One of the newest entrants on this list is also one of the most unique. Cardoon serves a mixture of German and Chinese cuisine, a reflection of its owners’ heritages. The highlight treat is streuselkuchen, a German cake that here is topped with white miso streusel and seasonal fruit. If you want savory food instead, check out the gluten-free, vegan “egg” rice, which features silky beancurd skin and tomatoes over a bed of rice. As for coffee you can’t go wrong with the Seaweed Latte — don’t let the name fool you, the star ingredient is soy sauce caramel, which has an elegant umami finish. It’s also developing an nonalcoholic beverage program, reflecting the growing connection between coffee and NA drinks.

This Ballard plant shop does exceptional stuff with espresso — Root is coffee for the proud coffee snobs. They use beans from well-regarded but far-flung roasters like Sey (in Brooklyn) and Manhattan (in the Netherlands, confusingly), and though they do excellent seasonal flavored drinks, the flavors you get from the unadulterated espresso are powerful enough — often floral and fruity, a glimpse of what the cutting edge of coffee tastes like.

A Muddy Cup’s atmosphere is a throwback to the days of the more literal style of “coffeehouse,” when espresso was often served in a creaky-floored Craftsmen outfitted with homey thrifted furniture, vintage rugs, and bookshelves stacked with novels and board games. It’s the coffee world’s version of a dive bar, cozy and timeless. Accordingly, A Muddy Cup seems like it’s been here since the very outset of Seattle coffee culture, but its 2010 origin means that it has a more 21st-century coffee approach: Beans are roasted in-house and sourced with an emphasis on ethical trade via the women-owned organization Café Femenino. 

There are more places than ever to get Vietnamese coffee, and this Fremont spot does it right. They also do it traditional, with phin-brewed coffee paired with condensed milk, the combo that makes Vietnamese-style coffee so powerful and sweet. The drinks here mostly lean into that sweetness, like the sesame latte or the salty vegan peanut butter latte; drinking one of these is like inhaling a candy bar, in the best possible way. Drinks are on the pricier side at around $6, but honestly you don’t need more than one.

This coffee shop is decidedly New Fremont, in the ground floor of a mixed-used building on the waterfront down the hill from the Fremont Troll (the mascot of Old Fremont). But we dare you to find a place that serves better beans — Milstead sources from renowned roasters like Heart and Kuma, and whether you get a pour-over or a quick Americano to go, you’re in good hands here, As a bonus, this is one of the few places in the city where you can get baked goods from Temple Pastries.

This place is arguably too Seattle-y — a Cafe Vita where you can watch the KEXP DJs work? Within sight of the Space Needle? Hang out here too long and vintage Sonics gear will just appear on your body. But you will want to hang out here, because it’s a beautiful space, there’s always a couch to sprawl on or a table to sit at, and you can sometimes get seats at in-studio performances. Since it’s a Vita the beans are reliably good, and the cafe partners with other roasters for events and residencies. And don’t tell anyone but this place has the best deal in town: Drip coffee is $1 before 8 a.m. on weekdays.

Fulcrum is mostly known as one of the best roasters in the city — as well as one of the few roasting companies with a coffee farmer, Blas Alfaro, in a leadership role — but its small new-build cafe in Belltown is well worth checking out. Sure the coffee here is good, but the seasonal drinks are next-level: Fall offerings this year include a cardamom cookie latte and an Oktoberfest latte featuring Jonboy caramel sauce, vanilla, orange, and cinnamon.

Most flavored espresso drinks add something sweet to balance out (or mask altogether) the bitter coffee taste. But Capitol Hill’s Ghost Note takes it up several notches of sophistication with concoctions like the Lush Life, a cold drink that features almond milk and orange blossom honey to smooth out the espresso, and then — Emeril-style BAM — throws in some grapefruit aromatics to add an edge of tart citrus. It’s an incredible summer beverage, and all of the drinks here have that same level of elevated flavor alchemy. (They look good in photos too.)

This small cafe on First Hill is a designer’s dream. The tables and shelves and sleek and contemporary, the stools made from skateboard decks add a note of punkish whimsy, and the light-filled space feels bigger than it really is. URL doesn’t do a lot of custom drinks but makes its own sweet cream, and whether that cream is lathered on an iced coffee or dropped into a shot of espresso, it transforms an already good coffee into a day-defining highlight. Speaking of day-defining, if you can find an open seat here, get the tomato ricotta toast — fancy toast may be why millennials can’t afford homes, but who wants a home, anyway?

Elm Coffee Roasters is a perfect place for stellar coffee, geeky yet approachable in a way that invites you to learn more about the finer points of brewing as well as harvesting and processing. With a rotation of seasonal coffees sourced from countries like Peru and Columbia and a solid, streamlined menu of coffee drinks, this is a haven in Pioneer Square.

Beacon Hill’s coffee shop by the light rail station has long been vocal and active about social justice causes. In addition to excellent coffee drinks, the Station hosts pop-ups and food drives, and is a hub for community organizing. The shop is a lively and welcoming neighborhood gathering place where you can sip on a Mexican Mocha or hot chocolate and enjoy some chorizo gravy over biscuits.

On the ground floor of Ethiopian Village, an affordable senior living facility, is Avole’s new flagship cafe, a sleek space that is a great showcase for Avole’s Ethopian coffee. This is a homecoming of sorts — Avole started out on Rainier Avenue but moved up to a (fairly small) space in the Central District in 2022, which is still open. Many of its offerings come from Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia, known for rich, chocolatey flavor with explosive berry notes. Co-founder Solomon Dubie observed the Ethiopian coffee ceremony from an early age, and has an instinctive feel for taste.

When South Park’s Resistencia Coffee closed down in 2023, it left a void in South Park that was quickly filled by the Scene, owned by Michelle Lang-Raymond and Jay Raymond. It’s a neighborhood cafe that makes you feel like you’re part of the neighborhood as soon as you walk in — there’s local artists on the walls, often R&B on the soundtrack, and Backyard Bagels behind the counter.