tables and chairs. They had a few cookies made by Slate and only a few croissants and muffins. There are some signature drinks, but wish they’d provide a brief description handy so you’d know what Linus + Lucy, Royal Treatment and Oh My Gourd were. Their most popular drink is the Deconstructed Espresso, which is what I ordered and costs $7.
On this day this day the three drinks were:
- Ethiopian gotiti espresso
- Non-homogenized Milk(warmed). I think he said from Pure Eire)
- A combo of the two – macchiato or cortado?
When I ordered the barista asked if I had ever done a deconstruction before. I had not. When he brought it over he went into great detail about each profile and what type of flavors to expect. Each was served in a cordial glass. His suggestion was to sip by sip by sip from left to right to get a taste of each individually. Then do whatever I want. I could continue little sips of each or down each completely one at a time. I continued to do little sips and about half way through drank each completely. It was nice to try the components separately before having them together. It would be a great way to introduce the ingredients separately to people who don’t normally drink coffee.
Slate Coffee Roasters falls in the more modern/minimalist coffee shop, which to me means all attention is on the coffee. As mentioned the walls are white, the glasses are clear and simple, the menu is simple(notice in the picture above, no latte/cappuccino), even their no frills logo is very simple. It’s as if they don’t need any distractions and simply let their coffee do the talking. And if this really is their end goal, you know the baristas will be very meticulous when preparing your drink. They have locations in Ballard and University District and are very similar.
One thing very different is that they have different sizes of both 250g and 125g beans of sale. By having smaller size bags, this gives you a chance to try a bunch of different types without breaking the bank or having to endure finishing a big size bag you’re not crazy about. Also, each bag lists the roast date.
I know all roasters and cafés take pride in their quality and process, but I get the feeling the folks at Slate care just a bit more.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: The deconstructed espresso experience and barista who made sure I got the most out of it.
Atmosphere: 3.5
Service: 5
Food Options: 2.5
Overall: 4.25
Eavedropping Convo: There weren’t really any conversations to overhear as I mentioned above, but the closest was a customer ordering a to-go drink and listening to the jazz playing. When his drink was ready and he collected his drink, he told the barista- My son’s mother is a demon on the sax!