Ballardblog.com

I think I love the organic crowd because it is so gratifyingly predictable. The organic, granola driven intellectuals of Seattle never cease to impress me with their plush biodynamic fashion-sense pumping through their veins with Patagonia and Pellegrino trademarks surrounding them and their chic, rectangular glasses frames.

It’s so stereotypically rainy Seattle too that these young hipsters steer clear from the unorthodox sun that is peering through the windows at them as they type away on their MacBooks within the air-conditioned brick walls of Leary Way’s Caffé Fiore, all natural coffee guru of the Northwest.

 Welcome bean snobs, this is your java haven.

 The coffee at Caffe Fiore speaks for itself – best coffee I’ve had in a long while. After so many bitter mainstream coffee company experiences, I soon found Caffe Fiore, in all of its organic glory and flawlessly at home in Ballard (also has locations on Queen Anne and Sunset Hill).

 I went to Caffe Fiore everyday for over a week to be certain the coffee was as immaculate as my first experience played it out to be. I haven’t been proven wrong yet. The java juice’s claim to fame is its title as an organic café, using only the finest of organic products with self-roasted beans and rich, full-bodied and earthy coffee flavors. The pastry case is fully stocked with (shock!) organic donuts, danishes and croissants from the freshest and most-naturally prepared bakeries in the area. And it’s inexpensive to boot!

 Drinkers get the option of indulging themselves for the time it takes to finish their joe in a ceramic at-home style coffee mug or to-go cup while sitting at the du jour just-chopped-down-this-tree-to-make-these tables that are placed along the brick walls, that home trendy artwork as well as Caffe Fiore t-shirts in all sizes (what baby doesn’t need a coffee shirt?).

 Staff seems half asleep sometimes and I’m pretty sure I went to high school with one of the male baristas (baristos?) but they are darn good at pouring my drip coffee and seem to make pretty designs of aesthetic leafs on the top of other customer’s lattes. 

 So I raise my cup to you, Caffe Fiore, to bringing light to the Seattle rain in Ballard with your organic coffee, funky local tunes that amiably sift from your speakers and your polished tree tables. I’ll be back tomorrow, Macbook in hand and Vera Wang sponsoring my vision care.