Seattle Coffee Shops

First off let me apologize for a somewhat misleading title of this blog post. Although this post is about the coffee shops I visited while in Seattle, I was only able to go to two of them. So it's not as comprehensive as I would like it to be but the two I visited left a lasting impression.

Secondly, I know that Starbucks started in Seattle but I couldn't believe how many there are in the downtown area. I thought Seattle was suppose to be the top of the Coffee Culture food chain in the USA, but with so many Starbucks in such a small area I was beginning to have my doubts. But not to worry those doubts were put to rest once I got out of the downtown area.


So the first coffee shop I visited was Caffe Vita in Capitol Hill. Since I've heard good things about Caffe Vita and also liked their booth at Coffeefest, this place was on the top of my list to visit.  As I made the 2 mile hike from my hotel downtown to the Capitol Hill area my faith in Seattle as the center of all things coffee in the US was restored as I must have passed a dozen independent coffee shops with about half of those roasting their own beans.  My first impression of Caffe Vita was not a good one. It's a kind of dark and rustic place which too me didn't seem very inviting. Add to that the Barista put my small cappuccino in a to go cup without asking if that is what I wanted. With two strikes against it I took my to go cup of cappuccino and sat at one of the tables. There were a handful of people working furiously on their laptops in the cafe, which showed they had free wi-fi and didn't mind people hanging out.  I did also like how there was plenty of room and nice sized tables for people to work at and that there was also a upstairs area for even more room. As waited for my cappuccino to cool down a little I took in the decor again and started to see things I didn't notice initially. Like the art (see below) on the walls or the huge window that lets you see their gigantic roasting machine in the back of the building or the display case with Coffee Cups from other shops from around the world.

So with feeling a little better about this place I tried the cappuccino.  I was happy that it was well made and tasted good. And although the customer service given by the Barista sucked (also had a hard time buying some coffee as leaving), the coffee was good enough that I would give Caffe Vita a second chance and also my recommendation to others.

My next, second, and final stop was at Stumptown Coffee which was more to my liking.  It was a smaller shop then Caffe Vita but was better lit and more inviting.  Walking up to the counter to order I couldn't help but notice the beautiful La Marzocco Mistral machine that they use.

The staff here was very friendly and pegged me instantly as a vistor attending Coffeefest.  They not only made me a the best cappuccino I had that day but also offered advice about other coffee shops in the area to try out, some advice on the the different beans they offered for sale, and just some random chit chat.  This was a throughly enjoyable coffee shop experience and I highly recommend Stumptown Coffee to anyone who might ever be in the area.

One a final note, I know that a lot of other blogs that review coffee shops have straight espresso in order to determine the quality of beans, skill of the Barista, and taste of the drink.  And one day I might do that, but for now I'm going to stick with cappuccino's and tell you wether I liked them or not.  The coffee shop experience is so much more to me then how well made the espresso is and besides I'm just not the pretentious.

Coffeefest Recap Part III - The Seminars

For Part II of my Coffeefest Recap go here.

I was only able to attend a few of the seminars that were being held during Coffeefest because I was only there for 2 of the 3 days of the conference.  Which is why it is good that the organizers of Coffeefest had the foresight to have their most popular seminars held multiple times during the 3 days.  Most of the seminars I attended were very informative and led by people in the industry who were well versed in the subject matter.  Each seminar was held to just under an hour which seemed to be enough time to cover the subject matter and still have time left for some Q&A.  Since I'm looking to start my coffee business I focused on subjects that pertain to that, but they had seminars that covered everything from Latte Art to Espresso Machine maintenance to Roasting to Water quality to...you get the idea.  So with that here is a summary of the seminars that I attended:

Real Numbers from Someone who Operates a Successful Coffee Company 
The instructor of this seminar was Wes Herman the owner of Woods Coffee.  Woods Coffee started in 2002 and now has 9 stores in the Seattle area.  This seminar covered some of the costs associated with starting a coffee shop and the general monthly operating percentages that should be followed for things such as Cost of Goods, Labor, Occupancy Cost, Store operating, General Costs, and Net profit.  I found this class to be informative and liked that it was led by someone who can bring real world experience to newbies like me.

Opening a new Cafe?
This seminar was led by Tom Palm who has helped open over 700 cafes in his career.  He covered a lot of what to pay attention to during a build out of a new cafe, such building and health codes, building the menu, designing a proper floor plan, how much does it cost and how long will it take.  This seminar was definitely worth the time and made me aware of how important it is to pay attention to building and health codes.

Tea 101
This seminar was held by the owner of Maya Tea Company out of Tucson AZ.  This covered all the basics of Tea.  I found out where tea comes from, the different types of tea, how to correctly brew tea, and how tea can enhance the product offering in Coffee shops.  I found it very informative and made me very thirsty.

A Fresh Marketing Strategy for this Economy
This seminar was put on by Burce Milletto who is the President of Bellissimo Coffee Info Group and also one of the owners of Water Avenue Coffee.  Although billed as a seminar that will teach new marketing strategies, I did not learn anything new.  I'm sure there are people who did find value in the presentation(as this seminar was packed), but when your new marketing strategies are to use Facebook and Twitter, build your brand, and know your customer, it's really not that new anymore.

As I said above, for the most part all of the seminars were very informative and I learned a lot.

Coffeefest Recap Part II - The Show Floor

You can read the first part of my Coffeefest Recap here

Espresso to the Rescue

So with the Barista Training complete, it was time to hit the show floor and see what this whole Coffeefest thing was all about. I've been to a lot of trade shows in my time, some smaller and some larger then Coffeefest, but none as much fun. Of course a lot of my excitement could have been fueled by the dozen or so shots of espresso I had at the Barista training. And this just continued on the show floor as every other booth was serving either espresso, or lattes, or cappuccinos, or sort of caffeinated drink or food. There were all types of vendors there, from Roasters to Espresso Machine Makers to Bakers to Coffee Shops to Tea Suppliers to Gelato Makers to General Part Suppliers to pretty much anything to do with coffee that you can think of.  There was even an old ambulance that was converted to a mobile Espresso truck for sale there (picture to the right).

One of my favorite booths was the Cafe Vita booth where they were doing some very tasty pour overs using Coava's new Kone Coffee Filter.

They were also pulling some amazing shots from this manual espresso machine, which I found to be quite a visual experience.  I'm sure this is probably old hat to most in the coffee industry but I've never seen anything like it before.

I also enjoyed my time at the La Marzocco booth where I got to have some hands on with a 3 group Linea espresso machine with a automatic shot timer embedded in it (which came in very handy).

Other booths I really enjoyed were the Dippin Dots booth, the Seattle's Favorite Gourmet Cookies booth, the Synesso booth, and the Dillanos Coffee Roasters booth.

Everyone I talked to was very friendly, helpful, and patient with all my questions no matter how stupid they were.  I just wish I had more time to spend at each booth as there was just so much to see and learn.  So far Coffeefest has far exceeded any expectations I had and I still haven't even been to a lot of the classes I want to attend (that will be Part III).

Coffeefest Recap Part I - Barista training

I first came across Coffeefest a few months ago when just browsing the net about different coffee subjects.  There are 4 Coffeefest trade shows every year that bring together all aspects of the speciality coffee industry into one place.   This was the last one for 2010 and it was held in Seattle at the end of October.  Although it was still months away, I was intrigued.  It sounded like fun and would be very informative for me.  However I really didn't plan on ever going, just because of the cost of the trip didn't seem prudent at the time.  But as the date got closer and closer I slowly changed my mind and with a week to go I pulled the trigger and purchased a ticket and booked the travel.  I also signed up for a Barista training course that was advertised as a course for all levels that will teach the basics of making espresso and espresso based drinks.  The class consisted of about 16 people and was conducted by one of the owners of Coda Coffee (a Denver based coffee roaster).  It was about 1 hour of lecture and 3 hours of hands on training.  The lecture covered all the basics in making espresso and frothing milk, but what I was really there for was the hands on portion.  There were two espresso machines so the class was split in two for the hands on.  As this was the first time I would be using a commercial grade espresso machine and I was super excited.  We were using a Nuova Simonelli Espresso Machine:

This machine has two groupheads with a push pull steam system, that was pure awesomeness!!!  It took my group about 10 shots before we dialed in the correct grind size to start pulling good shots.  We each took our turn and with the guidance of the instructor I was very happy with taste of the espresso I was making.  After everyone had about an hour with the machine making straight espresso we moved on to how to properly steam and froth milk.  I loved the push pull system on the Simonelli.  Instead of the turning a knob to get steam like most espresso machines (including my  La Pasquini Livia 90), the Simonelli has a lever that when pulled down delivers a full blast of steam.  This made it very easy to learn the proper steaming and frothing techniques.  Now it was time to put everything together and make some drinks.  I made several Latte's and Cappuccino's during the last 30 minutes of the class and by the end I felt I was making some very tasty drinks.

Coming to Coffeefest I was happy with my self taught Barista skills and was worried that this class would show serious flaws with those skills.  However this class not only improved the skills I already had but also taught me several new ones that were much needed.