Grounds For Burnt Offerings

Bauhaus Books + Coffee is an old favorite coffeehouse of mine. Located on the lower part of Capitol Hill, this used to be one of my coffee hang out spot especially since it was only about 3 minutes walking from the condo I used to rent.

I remember how the place used to rather dark and scary, and people would hang out upstairs drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. Five minutes in the place was enough to get the smell of coffee and cigarettes clinging tightly to your clothes. What was even scarier were some of the people who used to hang out there. After a while it also got to me so rather than hanging out there, I would simply walk in, order my latte then walk out… still smelling of cigarettes. But then, all that changed. The management at Bauhaus decided to ban smoking indoors and the place literary changed overnight.

Then maybe 4 or 5 years ago, I was rather surprised because I remember walking into the place after not having visited the coffeehouse for a while and the place actually looked brighter and airier. What was even better was the patrons were not as scary looking as in the past. At that time I asked the barista what happened and his reply was rather interesting.

Before the smoking ban, some people were not just hanging out and smoking in the place, but they were also taking drugs and doing other unsavory things… this of course was scaring away the normal clientele since the ‘normal’ folks didn’t want to hang out at the place. And as soon as they banned smoking in the place, things changed immediately and the riffraff stopped showing up. I thought that was a really good move on their part since I really liked their coffee but didn’t like the atmosphere. Anyway, ever since, Bauhaus has been a great place to hang out and enjoy good coffee and a book.

The other thing that really strikes me about Bauhaus is that no matter what time of the day or night, no matter how hot or cold, no matter how dry or wet, no matter now calm or windy, there are always folks sitting outside drinking coffee, some smoking, and generally hanging out on the outside seating. What I have come to conclude from this is that either these folks are pure java junkies and cannot do without their coffee, or the coffee drinks at Bauhaus are that good and the following is absolutely loyal to the coffeehouse.

And I can attest to their coffee. It was hard for me at the moment to properly describe the coffee that I had there today because I was (and still am) feeling the side effects of a tetanus shot I took on Friday morning so I not quite up to all my taste buds yet. But I can tell you one thing for certain, they certainly do a great job with their coffee. I have always enjoyed their lattes. They pull a nice strong but not too strong cup and they use good whole milk. I have some friends who used to live in Seattle and this was always their favorite coffeehouse, hands down.. even to this day.

When I was talking to the manager this morning she told me a bit about the coffee they use. Now Bauhaus doesn’t actually roast their own coffee beans, rather, they have a special blend that they created and have Lighthouse Roasters up in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle so the roasting to their exact specifications.

One other reason to go to Bauhaus for your coffee… they serve Top Pot doughnuts!