You don't get to be the Coffee Czar without writing about coffee once in a while. Indulge me this week, as I give one czar's view of the lay of the land; the lay of Latte Land to be specific - my view of coffee in Seattle. *** Everything they say about coffee in Seattle is true. Coffee is an obsession here. There is a Starbucks or Seattle's Best on every corner. Happily for Howard Schultz - Seattle home boy and king of the Starbucks empire - you can say the same about most American cities these days. On the Seattle streets, between the cafes you find espresso carts parked on the sidewalk fulfilling the needs of stragglers unable to make it to the next cafe without a fix. In Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, which is notorious for it's population of teen heroin addicts, it can be difficult to tell the illegal joneses from simple caffeine withdrawal. All this is to say, the Coffee Czar is at home here. "Coffee is the common man's gold,
and like gold, it brings to every man the feeling of luxury and nobility" Cafe latte is the coffee incarnation of choice in the rainy city. Rearrange the letters in "Seattle", and what do you get? Lattes. A Latte - for those unfamiliar - is the combination of one or
more shots of Italian-style espressed coffee and steamed milk. It is sometimes confused
with Cappuccino, and although both drinks look alike with a "hood" or cappuccio
of milk hiding the espresso, they are distinct from one another. A Cappuccino has a shot
or two of espresso with a heap of dry foamed milk resting on the coffee like the head of a
beer. A Latte takes the espresso with 2/3 more steamed milk that is carefully decanted
into the coffee, leaving a creamy mound of foam on top. A well decanted latte leaves a
delightful fractal pattern of milk and crema at the top of the cup; a pillow for
your upper lip. In Seattle it is not worth the effort in debating whether Latte is real coffee, a coffee drink, or a coffee abomination. It's not an issue. The citizenry is like, whatever. Latte is accepted by the masses. It goes unquestioned, along with the rain. Let me tell you, after a couple of months of non-stop drizzle and sunlight depravation, brother you'll come around to the idea of a smooth drink that warms you up, leaves you with a happy buzz, and won't get you fired if you drink it on the job. A cup of diner joe strong enough to stand a spoon in may jolt the nervous system, but a Latte goes right for the soul. "Una bella tazza di caffe" Possibly the best latte in town can be had at the hands of Espresso Vivace. Vivace (pronounced vee-vah'-chay) is a small Seattle roasting house with two cafe locations within five blocks of one another on Broadway in Capitol Hill. The small company has a high-minded mission, namely "to develop and promote caffe espresso as a culinary art". Fortunately the cafes Vivace aren't as pretentious as their mission statement. The original Espresso Vivace where the beans are roasted is a bright space in an older brick building with big windows overlooking the 11th Avenue reservoir. There is counter seating plus five or six 50s era dinette sets - chrome legged tables with Formica surfaces and mis-matching vinyl upholstered chrome chairs. The second Vivace, Cafe Vivace, is more espresso stand than a cafe. They do have a couple of umbrella tables on the side walk, off to the side, and a tiny dreadful room upstairs, but it's really a to go spot. The visual signature of a Vivace latte is the rosetta pattern formed in the head of the foam. It is a trick discovered by a Vivace barista where you shake the pitcher of milk as your pour into the coffee. In skilled hands it can yield a beautiful design. All Vivace staff are trained in the technique. The servers at Cafe Vivace are better practiced, and I've had my most stunning lattes there. The Vivace latte has a richness that is unique. It is smooth and caramel tasting with a sweet after taste. At no time while drinking it are you aware that it is a concoction of two different liquids. The coffee and steamy milk blend and form some other coffee thing. It is an experience of sight, smell, touch, and taste. The aroma comes off the cup while the cushion of foam pads your lip. It delivers what in a word Vivace promises: Lively, brisk, quick, bright.
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