CAPITOL HILL COFFEE GUIDE: PART TWO
even more information than you needed to know
People responded pretty well to my last post, so I’ll jump right into Part 2. I don’t have quite as much say about these coffee since they are more obviously differentiated from each other, but there are also a lot more of them to cover!
Last week we focused on coffee shops that have coffee as the primary focus. This time I’ll be covering coffee shops that are in the “Coffee + X” category: coffee but with a little something extra! Here are the categories I have created:
Asian Fusion Cafés (4)
Gear Cafés (5)
Bookstore Cafés (3)
Whether or not you like Coffee + X shops in Seattle hinges a lot on how much you like the standard roasts in the area: Vita, Fulcrum, Herkimer, and Olympia are the major suppliers. I’ll be focusing on ambience in these reviews, and you can fill in the coffee score based on much you like the roastery unless I say otherwise. Enjoy!
Just as before, every listing will include the year of opening in Capitol Hill, the year of opening for the overall business (if different), and the location1.
IV: Asian Fusion Cafés (4)
In 2025, Asian Fusion Cafés continue to rise. Where people might have once gone for vanilla and chocolate, they are now crazy about ube and matcha. Japanese cafés may have been the first to get popular, but now Korean, Filipino, and even Vietnamese are getting in on the craze.
I will be primarily judging Asian Fusion Cafés on aesthetics: to what extent does the place feel like a slice of home? But I will also give points for cohesiveness: does their menu create a crossover experience that is unique and legible? My gold standard for Asian Fusion Cafés is Hood Famous in International District, a hub for the Asian community that has amazing Filipino-inspired food and drinks. If you’ve never been, I would highly recommend it! Their ube cheesecake in particular is top notch.
Capitol Hill is perhaps weaker in this category compared to downtown, but there are still some hidden gems. And I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot more coffee shops in this category open up in the near future. The newest one of these opened in 2023 (!) and there are already four of them. At this race, who knows how many there will be five years from now? Maybe they’ll keep multiplying, or maybe they’ll just fade away.
Mittens (Seattle U) [2023]
CATEGORY: Japanese + French Fusion
ROASTERY: Camber
I almost missed Mittens when I was making my final list, but I am so grateful that I didn’t! It’s a small café with only a couple chairs, but everything about it is awesome. They have a wide range of Japanese pastries that are equal parts Instagrammable and delicious. If you like matcha-style desserts, this is the place for you. It reminded me of one of those fancier Japanese bakeries that you would find somewhere like London or downtown New York.
I appreciated the little things about this place: for example, they had a magnet-sealed screen door that prevented bugs from getting in while still allowing it to be open to the outside. Also, the barista had a really cool voice (in addition to being very friendly and helpful in general). I was sort of skeptical that they would serve good coffee at a Japanese bakery, but he reassured me by giving the new hire a pretty detailed cortado pouring lesson. The roast was maybe not optimal for my taste, but it had a really great creamy texture.
In this picture, you can see my hojicha cake off to the side. It was unexpectedly dense (in a good way) and delicious. They also threw in a free chocolate meringue, which was way better than it had any right to be. This place was a bit expensive, but I would recommend it to basically anyone who is into boujee desserts.
WHAT TO ORDER: Meringues
Pinoyshki (West Pike/Pine) [2024:1994]
CATEGORY: Russian + Filipino Fusion
ROASTERY: Fulcrum
The first thing that stands out about Pinoyshki is their striking decor. Whoever decorated this place deserves a raise. I just love those tree branch shelves and the eye candy on the walls in general. It’s a gift that keeps on giving!
Their central fusion idea, which seems a bit awkward at first, actually works really well! Russian piroshkis but with Filipino ingredients? Who would have guessed that this is such a winning combination? There is much variety in the piroshikis that you’re sure to find one that fits your taste.
And I thought Pinoyshki had surprisingly good coffee for a place where that’s not their focus. Maybe I was just in the mood, but the baristas seemed to know their shit. Of course, that all depends on how much you like a dark Fulcrum roast. But I would strongly recommend both the coffee and the food.
WHAT TO ORDER: Garlic Beef Asado Piroshki
Drip Drip (Seattle U) [2024]
CATEGORY: Vietnamese
ROASTERY: Drip Drip
Drip Drip is a relatively new café that is playing the Instagram game hard. They have like 10k followers and post almost every single day. I respect the hustle! And this is definitely reflected in their café: they really capture that trendy boba aesthetic, and they serve very elaborate layered drinks.
They probably have the most unique drinks of any café in Capitol Hill. You can just get a traditional Vietnamese iced coffee, but there are all kinds of interesting sugary additions on the menu. You can also get egg stuff added to your drink, which is fun.
I appreciate that Drip Drip tries to stay in its lane: sure, they serve matcha, but their menu is otherwise pretty consistently Vietnamese and feels relatively authentic. I’m not sure if they roast their own beans, but they claim to use a single-origin blend straight from Vietnam.I admire that they aren’t just trying to do the generic boba pan-Asian thing, especially considering the incentives involved.
I would probably rate Drip Drip higher if it weren’t for my really bad experience there. Vietnamese coffee apparently does not agree with my stomach, as there was this one time when I went there and then felt extremely ill for the rest of the day. This left a sour taste that makes it kind of hard for me to give it a strong endorsement. Still, Drip Drip is great at what it does. It’s a great place to take someone with a sweet tooth!
WHAT TO ORDER: Vietnamese Coffee Flight
Stitch Café (East Pike/Pine) [2024]
CATEGORY: Japanese
ROASTERY: Formerly Upright Tree, now idk
Stitch Café is a quirky little café that tries to combine Studio Ghibli ambience and crocheting. This place felt surprisingly gay compared to what I was expecting. Is crocheting gay or something? I don’t really know anything about crocheting.
Their menu is almost exclusively Japanese drinks: they have a wide range of tea lattes, as well as espresso from a small roastery called Upright Tree. Their drinks are pretty good, and I’m a sucker for any place that serves anything hojicha-flavored. They also serve some pretty good macarons from a small bakery.
This place has one of my favorite layouts of any coffee shop. The front area is small and intimate, forcing you to interact with the yarn displays and interesting signage. But then they have this cozy area up top with YouTube café music playing in the background that is relatively insulated from the ordering downstairs.
I will say that it isn’t particularly quiet: there’s usually a medium level of conversation, and there are also young kids there surprisingly often. Considering the cozy exterior, that wasn’t what I was expecting. So it’s not an amazing place to get work done.
But on the other hand, Stitch Café felt like the café with the most people actively looking for friends + community (based on my few times going there). I saw an open-invite knitting group of older people that seemed very wholesome, and I also heard a pair of they/thems loudly talking about how everyone there seemed cool but didn’t know if they had the resolve to approach anyone. Cute.
I’m gonna expose myself and say that I asked out a barista here who turned out to be the (married) co-owner of the shop. Whoops! That particular encounter was awkward enough for me to not feel a strong desire to go back to Stitch Café at this time. But I would still recommend the place, and they definitely have the potential to grow into a beloved community gathering place in the future!
WHAT TO ORDER: Hojicha Latte
VERDICT: Mittens
The other places put up a decent fight, but Mittens (especially their pastries) was just on another level. I was so impressed. And according to people in the shop + Google reviews, they seem to have pretty amazing sandwiches as well. I can’t wait to go back.
V: Gear Cafés (5)
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that Gear Cafés— that is, cafés that sell both coffee and outdoorsy equipment— are the most consistently good type of coffee shop in Seattle. I’m not really sure why, but my theory is that because they aren’t trying to attract a clientele that particularly cares about aesthetics, they are able to lock in on the actual product: the coffee. And while every city has its coffee aficionados, I think it’s fair to say that the median Seattleite cares a lot more. In other words, a gear café wouldn’t be able to thrive in this city serving crappy coffee!
I will primarily be judging Gear Cafés on their community vibe. Is it place where an outdoorsy person can feel at home? But of course, I will also be taking their drinks and snacks into account.
There are more Gear Cafés in Capitol Hill than you might expect, and there are also a surprising amount of people that have a Gear Café as their favorite café! This is a very competitive category, and it’s the only one where I would recommend every café on this list. So if your favorite Gear Café didn’t win, just know that I was still a fan!
Tailwind / Good Weather (East Pike/Pine) [2014]
CATEGORY: Bike Shop
ROASTERY: Herkimer
Tailwind is a small café located in the Alley2, right inside the Good Weather bike shop. This amazing location gives it some points in my book. It’s a great place to grab a coffee and sit outside in community.
The best part of Tailwind is the Temple Pastries that they serve. Normally I feel like I’m getting ripped off when I buy a pastry at a coffee shop, but here it feels a bit less bad. The pastries are a bit on the small side but look super clean and neat. (Oh, and they taste pretty good.)
I haven’t had too many barista interactions at Tailwind because it’s usually quite busy, but I had a pretty long conversation with one about the history of coffee in Seattle that was pretty cool. They definitely know their shit. I think there is also a cycling club that meets up at Tailwind, but I am not quite sure.
I’m not planning to give this category to Tailwind, but I would like to declare it as the best coffee shop to meet up with friends. It’s genuinely a delightful place to meet up with people, and it’s one of my go-to spots whenever the weather is nice.
Metiér (East Pike/Pine) [2015]
CATEGORY: Cycling Club
ROASTERY: Handlebar
The first thing that you notice about Metiér is that it’s huge. It doesn’t seem that big from the outside, but it just keeps going and going. And then you realize that it’s hiding an entire basement of equipment!
Metiér is definitely a cyclist’s cycling shop, with live cycling races playing on the TVs and basically all the cycling gear you could ever want. They have some pretty good energy snacks as well. It’s honestly just a pretty fun place to walk around in and check out all the stuff.
The baristas I have met at Metiér have been aggressively friendly. I’ve never met a barista who seems so genuinely interested in me. While I’d love to attribute this to me having an Extremely Interesting Vibe, I would expect that they just act this way towards most customers. So come to Metiér for a very friendly experience!
Their technique was only okay (my cortado was not the most authentic of cortados), but the coffee was still pretty good. Plus, the conversation more than made up for it.
Peloton (Seattle U) [2016]
CATEGORY: Bike Shop
ROASTERY: Olympia
Hidden gem Peloton is one of the most-liked coffee shops among locals— just check out their rave reviews! They are especially well-regarded for their sandwiches, but their coffee is nothing to sneeze at. The layout is also really fun; while the vibe is more casual lunch restaurant than café, they have a sort of espresso bar setup in the front where you can chill out.
When I went to Peloton, I got a grilled cheese sandwich and I asked the barista to make me a random drink. I sort of regretted this order immediately after placing it, but Peloton was able to assuage my concerns. The barista made me a latte with a bit of cardamom added in. This was very solid, and we also had a fun conversation about the history of cafés in Seattle. The grilled cheese sandwich was also delicious, especially considering that I don’t like grilled cheeses that much (hence my initial regret).
Overall, Peloton is a bright spot (figuratively and literally) to meet your friends for lunch and grab a great coffee. I would highly recommend it.
Basecamp / Gearhouse (North Broadway) [2020]
CATEGORY: Gear Rental + Mountaineering Club
ROASTERY: Caffé Lusso
Basecamp is perhaps the most complete Gear Café: not only can you rent bikes, but you can also rent everything from skiis to mountaineering gear. They also have a membership program where you can get a certain amount of gear, free coffee, and social event invites.
I really like how Basecamp is bundled into a social experience. It’s obviously good for members, but it’s pretty good for the ambience of the café too— you can definitely tell that more people seem to know each other. I went towards the end of the day last time and it almost had a hackathon vibe at times: people were chilling out in comfy chairs getting their last pull requests in.
They also have a really wide range of interesting coffee flavors. I haven’t tried many of them, but I remember the syrup I did try being pretty good. The coffee itself was fine. It wasn’t my favorite, but they certainly made a well-constructed cortado… I think the roast just wasn’t to my personal taste. Would still highly recommend!
Rapha (West Pike/Pine) [2025]
CATEGORY: Cycling Club
ROASTERY: Stamp Act
Rapha is the latest Gear Café to open in Capitol Hill, and I do wonder if they knew they were opening up against such stiff competition. But they put up a pretty good fight. They also have some great live cycling running on the TVs (like Metiér but with even more screens), if you’re into that kind of thing.
Rapha is probably the most overtly coffee-forward of the Gear Cafés that I went to, proudly displaying their roast and the counter and offering special cortado cups. They also were probably the most brand-forward of the Gear Cafés— clearly an import that already has a sizable clientele elsewhere. I must admit that this alone sort of biases me against them. Seattle supremacy! But I thought the coffee they served was pretty good.
I think it’s a bit early to evaluate Rapha because they haven’t had time to build up a clientele. It was still mostly empty when I went, so it felt a bit weird. But it looks promising, and I expect Rapha to become a great café in the future!
VERDICT: Basecamp
Gosh, this is a really tough call. I mean, if we’re just talking coffee quality, I probably prefer Peloton. And if we’re just talking neighborhood / aesthetic vibes, I probably prefer Tailwind. But if we’re talking ability to create an outdoorsy community space, Basecamp is unmatched. As soon as you enter, you really feel like you’re dropping into an inclusive community. And there are so many fun events advertised at the café— if I lived in West Capitol Hill, it would probably be my go-to spot. And I don’t even like the outdoors that much! But I don’t think you can go wrong with any café listed here.
VI: Bookstore Cafés (3)
What could be more Seattle than a café selling books? I really like the vibe of drinking coffee amongst books, even if I don’t plan to buy any of them. (Although oftentimes the temptation to buy books is just far too great.)
For any aspiring entrepreneurs who may be reading this, I would say that this is actually a pretty underserved market in Capitol Hill. There is a ton of demonstrated interest in this type of café, and yet there are only three of them in Capitol Hill. As a result, Little Oddfellows and Ada’s are consistently packed. If someone opened a bookstore café in West Pike/Pine, I bet it would do numbers. Anyway…
I will be evaluating these cafés mostly on aesthetics and coziness, with the coffee + food playing a smaller role. Ultimately, is it a great place to read? (For most of these, the answer is not really.)
Fuel (North 19th) [2005]
ROASTERY: Fuel
Fuel is more known for being a coffee shop than a bookseller, and it’s a local chain that’s been around for quite a while. But Fuel does in fact sell books. They have a pretty great selection, too, at least if the location in Wallingford is anything to go by.
Fuel serves their own coffee, which you can get at several other coffee shops including Ada’s. Their coffee isn’t my favorite, but I do love their chocolate. They use melted chocolate rather than syrup in their mochas, and as a result they might have my favorite standard mocha of any coffee shop in Seattle.
I’ve also found that Fuels tend to be in very relaxing locations, making them great places to get work done. The Fuel in Capitol Hill is a bit small, but I still found it to be a great place to lock in. It feels very home-y and familiar to me.
Ada’s (North Broadway) [2013]
ROASTERY: Fuel
I’d like to start this off by saying that Ada’s is my favorite bookstore in Capitol Hill, and only the convenience of Elliott Bay stops me from going there more often. They just have such a fun store layout and really great programming every month. It’s much more accessible and personable than the behemoth that is Elliott Bay Books.
Ada’s specializes in “technical books”, which means genres like pop science, science fiction, fantasy, and computing. Since those are the books I tend to go for, I usually find what I’m seeking despite its small size. They also have interesting brain puzzles and fun little decorations scattered around the store.
As for the café itself; well, it’s okay. Ada’s serves Fuel Coffee, only they don’t have the delicious melted chocolate to go along with it. The main thing that I dislike about the space is that it is a bit awkward and crowded-feeling. The tables are close together because of space constraints, so it always feels a bit uncomfortable to move around the café without spilling anything on your precious books. There’s also only one line for information, food, and books, which can be a bit annoying at times. But this is really the best they can do with their limited space— I just wish they had more of it!
I should mention that they have a pretty wide selection of teas, which might just be a bookstore thing because Elliott Bay has this as well. They also have interesting snacks that are not your typical Macrina fare. They have these South Asian savory pastries that are decent, and they also serve a delicious kouign-amann. I wouldn’t go here as a standalone café, but if I’m already in the area for books, then it is more than sufficient!
Little Oddfellows / Elliott Bay (East Pike/Pine) [2015]
ROASTERY: Caffé Vita
Little Oddfellows is the most consistently busy café in Capitol Hill in the evenings, as people love to meet up at Elliott Bay Books. It is a real Seattle institution. The loyalty is understandable— when you’re inside Elliott Bay, you can just feel it pulling you in.
But honestly, I am not a huge fan of Little Oddfellows. It is quite loud and crowded and not really personal at all. At peak hours, it is hard to find any seating at all. It is a bit better in the mornings, when the noise quiets down to normal café levels. But yeah— it’s honestly closer to one of those museum cafés than a Friendly Neighborhood one. They also serve the standard Vita / Macrina coffee / pastry pairing, which I don’t love. It gets the job done, but it starts to taste rather same-y after a while. I’m a lot less of a fan of Vita when a café doesn’t have the aesthetic to match.
I realize that on some level I’m just being a hater for no reason, but I always feel a bit underwhelmed when I come to Little Oddfellows compared to my expectations. I’m not exactly sure why that is. Perhaps Elliott Bay is such a magical setting that it’s impossible for a café to live up to it. But of course, if you’ve never been to Elliott Bay before, you definitely must go. It’s a pretty incredible place.
VERDICT: Fuel Coffee
I can’t help but feel that this is an underwhelming category compared to what it could be, but I’m gonna have to go with Fuel for this one. It’s not especially memorable, but it’s unpretentious, cozy, and gets the job done. My general dissatisfaction stems from the disappointing lack of coziness in this category, which seems like it should prize coziness above just about everything else.
But again, it’s not really their fault— how cozy can a packed café really be? Coziness doesn’t pay the bills either— just look at what happened to Borders. In the end, Seattle just needs more bookstore cafés that can figure out how to make money in a cozy fashion. But I’m no entrepreneur, so I have no idea how to make that happen.
Conclusion
So there you have it. Three more unambiguous coffee recommendations: Mittens, Basecamp, and Fuel. These endorsements are perhaps not quite as definitive as the previous ones, but I hope you learned some useful information. Thanks for reading!
Not every single café was included in this guide. The largest group of omissions was bagel + donut cafés (12 of them, to be exact), but I figured that would be best saved for another post. I also didn’t cover most bakeries and pop-ups, including Buzz Café, KB Espresso, Whole Foods Market, Central Co-op, QFC Starbucks, Macrina, Hello Robin, and NuFlours. I excluded boba shops and NEKO Cat Café for similar reasons: treating them as just fundamentally different sorts of establishments. Please let me know if you have any interest in hearing my immediate thoughts on these!
But don’t fret, boba lovers: my next post will be a Third Wave Boba Manifesto, in which I will hate on the most consistently disappointing type of drink establishment. Later on, I’m planning to do the aforementioned Bagel + Donuts Capitol Hill Coffee Guide (if I ever get to it), as well as a Greater Central Seattle coffee guide (First Hill, Central District, and Cap Hill leftovers Boon Boona and Shikorina). Stay tuned!
Capitol Hill’s major commercial corridor is Pike/Pine, the corridor around Pike Street and Pine Street that contains most of the neighborhood’s nightlife. It is neatly bisected into East and West halves by Broadway Street. Other corridors include:
North Broadway: A nightlife district north of the Light Rail Station
Olive/Summit: A skinny corridor to the west that snakes past the highway and feeds into downtown
North 15th: A more suburban-feeling corridor to the northeast anchored around a shopping district and Ada’s Technical Books
North 19th: A smaller corridor even further to the northeast that is sometimes called Stevens or Miller Park
Seattle U: A small corridor just south of Seattle U campus
The Alley is Capitol Hill’s answer to U-Village: a tiny corridor with a ton of fun shops tucked away and outdoor seating.