Ghost Note
🍸 This Capitol Hill shop is famous for its seasonal drinks that are sophisticated enough to straddle the craft NA cocktail/coffee border. The headliner is the Sun Ship, a light concoction of espresso, sparkling water, and coconut milk that gets an intriguing bitter citrus note from housemade grapefruit rosemary syrup.
Know before you go: Drink your Sun Ship at the cafe, and it comes in a coupe glass and garnished with a big sprig of rosemary.
Aroom
🇻🇳 Seattle is blessed with a lot of new-wave cafes serving Vietnamese-style drinks, which means strong, dark, phin-brewed coffee often topped with sweet, creamy foam. Aroom (in Fremont and on the downtown waterfront) is one of the standouts, boasting options like a deep, rich sesame latte and a “salty coffee” with an intense, caramel-y layer of foam.
Know before you go: You can get coffee without the sweet foam here, but phin-brewed coffee is dark and bitter — Aroom is best if you do like the sweet stuff.
URL Coffee
🚶 Down near the southern end of Broadway is this effortlessly stylish cafe, a great place to work remotely (if you can snag a seat). If you don’t have time to linger, grab a Walk to Work, an iced coffee with sweet cream that isn’t too sweet, isn’t too heavy, and is simple enough that you can actually taste the coffee.
Know before you go: If you do get a chance to hang out here, treat yourself to one of the toasts.
Fulcrum
🌸 Fulcrum is mainly known as a roaster, but it also operates a pretty underrated cafe on Bell Street in that weird bit of downtown near 99 that’s not quite Belltown but not quite the Denny Triangle. The seasonal drinks are thoughtful and inventive, like the brand-new Milky Meadow, a drink that combines floral notes with coconut milk, seltzer, and Costa Rican espresso. It’s mellow and relaxing and will appeal to people who don’t love the taste of coffee without being too sweet. Fulcrum also has breakfast sandwiches and empanadas, and right now has the World Cup on its TV.
Know before you go: It’s a good place to hang out and work, but parking around here can be annoying and expensive.
Sound and Fog
🍋 One of West Seattle’s coffee shops emphasizes high-quality beans, but don’t sleep on its seasonal menu. Our pick for the most purely refreshing drink here is the Laura Palmer, cousin to an Arnold Palmer, which combines cold brew and lemonade. The sweet lemonade dilutes the coffee enough that you don’t feel blasted by caffeine, and it strangely almost has notes of tea. Give it a whirl!
Know before you go: Sound and Fog has great drinks, but no Wi-Fi.
