Four espressos not to miss in Seattle

I was in Seattle a while ago for Sigcomm 2008. While there, I decided to go on a personal tour de seattle coffee shops. What I found were four excellent places to grab an espresso. Most serve double ristretto shots, rich, with a deep red crema and a surprising acidity. Forgive the lack of detail - they're all very good and I'd go to any of them again. You can't get espresso like this in Pittsburgh, alas, though I'm perfecting my technique on the machine at the Intel lab. :)
  • Stumptown Coffee Roasters
  • Vivace
  • Victrola Coffee Roasters - not only very good espresso, but they offer cuppings on Wednesdays, which was quite fun. Nice selection of coffees to try.
  • Stickman Coffee - Yelpers complain about the service, but the espresso was the thickest I've had and quite tasty. My biggest complaint was that they allow smoking in the attached courtyard, which would otherwise be a great place to hang out with a laptop for an afternoon.
Old comments:
  • Charlie Garrod: Have you been to 21st St. Coffee in the Strip? I'm not a coffee snob, but I was surprised by the seeming-quality and depth of their selection.
    • Dave Andersen: Nope. But thanks - now on the todo list. :) I'll admit, though, that it's half about the coffee itself and half about the preparation. In playing with it, I've found that with good (but not crazy amazing) coffee, I can shift a shot from being boring, to bitter, to damn tasty, depending on the grind/tamp/pull. Including using coffee tree roasters coffee, etc. But I rarely get a _really_ good espresso around here. But I'll try 21st and hold my skepticism. :)
  • Chris Laas:
    Other Seattle cafes This is a bit tangential to espresso, but when I'm in Seattle I like to go to Top Pot Doughnuts: http://www.toppotdoughnuts.com/ Their doughnuts are way better than Dunkin Donuts or Krispy Kreme.

    I also enjoyed the vibe at Bauhaus Books and Coffee. http://seattle.citysearch.com/profile/10798083/seattle_wa/bauhaus_books_coffee.html The barista on duty when I was there was a CS grad, so we had two things to talk about: CS conferences, and latte art.
  • Anonymous Filing this sage advice for my upcoming trip... Timing. (-:

    Was reading Peter Lee's blog, noticed he listed yours, stopped by here and what d'ya know, I now have places to check out in Seattle when I end up there for a conference in two weeks. thanks!
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