Archive for February, 2009
Vivace, One of the Capitol Hill Giants
When I first moved to Seattle, Vivace was my favorite coffee shop hangout. I thought their roast was fantastic and their baristas talented. I used to frequent their shop that was just off of Broadway on Denny, not to be confused with their other little stand also on northern part of Broadway. Later after relocating to another part of Capital Hill, I started frequenting Victrola Coffeehouse instead… this signaled the end of my love affair with Vivace coffee. As time went on, I found that I did not like Vivace coffee any more. At first it seemed that for a while, on the rare occasions I went to their Denny Way shop for a cup, their lattes were pretty milky tasting and bland. In my opinion, I don’t think it was the roast that was bad, I think it was the baristas pulling the drinks who were simply doing a crappy job. Yet despite this, I know plenty of people who still totally enjoyed their drink. Then they opened their third store next to REI and through happenstance and necessity, I found myself going to [...]
Fremont Coffee Co: Jitters Downstairs, Relaxation Upstairs
I had a few minutes to spare before my appointment in the Fremont area so I thought it would be nice to grab a latte at the Fremont Coffee Company coffeehouse aka FCC. The place is rather interesting in that it is basically a two-story house that has been sub-divided such that two floors house separate businesses. The ground floor of the building is the actual coffeehouse. There are a number of different rooms that make is possible to one to seclude themselves from the majority of the patrons and work 'privately' The rooms are arrayed with all sorts of seating arrangements including regular table and chairs, bar tools and counter and sofas. The up-stairs area is rented out to licensed massage therapists who are open and run hours roughly the same as the coffeehouse. The great thing about this is that now you can get your fill of espresso downstairs, once the jitters hit, you can then head on upstairs (well its all by appointment) to relax with a soothing massage. I don't often get over to Fremont much and [...]
Kaladi Brothers' Caffeinated Red Goat
Kaladi brothers coffee company is an Alaskan based coffee roaster and retailer. They have twelve retail locations in Alaska including one on the little town of Wasilla. And it just so happens that they have a only one retail location outside Alaska, and that coffee shop is located up on Capital Hill. It is also this store where I was first introduced to Kaladi Brothers and their awesome coffee... The first thing I noticed about Kaladi Brothers coffee was simply their name. The name, Kaladi simply did not speak "Alaska" to me and at first I thought the name was more Middle Eastern sounding... or at least Mediterranean sounding. After poking around a little bit on Kaladi Brother's website it turns out that the name was chosen from the legend of Kaladi, a goat herder from the land of Arabia Felix, who discovered the stimulating effect of coffee beans... via his goats. This is also how they came up with their logo... which is not a reindeer or an antelope but a goat, a red one at that and presumably, slightly [...]
Why Victrola is the King of the Hill
What can I say? Victrola Coffee is one of my top three if not my all time favorite coffee shop. Zoka Coffee and Migliore both come in at a pretty close second. I also like Caffe D'arte as the third place contender. Vivace Coffee used to be my favorite coffee shop till I discovered Victrola Coffee up on 15th… and at the same time something happened with Vivace and I feel that for a while they had lost their way though they are certainly coming back strong. What is it about Victrola that makes them number one in my book? There are a few things but the top two are the following: They start off with freshly roasted beans. One thing I notice about many of the stores I like is that they actually roast their own beans on-site or at least pretty close to on-site. So the beans they grind in their espressos are extremely fresh. Next, they roast and blend their beans in a way that brings out the unique flavor that Victrola is known for. Many of the coffee shops that roast their own beans tend to have their own [...]