A year ago, the SA team were in Seattle to support Ishan Natalie and were on a mission to scour Seattle for some of it's best coffee.
Slate Coffee Roasters was a hit for everyone.
A tiny little coffee-fuelled space filled to the bulging meniscus with flavour. From the friendly, eccentric and knowlegable baristas and owners to the carefully selected and roasted coffees, it was a delightful experience all round.
Marijuana is legal in Seattle, a huge billboard announces this as you sit on the train coming in to the city. At Slate we were served by the happiest coffee hippie who was most assuredly stoned. He made us a flight of coffee beverages that highlighted the role of milk as it blends with the coffee and the importance of using a delicious, high quality milk. We received an espresso, a small glass of steamed milk and a blend of the two. It was a delicious and interesting experiment and the way he talked about those cows!!! Memorable.
We knew we would probably only have one opportunity to get out to this spot so we did nothold back and left thoroughly over-caffeinated. We also sampled the Kenyan iced coffee and their Chemex AND their scruptious orange and dark chocolate concoction! So ja. A lot of caffeine!
Things that stood out were the attention to detail, the temperature of the coffee, both espresso and manual brew, much below what South Africans consider 'hot' and the passion for their craft.
