Woodland Coffee

Woodland Coffee

Description on   Woodland Coffee’s website : Good Coffee Good People

Neighborhood:Frelard (Fremont/Ballard)

Address: 1417 NW 54th St #101, Seattle, WA 98107

Music Playing: Nothing Breaks Like a Heart by Mark Ronson ft. Miley Cyrus

What we ate/drank: Cortado

Comments: Stumbled upon this place when going to the El Camion Taco Truck(which is not there anymore!) on 54th. Woodland Coffee is in a newer building(Studio Works) which houses a lot of small businesses.

Here’s the history of how Woodland Coffee came to be from their website:

Woodland Coffee began in 2016 out of our family’s love for coffee and a nonchalant place to get it. It all started with our mom and dad’s love for coffee in Seattle in the 80’s, 90’s. The coffee scene was small but growing, and we went to the places that got it right, like Allegro. Our weekend ritual was to grab the dogs, drive to the U-district for coffee and head to Woodland Park. The dogs would run, we would get muddy but at least we were caffeinated. Twenty or so years later, while we don’t spend every weekend together, the tradition of grabbing coffee and getting outside persists. Finally in 2016 our dad built StudioWorks in Ballard with a small allotted space for his dream coffee shop. The youngest (of us) runs the store and the rest of the family pitches in. At Woodland we want everyone to be able to have the feeling of the good old 90’s coffee shop, where we want no snobbery just good coffee.

I like it. It’s a mish mosh of styles and seating areas.  You have the modern 4 leather chairs in the corner, the long high counter for single seating looking out on the patio. You have a oval community table that has 8 chairs in the middle and few bar type high tables for four and then the bench seating near the store front. As mentioned there’s also a patio area, which is rather large.

There are plants throughout which makes the space feel fresh and there’s a lot of decorative woodwork on the wall.  It’s a dog friendly place, so that’s a plus. They use Olympic Coffee Roasters for their beans. There is a small case of pastries and a few sandwiches.

I have a few qualms, but this is more personal preference, so others may love it.  1) The music is really loud. 2) The lighting is a bit on the bright side. It’s probably due to the fact that it’s north facing storefront, so not much natural light gets in.  My preference is warm lighting when going to a cafe. The lighting here reminds me of being in school. 3) The other thing might be small issue, but may be important to others.  The website menu is off by about 30% to what is being charged in the actual store. For example, a Cortado is listed as $2.50 on the website, but is actually $3.25. It’s only .75 cents, right? So why quibble? But……

This is an area(Frelard between Fremont and Ballard) rife with breweries(Reubens, Lucky Envelope, Stoup, NW Peaks, Lagunitas, Peddler, Popluxe) but it is a wasteland for coffee. I think it’s because it’s more of an industrial area moreso than a neighborhood. But if you want a good coffee and a cafe to relax in after visiting all the breweries, Woodland Coffee definitely fits the bill.

Ratings(1-5)

Favorite Thing:  Really the only option in the area as far as we’re concerned and it’s a good option.

Atmosphere: 4.25

Service: 4.25

Food Options: 4.00

Overall: 4.25

Eavesdropping  Convo:  Couldn’t eavesdrop due to the music volume.

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