A(Male-28) was from Dublin, Ireland. He spent 8 months at University of Chicago and a few months at University of Michigan doing research in biology. He had about a month and a half to travel in the US until going back to Ireland. Upon his return to Ireland, he will spend one week at home in Dublin and then move to Edinburgh, Scotland for his Phd. I told A to meet me a Trabant(now Slate) in Pioneer Square. He had spent the previous night in Seattle in a motel in a shady area of SODO. He ended up staying for two nights. We did a lot of drinking and talking.
A’s Questions/Observations about the US:
- He really enjoyed his time in Chicago and the US in general due to it’s diversity in people and variety in food, which he said Ireland is lacking in both. Said he’ll miss tacos the most.
- His favorite city was New Orleans because it’s so different from the rest of the cities. He said he couldn’t bring himself to carry around a drink in the streets, because it just felt wrong.
- Coincidentally, an Anthony Bourdain episode on Dublin was on TV while he stayed with us. He found it really fascinating what this American thought about Dublin’s restaurant and pubs.
- Said he talks in a modified “US” Irish accent because if he talked with his normal Irish accent, nobody in the US would understand him. Even with his modified accent, I had a hard time understanding him.
- Like many of my other foreign visitors, commented on how clear my HD TV is. It’s just a normal TV from Costco, so maybe HD is not prevalent in many countries yet.
- Found US people very helpful. In fact he got a job after meeting somebody at a Couchsurfing event in Chicago which stopped him from having to leave the US. And it was only a week before his deadline to leave if he did not have a job.
A’s Questions/Observations about Seattle:
- Somebody else on Couchsurfing in Seattle agreed to host A, but when he replied he misspelled her name because he was using his cell phone. She got upset and didn’t want to host him anymore. He said that was his first impression of a Seattlite.
- Really enjoyed Pike Place market, but wasn’t impressed with the gum wall because they have one in Dublin too. Wanted tacos so we went to Los Agaves and wanted a patio, so we went to Maxmillien for drinks. He really liked the “secrecy” of the Maxmillien patio.
- Also enjoyed Discovery Park. He thought the views of the water and the park itself were great and was shocked that a park that big would be so near to downtown.
My observations of A/Learnings from A:
- He had been to the US 4 times before and had traveled to Chicago, NY, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, DC, Knoxville, Atlanta, New Orleans, Austin, San Francisco. I thought he must travel a lot in Europe, so I asked where he’d been. He’d only been to 3 countries outside of Ireland. He advised he hasn’t travelled a lot in Europe because everything is so close and he takes it for granted.
- He said a lot of young people in Ireland leave to Canada and Australia for construction jobs. They make a lot of money overseas, the countries speak English and these countries heavily recruit in Ireland because they know there are a lack of jobs there.
- He said he believes it’s a good idea for people to leave Ireland and work abroad so that when they come back to Ireland they can bring new ideas back with them.
- He said in Ireland they are trying to pass a law that allows old people to drink and drive, because old people are just staying at home because they can’t drink and drive and there’s no public transport and they can’t afford a taxi. He doesn’t think it will pass.
- He said Dublin doesn’t have popular sights so he believes it’s boring and visitors only need to stay for just two days.
- We talked about Northern Ireland and Ireland. He explained half of North Ireland is Catholic and half Protestant, which is why they are part of the UK. There is one county up north that is fully Catholic, but can’t be a part of Ireland due to geography. The IRA is active in Northern Ireland and had a “peace” treaty signed, but there was a splinter group who then also signed a treaty, but then another splinter group was created.
- Said that the Irish can relate to Palestines due to their common histories. I found this really interesting.
UPDATE: During my trip to Ireland in 2018, we met up for dinner and drinks, so he returned the favor
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**********12/20-Unfortunately, This Business Has Closed Down**********
Description on Tempesta Coffee website: Truly great coffee meets truly great donuts
Neighborhood: Belltown
Address: 2103 3rd Ave, Seattle, WA 98121
Music playing: None
What we ate/drank: Glazed Sprinkle Donut and a Torrefazione Italia Americano, Chocolate Doughnut, Vanilla Seahawk Doughnut
Comments: I have a future post coming up that settles the score once and for all who has the best donuts(or doughnuts) in Seattle, Top Pot or Mighty-O. I may have been a little too hasty, because a new challenger appears. Tempesta Coffee may have the best donuts of all.
I happened upon Tempesta Coffee by accident. I had to drop my daughter off at daycare and took the E bus into work, which I don’t normally take. One positive about taking a new bus route is it takes you past places you don’t normally see. On this occasion it took me through a part of Belltown I haven’t been to in a while. I noticed one block prior to my stop, the bus passed a little coffee shop, Tempesta Coffee.
I believe this used to be a one chair barbershop if I remember correctly. I decided to check it out. The place is tiny. It will give Pegasus Coffee Bar a run for its money as the Smallest Coffee Shop in Seattle. There’s no chairs and one cocktail table that might serve two standing people, so it’s definitely a grab and go type of place.
It’s the type of place you’d stop on your way to work or stop in for a short coffee break in the afternoon before heading back to the office. It would be great if they could somehow expand so you could enjoy your coffee and donuts right on the premises or perhaps add a few chairs/tables outside.
I see it’s connected to what appears to be a couple of garages/store units that they could possibly expand into, but it may not be owned by them. I found out that Tempesta Coffee is from the same folks who own Orfeo next door, Steelhead Diner and Blueacre Seafood.
The coffee they used is from Torrefazione Italia. The 12 oz comes with 2 shots and the 16 oz comes with 4 shots for all you caffiene fiends. I’m not aware of too many coffee shops that use this coffee, but whether it’s the beans or the person preparing it, it’s exceptional. I went two days in a row, because I thought the first drink I got was an anomaly, but the next day was just as good. You noticed, I don’t really discuss the quality of coffee in my reviews because I figure all drinks are superb at any Seattle coffee cafe that I would frequent.
I’ve got to say, their Americano is soooo good. I had their Americano in the morning and had one in the afternoon at Espresso Vivace. I don’t know if it was an off day for Vivace and an exceptional day for Tempesta, but it was not even close. It wasn’t a standing 8 count, it wasn’t a TKO, it was a bonafide knockout with Tempesta as the victor. It was that huge of a disparity.
History Lesson: For those of you new to Seattle, Torrefazione Italia used to have cafés in Fremont and Pioneer Square. The founders then formed a relationship with Seattle’s Best Coffee where they shared a roastery. Then Starbucks bought both, Torrefazione Italia and Seattle’s Best Coffee. Although Starbucks decided to continue selling the coffee under the Torrefazione Italia brand, they closed the Seattle cafes along with the other Torrefazione Italia 15 cafes around the US and Canada. One good thing that came out of the demise of the cafes is that the family that previously owned Torrefazione Italia before being bought by Starbucks, went on to create another roaster and multiple cafes, which became Caffe Umbria. One final bit of trivia, the first Caffe Umbria location is the one in Pioneer Square. It was also the first location of the first Torrefazione Italia cafe.
The donuts are made there onsite. I believe it might be Orfeo’s kitchen. $2 for small batch donuts? Sign me up. For some reason, I love that the donuts look imperfect. The glaze was uneven and not a perfect circle, but it just confirms that the donuts are small batches and not mass produced. Some of the donuts from other Seattle donut institutions are so perfect looking they’re made for instagram, but perhaps it just confirms that they are made in mass?
These donuts are not too soft and airy like Krispy Kreme, but also not super dense and of course super delish. In addition to the donuts they also have a breakfast sandwich, a ham and cheese sandwich and get this, a mufuletta sandwich! How random. I’ll definitely have to try it. If the donuts are any indication of the quality to expect, I’m super curious. It appears they are creating an online order process on their website, but it’s not functional at the moment.
The service was friendly and knowing it was my first time, she gave a lot of information about the drink, the donuts and the mufuletta. A couple of insider tips, if you are going to come in for a dozen donuts or more, call in and they can prepare it for you. While I was there she was trying to prepare a 3 dozen and a dozen donut order. Because this is small batch, I wonder if there is only a limited amount of donuts available each day? I’ll have to ask next time I’m in. Also for the muffuletta, call in 10-15 minutes prior to pick up and they can make it ahead of time so you don’t have to wait.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: The small unassuming Tempesta Coffee makes me feel like I’m in on a Seattle little secret(for now) for great donuts and a rarity in Seattle, mufuletta sandwiches.
Atmosphere: 3.50
Service: 5
Food Options: 5
Overall: 4.50
Eavedropping Convo: None
J(Female-36) was from Korea. She was doing a 6 week travel around North America. San Francisco, Chicago, Toronto, Niagra Falls, NY, DC, Miami, Cancun,Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Vancouver. She had worked in Australia for 2 years and in Rome and London as a nanny. She currently works for a golf club in Korea and since the club closes for 6 weeks in the winter, she decided to take a trip.
J’s Questions/Observations about the US:
- She said she loves hearty breakfasts so the huge portions and heavy types of food(hash browns, pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, ham) in the US suit her more than Korean breakfasts back home.
- The thing that stood out to her about Seattle versus the other US cities she visited were the amount of parks we have here. It’s also much “calmer”
- Said she was thoroughly confused about US tipping at restaurants-“Why don’t they pay them a proper wage instead?” Good question, J.
J’s Questions/Observations about Seattle:
- She loves coffee, so she was excited to be in Seattle since in Korea Seattle is known as the coffee capital of the world.
- Shockingly, our dog who is very clingy to us, slept with J while she stayed with us. Funny side story: J took tons of pictures(5 memory cards worth) while in Seattle. After she left I told her to send me her pics. Within the hundredas of pictures she took, there were probably 15 selfies of her and our dog, while she only had one picture of us.
- She saw the Seattle Parking Enforcement cart(the one that looks like a golf cart). She asked what it was the person who gives out parking ticket drives. She laughed and started taking pictures. “They make the police ride in that?!”
My observations of J/Learnings from J:
- Gave me the origin of Gangnam style. Gangnam is an area in Korea that is hip/upper class, so the singer is saying, “I’m from Gangnam, check out my style. It’s better than yours.”
- None of her friends want to travel far, so they go to China, Philippines and Thailand. She’s the outlier in her group of friends since she likes to travel to further destinations and often has to go by herself. She did convince one of her friends to travel with her, but since J wanted to cram as many sights as possible into the trip, it was too intense for her friend and so she never traveled with J again.
- She made two or Korea’s most popular dishes for dinner-bimibap and Korean pancakes. She left instructions and list of ingedients on how to make it.
- She said in Korea, people are very vain so it’s very common to have plastic surgery especially for women. She mentioned there’s a lot of peer pressure to get this done to keep up with your friends. She said even if a woman is already married, they will still get pressure from friends to get plastic surgery. And if somebody is not good looking, people will wonder why she is not having surgery. This is a phenomenon that is recent-last 20 years.
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Convoy Coffee – Pioneer Square
Description on Convoy Coffee website: Manually brewing single origin coffees from Washington’s best independent coffee roasters, we’re here to share the bounty of the coffee capital with our community.
Neighborhood: Pioneer Square
Address: 220 2nd Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104
Music playing: Do it Well by DVSN
What we ate/drank: Street Bean Ethiopia-Pour Over
Comments: Convoy Coffee started out as mobile bike coffee cart, which I’d seen regularly at the University Farmer’s Market for the last several years. Back then they were known as Handlebar Coffee. When I first saw they bike coffee cart, I thought it was ingenious idea. They could go to where the crowds are and I’m sure the novelty of ordering coffee from a bike cart helped with their patronage.
I had passed by their current brick and mortar location a few times, but never put two and two together that it was the same as the “coffee bike guys”. I’m pretty certain that this location used to be a gallery, but it’s now home of Impact Hub, a shared workspace. Convoy Coffee is located in the lobby. Due to the triangle shape of the building there are windows surrounding the space which makes it really bright and airy. There are a few tables next to the counter, but there is a ton of space upstairs. I’m not sure if it’s a shared area with Impact Hub or if it actually belongs to Impact Hub, but that’s where I enjoyed my coffee.
Convoy Coffee specializes in brewing Washington independent coffee roasters and on this occasion they were serving the following for pour over:
Street Bean Ethiopia
Helium Ecuador
Dorothea burndi
The barista grinded the beans on the spot and let me smell it and explained the nuances I should taste. He was super friendly and you could tell he was enthusiastic about his craft. I saw that he finished with the pour over and called out the order, but I didn’t hear it. I checked with him to make sure it was mine and he said, “That’s for you sir, thanks for checking with me”. What a nice guy. They had bags of beans for sale from Kuma, Elm, Velton’s and Olympia Coffee. There was a small variety of pastries from Salmonberry Goods. I noticed a record player near the counter like Slate Coffee Roasters has, but it wasn’t being used. With so many choices in the neighborhood, literally blocks away, such as Elm Coffee Roasters, Caffe Umbria, Cherry Street Public House and Zeitgeist Coffee there’s a lot of competition. Even so, this my favorite in Pioneer Square for an early morning coffee, because you’re getting the full effect of the sunrise due to the windows being on all sides.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: How bright the space is due to having windows surrounding on all sides.
Atmosphere: 4.5
Service: 5
Food Options: 3.75
Overall: 4.5
Eavedropping Convo: None
Moore Coffee –Belltown
Description on Moore Coffee website: We may be small but our coffee is big with flavor.
Neighborhood: Belltown
Address: 1930 2nd Ave, Seattle, WA 98101
Music playing: Benita Du Luz by Mana
What we ate/drank: Americano. Unfortunately, I was there before they were starting breakfast.
Comments: Moore Coffee is probably best known for their latte art. I’m not normally a latte drinker, so part of Moore Coffee’s appeal is lost on me. The last time I visited there was construction going on outside, but there is a huge patio area right outside the store front that can be utilized once construction on the building is completed.
Moore Coffee is situated between the Moore Theatre and the Moore Hotel. It’s actually connected to the lobby of the hotel. They also have another branch a block away nearer to Pike Place Market. As you enter this particular Moore Coffee, there are two big leather seats near the front door and the counter where you order. There is a separate room that seats about 20 that includes leather couches on opposite ends with single tables and individual chairs as well as window seating looking out on 2nd Ave. This room also contains the kitchen area for waffles and sandwiches(see below)
They use Caffee Darte beans for their coffee and have various food items such as yogurt, hard boiled eggs, oatmeal’s fruits, pastries and tamales! This is the first coffee shop I’ve seen with tamales as an option. They also have various teas available. They also have sweet and savory waffles. I was looking forward to an Apple Cinnamon waffle, but it slipped my mind that they don’t serve waffles until 8:00am and I was there too early. They also serve sandwiches after 10:00am.
Like Cloud City, they have punch cards that are kept on the premises so you don’t have to carry it around. Their system is a vertical card holder on the wall with the cards kept in alphabetical order.
The things I enjoy about Moore Coffee are the quirky little features all around the location-the video fireplace, the little tv with static that says, “pick up here”, the old time telephone hanging on the wall behind the barista, the mix of “fancy” chandeliers and picture frames mixed with simple furniture, the burned food menus, the interesting pulley lamps with Edison bulbs.
I’d say it’s the perfect place to get a coffee before seeing a show at Moore Theatre but they close at 4:30. But if you are a huge fan of latte art or need a quirky place to relax with a coffee, waffle/sandwich, Moore Coffee is a good option in Belltown.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: All the little quirky things listed above.
Atmosphere: 4.5
Service: 4.5
Food Options: 3.75 prior to 8:00, 5.0 after 8:00.
Overall: 4.5
Eavedropping Convo: Couple coming in from the hotel.
Guy-I had no idea Seattle had so many homeless people. I think there’s more here than Vegas.
Gal- I don’t know about that.
Guy-It’s pretty close.
Gal- I don’t get it. I mean I understand that people in Las Vegas might have a gambling problem, then lose all their money and then lose everything and become homeless, but I don’t get it why there are so many here
E(Female-28) was from Salt Lake City, Utah. E was a health coach(nutritionist) taking some courses here in Seattle and needed a place to stay. I ended up meeting her at the ID Link Light Rail station. It was her first time couchsurfing and her mom up until the very instant she got off of the Light Rail, was trying to convince her to get a hotel. We didn’t see much of her during the day while she was at class, but we hung out at night and she was able to do some sightseeing with some of the people she met during her courses.She said she was a democrat, not Mormon and grew up in SLC her entire life, which makes her an anomaly. She knew who Shepard Fairey was when she saw my framed prints, complemented my furniture and brought a 22oz Odin’s Gift Amber Ale. This gained her a lot of points in my book. The only real travel she had ever done was a one month work study in France. Our dog had an accident in the house twice(I believe she was sick) and E cleaned it up without me knowing both times. She was an awesome guest! Once of her hobbies was roller derby.
E’s Questions/Observations about Seattle:
- She was shocked how much our sales tax is. 9.6% sales tax(6.5% for Washington and 2.7% for Seattle). Utah is only 3%.
- She said the roads in Seattle are curvy and in some areas there are no lines on the street, only reflectors.
- She thought the faucet water was some of the best drinking water she ever had.
- She thought Seattle was a very walkable city compared to Salt Lake City.
- She thought the 99 tunnel was really cool
- She thought Seattle drivers were “unusually courteous”
My observations of E/Learnings from E:
- She informed me that Utah has no helmet law, just implemented a seatbelt law and has no cellphone law.
- She’s a voracious reader of books, but she felt guilty about all the trees that died to feed her reading habit.
- I thought this was really interesting. On Monday, a local bar near my house has karaoke. I went there to get a burger and E contacted me. I told her I was at the bar and to come and join me. She did and was so happy that they had karaoke. She told me there are only 2 bars in Salt Lake City that have Karaoke. I found this odd for such a big city. She said the reason is bars don’t offer it because they’ll lose money. Huh? She went on to explain that Mormons love to sing, so they will pack a place that has karaoke. The issue is that Mormons don’t drink, so you’ll have a packed bar that will make no money. She said she has never done karaoke for this reason. I goaded her into singing a song. She asked which one and I said, “Total Eclipse of The Heart” as a joke thinking she was too young to even know the song. She just said, “ok” and put in her request. Since she had never done karaoke before I figured she would just fool around and chalk it up to having a fun experience when it came her time to sing. I was flabbergasted when she went up and belted out the song. She was a really good singer and knew the song without having to look at the words. I asked how she knew it since she’s too young to know it. She said they had the song on Glee. That’s how she knew it.
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