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.