Caffe Umbria – Pioneer Square
Description on the Caffe Umbria website: Caffè Umbria’s flagship retail store is centrally located in Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square. Occupying the very site first established by the Bizzarri family roastery in 1986, the café offers an authentic Italian bar experience complete with expertly pulled espresso drinks, pastries, panini, gelato and fine Italian beer and wine.
Neighborhood: Pioneer Square
Address: 320 Occidental Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104
Music playing: None
What we ate/drank: Macchiato, Fruit Tart
Comments: Short story before the review. We just came back from Portland and did a lot of walking in the University District/South Downtown area of Portland and I just could not find a cafe to my liking. I must have gone to 5 different places and passed for various reasons-too small, not an inviting/comfortable atmosphere, not an impressive menu. I was definitely trying to find a uniquely Portland cafe to visit, but the majority of them only serve Stumptown beans, which I felt I could get anywhere. I wanted to find something I could not find back home in Seattle. Note: I did find one place called, Kiosko, that I wholeheartedly endorse. Anyways, back to the story. I was walking around with my daughter and was getting a little frustrated. I was close to just settling for whatever cafe we stumbled upon next, when lo and behold, a Caffe Umbria! This one was on Madison Ave. Of course it’s not a uniquely Portland cafe that I wanted, but I knew I’d get a great tasting drink, a nice ambience and a familiarity I needed at this point.
On to the review….
As mentioned in my Tempesta Coffee (RIP) the family that founded Caffe Umbria have a interesting coffee history in Seattle:
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 cafe really does have a European feel to it, not so much due to the interior, but more the location. It’s located on the Occidental pedestrian only area that’s a wide brick walk way lined with two rows of trees in the Pioneer Square neighborhood. It’s very different from their Westlake location, which is to be expected due to the neighborhood and size of the location.
The actual space is split into two spaces or three if you count the patio in the front. The interior is split between the ordering area where they make the drinks and prepare the food. The other portion is the seating area. The two spaces are divided by the de facto required detail of all Pioneer Square cafes, an exposed brink wall.
The seating area has a long upholstered bench, front window counter looking out on Occidental and at least 8 individual tables. The space can seat at least 50 people. The area is dark with the exception of front area near the windows, but there is lots of warm lighting. Dark wood chairs and dark blue walls add to the romantic dark feel. For this reason, we enjoy this atmosphere more in the dark winter days when we don’t mind being cozy and indoors than the few sunny summer days we have here in Seattle. The decor is highlighted by a big coffee roaster. Perugia is the capital city of the Umbria region in Italy and its symbol is the griffin which explains the big griffin displayed on the wall. Also displayed on the walls are Italian decorative platters. The magazine stand is also a nice touch.
The other part of the space where the ordering and drink making take place has a few standing tables and a counter near the barista where you can also stand and drink your coffee. The cordoned off patio area seats about 15 people.
In addition to pastries, there are also breakfast sandwiches. There’s also a gelato cart that i hadn’t noticed before though it’s hard to miss since it’s right next to the main entrance. They have a limited wine and beers selection, although the limited beer selection includes some of my favorites from Georgetown Brewing- Rogers’ Pilsner, Bodhizafa IPA, and Lucillle IPA.
One thing to point out is that on Fridays, if you buy a 12 oz bag of beans, you get a free drink.
Ratings(Scale 1-5)
Favorite Thing: Caffe Umbria’s education section on their website teaches you the proper way to brew your coffee using a Aeropress, French Press, Moka Pot, Chemex and Hario V60. I definitely used it to fine tune my brewing using my Bialetti
Atmosphere: 4.75
Service: 5
Food Options: 4.50
Overall: 4.65
Eavesdropping Convo: A guy and a gal appeared to be catching up after not seeing each other for a while. If I had to guess they either went to high school or college together. The guy was telling her that he was now an entrepreneur and created a business. I couldn’t really hear the details, but I could hear the gal very excitedly say the following intermittently throughout their conversation…..
Stop it! That’s amazing!
That’s definitely a dynamic market. Oh I didn’t mean to interrupt you, but go on!
Stop it! That is so cool!
Wow! That’s awesome! I’m so proud of you! So many people have ideas, but they die because the reality is that it’s a steep climb and people don’t put it into action
Love it!
If it’s not scary, it’s not worth doing , right?!
She sounded so excited for him and it sounded really genuine. I thought to myself, we all need more people in our lives like this gal-cheerleaders. She may not wholeheartedly agree with everything he’s doing, but she knows it takes a lot of effort and courage to start a business and is going to cheer him on. That’s what real friends do, cheer you on regardless of the circumstances
Zeitgeist Coffee – Pioneer Square
Description on Zeitgeist Coffee website : Designed different. We work hard to present a warm, pleasing place that is more in keeping with a traditional coffee house—a place for the exchange of ideas and a meeting place for the community.
Neighborhood: Pioneer Square
Address: 171 S. Jackson Street, Seattle, WA 98104
Music playing: Mean Streets by Tennis
What we ate/drank: Macchiato and a Top Pot glazed doughnut
Macchiato & Top Pot Doughnut
Comments: It’s become apparent to us that Pioneer Square has become the epicenter of quality coffee shops. Cherry Street Public House, Caffé Vita, Slate Coffee Roasters, in our opinion, have their best cafes here. Convoy Coffee and Elm Coffee Roasters have their only brick and mortar locations here. Now add Zeitgeist to the list.
I’d been to Zeitgeist before, but because it’s rather far from my work, it’s normally packed and there are so many other choices in the area, I don’t come here often. In talking to the baristas at Pegasus Coffee Bar about their favorite cafes to go to once they are off the clock, one of them mentioned Zeitgeist, so I’d thought I’d stop by.
There are a couple things I noticed right off the bat when ordering. This is the first cafe I’ve seen that offers both Mighty O and Top Pot(see Fun Fact below) doughnuts. The doughnuts are showcased side by side! Most places offer up one or the other and in most cases it’s Mighty O. You notice I never really talk about prices when doing these cafe reviews, but the second thing I noticed is that their drinks are on average about $.75 -1.00 cheaper than most cafes in Seattle. For non-coffee drinkers they had juice, a large selection of teas(15ish) and even bottled beers. For food options they have breakfast sandwiches, eggs, fruits(bananas,apples) and dedicated menu for sandwiches, soup and salads.
Like many of the Pioneer Square cafes, the location has exposed brick walls and wooden beams. Wow, these are some massive columns! The space has very tall ceilings(25-30 feet high), big windows for lots of natural light. The place is already big for Pioneer Square standards but the ceilings and windows make it seem massive. The natural rich colors of the wood used on the walls, counters and furniture add to the brightness of the space.
The space is divided by the front door and counter into two seating sections. There are two L-shaped high counters with stools that seat about 8 people each that look upon Jackson Street. Every few minutes you can watch the First Hill Street Car go by. The rest of the cafe has individual tables and chairs.
I’d say 1/4 of the people who come Zeitgeist Coffee have come from the King Street Station getting a cup of coffee while they wait to board their train. The other 3/4 are locals/regulars. There always seems to be a line as I mentioned up above, which is one of the reasons I don’t often come here, but I have to say the line moved pretty quickly considering most people are not ordering a quick brewed coffee, but an espresso based drink.
It reminds me of the Pioneer Square Caffé Vita in that there are lots of “things to look at”. As mentioned in a previous blog post, people call me a “Looker”. I don’t mean that as in, “wow, that guy’s a looker!” but more like “wow, that guy likes to look at things a lot.” The things at Zeitgeist I really enjoyed looking at:
- Their collection of old percolators that line their back wall from one end to the other. The way they have them displayed make it almost invisible. They’re all about the same size and all silver, so they almost all blend together, but it’s such a cool collection. At least, I think so.
- The old features/décor
- The art deco clock above the cashier/barista
- The old fan hanging from the wall
- The vintage percolator signage right behind the cashier
- The massive hanging lights
- The old school newspaper/magazine stand
- The ornate steel partition above the magazine stand. Remnants of a bank teller?
- The dictionary displayed above a map drawer that contain all sorts of little goodies.
- The small little counter in the middle of the space that has a banker’s lamp on it. It’s so out of place, but it’s not.
- Even the toaster near the coffee station is an older model.
Zeitgeist also closes relatively late at 7:00pm. Even though Zeigeist has gotten one of our highest scores, I’m still not sure how frequently we’ll come due to it’s location and that it’s always packed(for good reason). We will probably come if we are waiting to pick up somebody from the train station, First Thursday Art Walk or any other instance where we are in the area either super early in the morning or in the evening, when it’s more likely to be less crowded.
Fun Fact: One of the original founders of Zeitgeist, Michael Klebeck, went on to become the founder of Top Pot Doughnuts.
Fun Fact #2: Where did the name Zeitgeist come from? According to the Seattle Post Intelligencer(RIP), Founder Brian Yeck put the focus of the shop on art. “We always strive to show interesting, challenging and thought-provoking works,” he said. Zeitgeist means “spirit of the times,” and Yeck felt it fit.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: All the little “things to look at” mentioned above.
Atmosphere: 5.00
Service: 4.75
Food Options: 5.00
Overall: 4.85
Eavedropping Convo: Guy ordered his 16 oz Americano and waited at the hand off for the barista to make it. Gal after him also ordered a 16 oz Americano, but with 4 shots instead of 2. Barista calls out, “16 oz Americano”! Guy goes to grab it and is about to put in cream.
Gal calls out to the guy: Hey, I think that’s mine. I ordered a 16 oz American with 4 shots. Did you order 4 shots or a regular? I think you grabbed my drink.
Guy: Oh… sorry. I just ordered a regular Americano.
Gal: Yeah, I think that’s mine.
Guy: She just called out 16 oz Americano and I was next so I assumed it was mine. Sorry.
Gal: Yeah, no that’s mine. Goes to grab the drink from the guy.
Barista calls out: 16 oz Americano, 4 shots!!
Gal: Oh, There’s mine. Hands back the drink she just grabbed from the guy back to the guy. Grabs her drink and heads straight for the door. Didn’t even say, “Sorry for the mix up”. Really surprised how rude people are. The guy just took in stride.
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
Elm Coffee Roasters-Pioneer Square
Description on Elm Coffee Roaster’s website: All of our coffees are roasted on site, right in the back of our Pioneer Square café. Amid jute bags of green coffee from the best small-lot farms in the world, you’ll find us roasting, cupping and bagging our favorites of the season.
Neighborhood: Pioneer Square
Address: 240 2nd Ave South, Seattle, WA 98104
Music playing: Heaven or Hell by Waylon Jennings
What we ate/drank: Double Espresso and apple fritter from Mighty O
Comments: Elm Coffee Roasters is in the same vein as Slate Coffee Roasters and Broadcast Coffee, clean, minimalist and airy. They could have easily added more tables/chairs, but the way it’s configured keeps a nice airy feel. All together the place seats about 25 with bar seatings, a wrap around wood bench with individual tables for two and a couple of tables neat the front of the shop. The location has a kinda fancy kitchen in the country with marble counters and unfinished wood. And like many Pioneer Square businesses utilize the exposed brick walls in this old neighborhood. The walls are blank, the ceilings are white and the vents exposed. The storefront windows face south, but there are also some high windows facing east that let in a lot of light. The roasting equipment/area are located at the back of the location and is visible through a windowed partition.
There are pastries from The London Plane and Mighty-O(they seemed to have cornered the market on supplying local coffee shops). I ordered a doppio espresso and apple fritter. When my drink was ready, they brought it out to me at my table instead of calling it out at the bar, which was nice. I didn’t notice this until after I ordered, but they have some “combos” we’ll get the next time we visit.
- One & One –Macchiato and an espresso – $3
- One of Each-Espresso and brewed coffee – $5
- One of Everything-Macchiato, Espresso and brewed coffee. -For only $5
The barista said the name Elm Coffee Roasters is derived from the owner’s wife’s initials E.L.M. One last thing, if you are planning to plant yourself and work for awhile, don’t. There aren’t many outlets, if any, which I believe was done intentionally to create an atmosphere of relaxing and chatting instead of a room full of silent workers on their computers.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: Option of their “combos”-One & One, One of Each and One of Everything.
Atmosphere: 4.0
Service: 5
Food Options: 2.5
Overall: 4.0
Eavedropping Convo: Two guys chatting
Guy 1).… so I was going to offer my services or consulting help, but it sounds like you’ve got everything taken care of.
Guy 2) Yeah, surprisingly things are going rather smoothly. Knock on wood.
G1) Well, don’t hesitate if things change direction. Just reach out.
G2) I appreciate that. You’ve always offered some great guidance. I don’t want to end up like Gary.
G1) Wow, haven’t heard that name in awhile. How is ole Gary? Back on his feet?
G2) I haven’t seen him in awhile, but unfortunately last I heard he was still struggling. Had to downsize and sell his boat.
Cherry Street Public House – Pioneer Square
Description on Cherry Street Public House‘s website: Public House is a new take on what Coffee House has capitalized on, the need for great food and great coffee under one roof. With a more seasonal approach to the food menu, Public House will be serving a rotating menu of fresh and fun ingredients. When it comes to coffee, you can expect champion quality with every cup, including fun signature beverages.
Neighborhood: Pioneer Square
Address: 210 Occidental Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104
Music playing: Sulk by Trust
What we ate/drank: Guatemala//Ethiopian doppio espresso from Counter Culture Roastes. Bagel sandwich(bacon/egg/cheese)
Comments: Cherry Street Coffee has 11 locations and been in business for 20 years. That’s saying something in Seattle. All 11 locations are near the downtown vicinity, as far north as South Lake Union and as far south as Century Link Field and furthest east being First Hill. This particular spot is their Public House, which is located in the new Weyerhaeuser HQ Building in Pioneer Square and has been open for about a year. A lot of us longtime Seattlites would never have thought a place like this would exist in Occidental Park. I moved here in the mid 90’s and it’s always been a problem area. It’s great to see the transformation of the park the last few years.
The first thing you’ll notice is how big the space is. The space is split out into three areas:
- Area to the left has a long upholstered bench and individual tables and chairs for a coffee shop area.
- The middle section is meant for eating with marble table tops.
- Area way in the back that has a high top bar for laptops.
The owner describes the intended usage for the various areas in Barista Magazine:
“Obviously one of the big things in our industry is we get people who camp out on their laptops all day. And with our space we needed to make sure that people weren’t necessarily doing that in our prime dining area. So we created zones of the cafe. There’s a laptop bar area with plug-ins built into the counter, and then some two-top cafe bar seating. But then we have the dining hall area that gives you a different experience, with nice black chairs and round tables. There are no plug-ins; you really shouldn’t be on your laptop over there. But we didn’t go so far as to put signs anywhere. My goal with this space was for everything to just make sense—for the space to tell the story. And that has worked out well so far.“
The entire front of the cafe has huge windows looking out on Occidental Park that open up and would be great in the summer. The huge windows let in a lot of natural light and make for good people watching in Occidental Park. The space also has warm lighting which makes it good for relaxing in the evenings and a great meet up spot for First Thursday Art Walk in Pioneer Sq.
On this visit, I had a Guatemala/Ethiopian blend doppio espresso and a bagel sandwich with bacon, egg and cheese. I think the person who took my order was new and needed help from a colleague to make my espresso, but it tasted great and she was very pleasant and apologetic about the wait. I wasn’t in a hurry, but I appreciate it. Since it’s a public house, it’s gotta have alcohol. They’ve got beer on tap, wines and specialty cocktails. The family that owns Cherry St Coffee is originally from Iran, so the menu has heavy Persian influences-Persian stew of either beef/lamb, chicken or vegetarian seem to be the main dishes. For breakfast they have the usual avocado toast, waffles, breakfast sandwiches, scones and a house made quiche. Lunch options include the Persian stew, falafel, gyro, blt, salad and soup.
When I first got there, they were playing some odd synthpop music that didn’t really fit the atmosphere of the space, but that soon changed(see Eavesdropping Convo section below).
Cherry Street Public House closes at 5:00 on weekends and 7:00 on weekdays except on Thursday when they close at 8:30, because they have free live entertainment.
This place will definitely give La Marzocco a run for its money as a great place to meet up if you have a group of people.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: Having the option of coffee, booze, food and the ability to people watch in Occidental Park.
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
Food Options: 4.75
Overall: 5
Eavedropping Convo: Lady talking on phone with the speaker on while eating. This was way across the room and this place is pretty big so you know she was loud and had the speaker on full blast. Annoying.
Lady-I’m having breakfast at a cafe in Seattle right now. My flight leaves in a few hours. It’s super gloomy outside. I guess it really is true what they say about Seattle. How are things going?
Person on phone via speaker-Oh, you know. Puppy is doing fine. She is sooooo cute, but a handful.
There was more smalll talk for about 7 minutes for the entire cafe to hear.
Then………..I’m not sure if the workers turned up the volume on their overhead speakers or if it was a coincidence but Dancing Queen by ABBA started playing at a noticeably higher volume. So much so that she had to put the phone to her ear now. She left about 2 minutes later because she could no longer carry on the conversation. She didn’t even bus her dishes. If the workers increased the volume, Thank You Cherry Street Public House! If it was just a coincidence, Thank You, Universe.
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!
Victrola Coffee Roasters
Description on Victrola Coffee Roaster website: In our popular imagination the roaring 20’s represent excess, prohibition, flappers, and speakeasies. The era’s fingerprints mark much of what we do, from our passion for live vintage jazz to our cafes unique architectural charm.
Neighborhood: Capitol Hill
Address: 310 E. Pike Street, Seattle, WA 98122
Music playing: Starboy by The Weeknd
What we ate/drank: Americano, Macchiato, Iced latte, Apple Fritter, Maple Syrup Doughnut and Sugar Doughnut from Mighty O,
Comments: The Victrola Coffee Roaster is located in one of the old auto row buildings on Pike, which in the oldin days is where the car dealerships were centralized in Seattle. You can read more about the historic auto row here. The other thing about this particular location is that it’s a few yards away from the Starbucks Reserve, which is always teeming with out of town visitors. I’ll admit the “Willy Wonka” factor is pretty cool and I understand why visitors would want to go there, but I’d suggest you also visit Victrola Coffee Roasters. Or maybe you can just check out Starbucks Reserve, take your pictures and get a coffee here.
In addition to this location, Victrola also has another Capitol Hil location and one in Beacon Hill.
And like Caffe Umbria’s website, Victrola also has some really good educational videos on how to brew using Chemex, French Press, Conventional Drip, Pour-Over and even creating Latte Art. They also have videos on the difference between single-origin and blends, where coffee comes from and a video on how to convince habitual coffee drinkers to up their coffee game. That’s hardcore.
Their pastries are from Mighty-O Donuts and their sandwiches are from Bread & Bone.
The café is bright, especially in the morning with the huge south facing windows. There’s lots of space including a huge community table in the middle w/ten seats. There are more seats and tables along the exposed brick walls and front window with wood furniture throughout-tables, chairs, counter. The graffiti art on the walls give the space a nice splash of color. This location has a nice relaxing feel to it. One of those places you’d like to do a cross word puzzle on a lazy Sunday morning.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: The huge south facing windows which brighten the entire café.
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 4.5
Food Options: 4.5
Overall: 4.75
Eavesdropping Convos: Two guys leaving….
G1-See you later.
G2-Yeah, see you at JJ’s.
G1-What’s going on at JJ’s?
G2-C’mon, March Madness, dude. Didn’t he tell you?
G1-Nah.
G2-Well………just come by, man.
Name: Caffe Vita
Description on their web: By creating an environment where the customer can see, touch, and taste the coffee they purchase, we provide a unique learning opportunity that allows our coffee to speak for itself. Caffe Vita is always fresh, imported directly from the farm and roasted on-site.
Neighborhood: Pioneer Square
Address: 125 Prefontaine Pl South, Seattle, WA 98104
Music playing: Conventional Wisdom by Built to Spill
What we ate/drank: Americano, Frosted Apple Fritter from Mighty-O
Comments: Unlike Caffe Ladro, that seems to have a different vibe per location, Caffe Vita locations all seem to have the same vibe-warm and comfortable. Of all the Caffe Vita locations, this is by far my favorite. Some thing to be aware of — this location is not open on the weekends, but all their other locations are. I guess Pioneer Square is generally a ghost town on the weekends. Another thing I didn’t realize is the Capitol Hill location is open until 11:00pm for all you night owls. They also have locations outside Seattle in Portland, NY and LA.
This particular location has an industrial look with huge steel supports, a huge metal staircase and bar stools made from camshafts. Because of it’s size, it’s good for groups. A huge community table is located in the front along with 3 or 4 tables for two. In the back is more bar seating. That’s not all. They have an upstairs area with a leather couch and a few more table seatings with a really interesting glass coffee table that have a huge cut section of a tree trunk surrounded by a steel mechanism.The ceilings have to be at least 25 feet high, which means the huge windows allow in a lot of light.
For all you vegans out there, you’ll be happy to know that their pastries are from Mighty-O Donuts. I had a huge apple fritter that had an unusually large portion of frosting(see pic above) with my Americano. The cashier said, “Looks like they put extra frosting on this one for you”
People call me a Looker. I don’t mean that as in, “wow, that guy’s a looker!” but more like “wow, that guy likes to look at things a lot.” This Caffe Vita location has a lot of cool things to look at-the coffee grinder in the front window, the coffee table pictured above, their huge siphon, and even the floor tiles, which are definitely original.
Ratings(Scale 1-5)
Favorite Thing: All the cool things to look at-the coffee grinder in the front window, the coffee table pictured above, their huge siphon, and even the floor tiles,
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5 + 1 extra point(see below)
Food Options: 3
Overall: 4.5
Eavesdropping My Convo: Let me preface the story below. I’ve always been interested in Caffe Vita’s logo. It’s dude who looks like a court jester who is offering up a cup of coffee. I was trying to make small talk with the cashier and asked about the origin of of the logo for “Caffe Ladro“. Yes, I asked her about the logo of a different cafe. As you can see from the two logos below side by side, there is nothing in common except both are humans and both are wearing hats.
Anyways, here’s how it went down. I had just put in my order.
Me-You know the logo for Caffe Ladro, the guy with the trench coat? What’s the origin? What does it represent? Remember, my dumbass is in Caffe Vita.
Cashier – Looking perplexed. You mean……..
Me- You know the silhouette of the guy in a trench coat.
Cashier- Well different coffee places have different logos, but Cafe Ladro’s owners probably had their logo of what they envisioned a typical Seattle person looking like, bundled up in a hat and trench coat. She even physically showed me how a bundled up person looks similar to the logo!
Me- Ahhh…. Ok.
Cashier- Yeah, no problem.
I sat at a table and waited for my drink. I started thinking of the conversation. By the way she phrased her answer, it finally dawned on me. I was mortified when I realized I had asked her about another cafe’s logo.
After I realized what I had done, my first thought was, wow I can’t believe she was so nice and actually tried to explain a another cafe’s logo. She was not condescending in any way and was genuinely trying to answer my question. I never did find out about Cafe Vita’s logo, but I did find out about the Cafe Ladro’s logo from Cafe Ladro, which I’ll write about next.
When I do find out about the Vita logo, I’ll report back.
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