The Seattle Coffee Shop Awards-Part 1

As you know Seattleites have the stereotype of being coffee drinking fools. This is no stereotype, we take our coffee seriously. And if you ask 20 different locals what their favorite coffee place is, you’ll most likely get 20 different answers.

These are our choices for Best Seattle Coffee Shop Awards. With two young’uns, we’ve had to trade in our frequency of night life in Seattle bars and pubs to morning life in a lot of Seattle coffee cafes.

In doing so, we’ve gotten to revisit a lot of coffee shops we hadn’t been to in a while and also got a chance to visit a lot of new places that had always been on our radar but never been able to go to.  We Seattleites are so lucky to have so many varieties of roasters and cafes in such a condensed area.

You’ll notice in our Coffee Shop blog posts we rarely mention how good the coffee is in each place, because we feel like it’s a given we’re going to get exceptional coffee.  If we happen upon a coffee shop in which the coffee is not good, we will not review it. This might be the reason you may not see a particular coffee shop on our blog.

Part 2 – Best Coffee Shops for Groups or You Want To Be Alone.
Part 3 – Best Seattle Coffee Drink Sets, Best Views
Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service 
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.

Best Seattle Coffee Shop Neighborhood  – Pioneer Square

There are only really two choices. Capitol Hill and Pioneer Square.  South Lake Union has ton of satellite branches of local Seattle cafes, but they’re mainly in the lobby of Amazon buildings and don’t have the atmosphere that most cafes have.  I also don’t consider Downtown Seattle a neighborhood.  We’re giving the nod to Pioneer Square.  You’ve got Convoy Coffee, Slate Coffee Roasters, Elm Coffee Roasters, Zeitgeist Coffee. In our opinion you have the best Caffé Vita, Caffe Umbria and Cherry Street Public House locations in Pioneer Square. You also have a wide variation of styles. You’ve got the old cafes with tons of character in Caffé Vita and Zeitgeist Coffee. You’ve got the more modern cafes with great views in Caffe Umbria and Cherry Street Public House. You’ve got the bright little start up spot of Convoy Coffee.  You’ve got the hardcore roasters of Slate Coffee Roasters and Elm Coffee Roasters.

Most Mentioned/Most Popular Seattle Coffee Shops  –  Espresso Vivace and  “The Caffes”

When talking favorite coffee shops with local friends, there four names continuously pop up.  These are the granddaddies of the Seattle Coffee Shop scene.

This actually makes sense because they all have an empire of multiple locations and all have been around for a longggggg time.  And of course they have great coffee and roast their own beans. In no particular order……

• Espresso Vivace– 3 Seattle locations. Established 1988.
• Caffé Vita– 6 Seattle locations. Established 1995.
• Caffe Ladro– 15 locations in the greater Seattle area(incl Bellvue, Kirkland, Edmonds, etc). Established 1994.
• Caffe Umbria– 3 Seattle locations. Established 2002 , but family behind Umbria has been involved in Seattle cafes since 1986.

Caffe Umbria

Most Underrated Seattle Coffee Shops  –  Tempsta Coffee, Convoy Coffee, Ghost Note Coffee

These are the exact opposite of the popular coffee shops. We never hear anybody mention these coffee shops.

1. Tempesta Coffee (RIP)
2. Convoy Coffee
3. Ghost Note Coffee
4. Realfine Coffee
5. Seven Coffee Roasters
6. Anchorhead Coffee Co
7. Analog Coffee

We believe these places are never mentioned, because they have never been visited by most people.  There are a lot of reasons why. Here are our theories. In the case of Tempesta Coffee (RIP), they’re in a super small unassuming space in the middle of Belltown. It’s so small there’s not even a single seat, but damn, do they have good Americanos. Convoy Coffee is also a small place and might be drowned out in a sea of great more established coffee places in Pioneer Square(see above). Most people know them as the bicycle coffee bar at the University and Ballard Farmers Markets.  Ghost Note Coffee is off the main streets of Pine and Pike in Capitol Hill and is relatively new. And although Realfine Coffee is not new to West Seattle, it’s very new to Capitol Hill and perhaps just gaining it’s footing. Seven Coffee Roasters is roaster in the middle of the Ravenna neighborhood and is disguised as a general store. Most people pass it and don’t even know it’s a roaster. Anchorhead Coffee Co is probably the most Instagrammable of the bunch, but it’s also relatively new being open for only two years. Lastly, I think Analog Coffee has actually gotten a lot of accolades and publicity, but nobody ever seems to mention it. Perhaps because it’s also in the middle of a neighborhood and not on a main avenue.  We’re totally fine with these places being underrated and undiscovered, so we have them all to ourselves.

Next: Stay tuned for our next installment of The Seattle Coffee Shop Awards.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
Part 2 – Best Coffee Shops for Groups or You Want To Be Alone.
Part 3 – Best Seattle Coffee Drink Sets, Best Views
Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service 
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.