The scene shifts to Seattle:the Capital of Coffee

Storyville Coffee @ Pike Place Market

Coffee Capital of the World? The answer depends on who you ask! If you ask coffee enthusiasts especially around the United States, you’re more likely to hear Seattle, WA on the Pacific Northwest. Not only is Seattle home to popular coffee chains like Starbucks, but it is also considered as the birthplace of the new wave of specialty coffee movement.

It’s no secret that Seattle has a love affair with coffee. It has the most coffee places per capita of any American city, and whose inhabitants are often referred to as “Coffeeholics” or “Javaphiles”. This warm, energizing happiness elixir seems to be the greatest weapon to battle Seattle’s grey skies and infamous rainy weather.

Coffee became popular in the US back in the 1700’s when tea was highly taxed leading to Boston Tea Party!  But it took couple of centuries more to get where we are now!

The 1960s and ’70s were all about counterculture. Bohemians sought out places where they could gather and discuss changing the world. This surge in demand led to a boom in coffee places all around Seattle.  And that’s also the time when Starbucks started at its original location at Pike Place Market. Of course, they changed the coffee game and brought in the Café Culture along with their mass popular Lattes, Frappes and Frapuccinos!  But, as Starbucks began to rapidly expand across the world, Seattle held true to its values which, first associated with hipsters, attached themselves to the grunge culture as the city moved into the ’90s. Remember the iconic Grunge Rock bands – Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Sound Garden, Alice in Chains 😊

These unaltering values led Seattleites to independent coffee roasters and coffee places, rejecting the increasingly commercialized chains like Starbucks.

Even to date, nothing much has changed. People of the Emerald City take to the trends that have evolved from once-hipster values: Ethically sourced, Fair Trade coffee at shops that practice ecological responsibility. The smaller and more local, the better the story gets!

Storyville Coffee

Getting to Storyville is not straight forward. The place is difficult to find and unless you are looking for it (I was 😊), you won’t come across it unlike other coffee places in Pike Place Market, such as the first Starbucks!

It’s almost like a Café Tresure Hunt until you reach the place. It’s in the building on the North-West corner of Pike and 1st. You walk up the stairs and it’s on the top floor. 

Storyville is the story of Jon Phelps, Jamie Munson, and Kris Rosentrater. Their business began as a mail-based coffee bean retailer. The Bainbridge roasting facility offered one signature blend called Prologue with a decaf alternative, appropriately called Epilogue.

I was quite intrigued with the logo: a bright red circle with the silhouette of a boy and his toy airplane and learnt the story behind the story of Storyville.

It’s real-life inspiration in a photo montage against the wall: a bright shiny Douglas D-3 airplane which belongs to owner Jon Phelps.  This machine has shown up in Jon’s other creative and business pursuits: the name of his musical project, the DC3 Orchestra, and the logo for Full Sail University, which he was founder of.  The Douglas D-3 was an early commercial passenger aircraft, one of the airplanes that made air travel accessible to the public. A transport that allowed people to travel to new places, have new adventures, and create new stories.

The coffee bar is the interior’s crown jewel, designed to emulate a coffee roasting machine—a nod to Storyville’s roots. A vector of traffic flow, the bar’s cylindrical form-factor, and unusually low height foster transparency between baristas and customers. The area below the counter is equally considered to ensure ease of movement for Storyville’s baristas and maximize space for under-counter storage.

Reinforcing the circular pattern associated with roasting, the bar lighting dramatizes coffee-making craftsmanship. Elsewhere, warm, ambient lighting coupled with direct spotlight help define customer touchpoints, as well as visually intensify the colours, materials, and finishes that pay homage to the modern minimalistic aesthetic of the Pacific Northwest.

What you’ll notice in this coffee place are huge semi-circle windows that look down on the market and it’s famous Public Market Center sign and if you look straight ahead, the view of Puget Sound. There’s a huge fireplace and lots of comfy leather seats and sofa.

The use of wood, leather, steel, and other natural elements throughout communicate quality with a deep connection to craftsmanship—two key pillars of the Storyville brand.

Gary Phelps’ (Jon’s son) quote in bold font: ‘Love Everybody, Never Ever Hurt Anybody’

The Coffee:Prologue

The perfect cup starts here with their signature blend, Prologue. Freshly roasted, smooth and deeply flavourful whole bean coffee.

This coffee is ideal to start your day, Smooth & Balanced with hints of Chocolate & Vanilla.