People in Seattle consume more coffee than in any other American city; one study stated that there are 35 coffee shops per 100,000 residents and that Seattle people spend an average of $36 a month on coffee. It is nearly impossible to walk past a single block in a commercial area in Seattle without walking past at least one coffee shop. Coffee drinkers can get coffee at a local sidewalk stand, parking lot, tiny coffee houses, big coffee houses, drive-through, and even delivery.
Roasters
Numerous coffee roasting companies are headquartered in Seattle, including Fonté Coffee Roasters, River Trail Roasters, Caffè Umbria, Torrefazione Italia, Fremont Coffee Company, Herkimer Coffee, Seattle Coffee Works, Caffe Ladro and Ladro Roasting, Victrola Coffee Roasters, Lighthouse Roasters, and Zoka Coffee Roaster and Tea Company. National chains active in Seattle include:
Starbucks
is Seattle's largest coffee retailer. It was founded in 1971 in Pike Place Market as a roaster, but only later became an espresso bar. In 1984 ownership of the company changed and Howard Schultz led a massive international expansion of the company. In 2003, Starbucks acquired pioneering Seattle roaster Seattle's Best Coffee.
is Seattle's second-largest coffee retailer. Tom Tully O'Keefe founded the chain in Kent, Washington in 1992 to rival the expansion of Starbucks with an alternative business model.
was founded in 1995 to produce excellent artisan coffee and to implement an ethical model for coffee production which bypassed the fair trade business model and sourced coffee beans directly from the farmers producing it.
is a set of coffeehouses and a roaster. Founded in 1988 by a Boeing engineer, the coffee is produced to exacting specifications to match the owner's taste and the taste of patrons who prefer this different blend.
is a coffeeshop in University District. Its founder worked with Starbucks roasters to develop the original Starbucks espresso roast, which is darker than most other roasts but still lighter than the darkest roast. That espresso roast remains the standard Starbucks espresso offering, but it was developed for Café Allegro.
The Last Exit on Brooklyn was a coffee house which opened in 1967 and closed in 2000. It was a gathering place for high-level chess players and intellectuals, and the proprietor worked to "create a haven where students and the benign crazies" were welcome and where "everyone felt equal and there were no sacred cows".
Top Pot Doughnuts
was founded in 2002 as a pastry bakery which also sells coffee.
bauhaus books + coffee
A precursor to Top Pot Doughnuts; Bauhaus was founded on October 5, 1993, and is notable for an unusual coffeehouse space design, which Top Pot Doughnuts co-founder Joel Radin later applied to its design. While the original location closed on October 5, 2013, a new Capitol Hill location later opened that year, following two new locations in Ballard and Green Lake. All three were closed abruptly on December 13, 2015. Owner Joel Radin filed bankruptcy in February 2017.
Several Seattle Ethiopian restaurants carry forward one or another degree of Ethiopian coffee tradition, which includes doing their own roasting. These include the Jebena Cafe in Pinehurst, Kaffa Coffee & Wine Bar in the Rainier Valley, and Adey Abeba in the Central District.
Coffee technology
In 2007 the Coffee Equipment Company released a product called the Clover, which was a machine which brewed coffee one cup at a time. The company was acquired by Starbucks who now produces the Clover.
Coffee culture
In the early 2000s in Seattle a coffee concept called the bikini barista began to be implemented by various marketers throughout the area. Coffee distribution in this business model utilizes baristas wearing little clothing to prepare and serve the coffee.
Coffee events
Coffee: World in your Cup is the name of an exhibition and community series which premiered in Seattle through most of 2009 at the Burke Museum. The exhibition includes displays of equipment at the museum and a lecture series with talks in various locations wherein experts talk about aspects of the coffee industry. The World Barista Championship was held in Seattle in April 2015. The competition, and its winner Sasa Sestic, were the subject of a documentary filmThe Coffee Man.
In the NBC series Frasier, the characters are often seen drinking coffee at the fictional Café Nervosa, which is said to have been inspired by the real-life Elliott Bay Café.
