Convoy Coffee – The Brightest Cafe in Seattle?

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