Twenty-five percent of all coffee drinks at the Pike Place Market gelateria.
Posted by: Jessica Voelker on May 17, 2010 at 12:50PM
Bottega Italiana, the gelateria and Illy coffee vendor on 1st Avenue, has introduced a happy hour. Monday through Friday between 10am and 1pm, all coffee drinks are 25 percent off. I trust this will be welcome news to all the civilized folk who enjoy a postprandial shot of caffeine following the midday repast. I’m pretty certain that last sentence contains a gross redundancy, but I’m too happy about the glorious double tall Americano I scored (for $1.25) to care.
Add a Comment »
Tags:
Happy Hour,
Coffee Buzz,
Coffee,
Coffee Shop Happy Hours
Coffee Buzz
“Espresso wasn’t invented in Seattle,” says a New York microbatch roaster.
Posted by: Jessica Voelker on May 17, 2010 at 09:48AM
Attention West Coast: Mitchel Margulis, owner of New York-based Stone Street Coffee, is trying to step to us. Big time. “Espresso wasn’t invented in Seattle…We’re trying to take back coffee on the East Coast," he told New York magazine recently.
Invented? No. Perfected is more like it.
Margulis is distinguishing himself by favoring a darker roast and focusing on blends rather than single-origin espressos. By all accounts, however, NYCers remain smitten with West Coast roasters like Stumptown and Blue Bottle. Read the full story here.
[ Photo Source ]
Add a Comment »
Tags:
Coffee Buzz,
Coffee
Coffee Buzz
Starbucks introduces the frappucino happy hour. Warning: addiction (and snug pants) may ensue.
Posted by: Jessica Voelker on May 10, 2010 at 10:31AM
Frappuccino, you minx. I was just learning the ins and outs of the nine-to-five lifestyle when you busted onto the coffee scene. My friends and I wondered what we’d been doing messing around with plain old morning drip when this sweet, java-flavored treat could be had at every city corner.
Inevitably, weight was gained, and we admitted to ourselves (over after-work nachos and beer, of course) that ice cream for breakfast—even coffee-flavored ice cream for breakfast—came with a price. But oh, they were hard to give up. Sweet, decadent, cool, creamy. I’m not sure what’s in them, but I defy anyone to drink frappuccinos for a few days straight and then try to stop.
So watch out, drinkers. I saw a sign at a Starbucks advertising the “frappuccino happy hour.” Through May 16, the green mermaid is singing a siren song of half-priced frappuccinos from 3 to 5pm. Indulge at your own risk.
Add a Comment »
Tags:
Coffee Buzz,
Starbucks
Coffee Talk
Where to find the best java on the rocks.
Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Apr 26, 2010 at 08:00AM
Toddy for the party The toddy cold-brew method yields a smooth cup of joe. I’m not sure what that tulip is doing in the photo, let’s pretend it’s not there.
There comes a day every year, as spring moves into summer, when it’s time to switch from hot coffee to iced coffee. But iced coffee is a tricky animal. Anyone who serves you hot coffee cooled with ice is a criminal, do not let him or her get away with it. This leads to a terribly acidic beverage; it is an outrage to the beans. Seriously, someone should call the cops.
Some people swear by doubling the amount of coffee they brew for hot coffee, then bringing to room temperature, cooling in the fridge, and pouring over ice to order. This is okay I guess, though there’s something about iced coffee made in this manner that’s not quite right. If coffee prepared in this way is really honest with itself, it wants to be hot coffee. I can taste its identity issues and don’t find them all that palatable.
Really, the best cold coffee is cold-brewed coffee, a process you can learn all about here. The first coffee shop at which I toiled cold-brewed via the toddy method. We actually used it for hot coffee too—if you ordered simply a “cup of coffee,” we spooned a few tablespoons of a super-concentrated toddy brew into your cup. (Ratios were top secret, my boss never let us in the back room where he prepared the toddies.) Next we would add any desired sugar or dairy, mix that in, then fill the cup with steaming water. The coffee was consistently fantastic; the entire town was addicted to it.
I don’t know anyone in Seattle who makes hot coffee using cold brew, but if you want iced coffee at its best, order it at Seattle Coffee Works or Fremont Coffee or Stumptown or Victrola. All of these places cold brew their iced coffee, and should receive awards and accolades for doing so. If you know any others, please share.
Add a Comment »
Tags:
Coffee Buzz
Free Coffee
This week in free caffeinated beverages
Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Apr 12, 2010 at 09:58AM
It’s like rain on your wedding day: Starbucks wants you to stop using paper coffee cups. Irony aside, it’s a good thing they’re doing this and it involves you receiving free coffee. Bring your reusable coffee mug to Starbucks this Thursday, April 15 and your green-aproned barista will fill it up for free.
Meanwhile at Tully’s, every Friday in April customers get a free “barista” drink—so, espresso and whatnot—when they buy a pound of coffee. The Tully’s near Seattle Met’s office is staffed by the nicest people in the world, so if you’re near the Harbor Steps on Friday get your free coffee at that one.
And don’t forget that Fonte is offering a free coffee tasting every Saturday at 2pm.
Add a Comment »
Tags:
Coffee Buzz,
Free Drinks
Taste Tests!
The Cap Hill vitamin shop makes a bold claim about its drip. But does it pass the taste test?
Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Apr 01, 2010 at 09:13AM
Healeo makes bold claims about its cheap drip.
I stopped drinking drip coffee outside my home. I’ve been burned, literally, too many times. Most mornings I make my own or get an americano, the espresso-machine’s answer to a morning cup of joe. Americanos vary in quality, but a bad americano is a lot better than a bad drip coffee.
You know what bad drip tastes like—watery and lost, or way too strong. Full-flavored bad coffee is just so awful; drinking scorched, metallic, gut-rotting death juice is so much worse than just staying tired. I’m not that addicted. And while we’re on the subject, it’s amazing to me that your average roadside diner, the kind of places where a plate of eggs and bacon costs $2.50, can turn out a more drinkable cup of drip than a lot of pricey coffee chains.
But when I saw a sandwich board outside of Healeo that boasted of its "amazing $1 coffee," well, I had to give it a go. Such a bold claim should not go untested.
I ordered a 12 ounce from the very sweet and peppy lady at the register and lo and behold my total came to $1.10 with tax. The coffee was smooth, a light-to-medium blend (Columbian, I’d wager) and the product of what must be a very clean coffee machine. Not bad at all. Was the drink she gave me as good as the deliciously murky americanos churned out by the many talented baristas of Capitol Hill? No. But it was as good as the drip I make at home. And it was $1. Plus it took like 10 seconds for her to press down on the canister and hand me my cup—I had forgotten about the inherent speediness of choosing drip, so expedient to those of us who are perpetually running late in the morning. I’ll admit it, I was amazed.
VERDICT: Healeo’s $1 drip coffee is, in fact, amazing.
Add a Comment »
Tags:
Capitol Hill,
Coffee Buzz,
Taste Tests
Coffee Buzz
Fuel, Vita, Fonte: Where to go to pay less for joe.
Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Mar 29, 2010 at 08:53AM
UPDATE FROM VITA:
“We have decided to postpone the late night portion of our Pioneer Square Opening Party. We are still serving free coffee and extending the hours from 6am to 9pm and free pizza from 11am to close. The Tarantellas will perform as scheduled from 6pm to 8pm”.
As I sit here droopy-eyed, imploring my mug of breakfast blend to start working its magic, I thought I’d let you in on a few coffee discounts and events around town this week.
Fuel Coffee celebrates its fifth anniversary on Tuesday, March 30, by giving customers a 50 percent discount on all coffee drinks and merch all day long.
Then on Thursday, April 1, the new Pioneer Square Caffe Vita is offering free coffee all morning.
In other free coffee news, Fonte has scheduled a free coffee tasting every Saturday at 2pm at the First Avenue cafe. Once you start getting into coffee tastings there’s kind of no going back, so I would encourage you too to check out the slow bar at Seattle Coffee Works —a fascinating place to totally geek out on java.
Add a Comment »
Tags:
Sales and Discounts,
Coffee Buzz,
Coffee Buzz
Openings
And there’s pizza. No, not Via Tribunali pizza.
Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Mar 25, 2010 at 05:44PM
Few things makes me happier than when a successful local business opens up a branch in my beloved Pioneer Square, especially when that business is a cash cow like the ubiquitous Caffe Vita. Vita has taken over the Prefontaine Place S space that formerly belonged to All City Coffee. (The other All City Coffee, in Georgetown, lives on.)
Mike McConnell, who founded both Vita and Neapolitan-pizza chain Via Tribunali, has a partner in the project: Son Chris, it so happens, makes Neapolitan pizzas too. Interesting. His venture is called Pizzeria Napoletana and he is serving his pies out of one corner of the cafe.
The McConnells celebrate the opening on April 1. From 6 to 11am they’re offering free drip coffee, then from 11am to 4pm they’re handing out free pizza. The live bands (Tarantellas, Trent, Thomas Hunter, and Fatal Lucciauno) begin at 6pm. Any and all donations will go towards 4Culture, a neighboring organization that funds local arts and culture programs.
In other Pioneer Square news:
Delicatus.
Add a Comment »
Tags:
Seattle Restaurant Openings,
Pizza,
Coffee Buzz
0 Comments
