Food & Drink

Seattle Coffee Guide: What the Locals Order

We asked some of our city's celebs to reveal their morning-coffee rituals. Here's what they told us.

By John Levesque December 31, 1969

P Smoov, Hip hop artist with Mad Rad and Fresh Espresso

Quad shot Americano with soy milk, preferably at Caffé Vita, but he’ll go anywhere that has cute, flirtatious baristas.
  
Linda Derschang, Queen of clubs
Cappuccino, straight up

Jesse Jones, KING 5 News consumer reporter
Homemade (by his wife) double-shot caramel latte using Fidalgo Bay coffee

Rick Steves, European-travel guru
Grande double-shot extra-hot latte from the Edmonds Tully’s

Gerard Schwarz, Seattle Symphony Orchestra musical director
Starbucks French Roast drip coffee, black and strong

Tom Douglas, chef/restaurateur
Two cups of straight, black, pour-over drip coffee, which he drinks from his Thermos Nissan bottle. He makes it with Starbucks Espresso Roast whole beans, which he grinds himself, and uses Melitta coffee filters.

Kate Whoriskey, Intiman Theatre artistic director
A few sips of her husband’s bad coffee, then a large iced vanilla latte from Citizen in lower Queen Anne

Jenni Hogan, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News morning traffic anchor
Grande nonfat decaf sugar-free vanilla latte (in a ceramic mug made by a viewer)

Mike McGinn, Seattle mayor
Double grande Americano (in his own cup) from City Grind downtown

Sue Bird, Seattle Storm point guard
Mocha with soy milk

Daisley Gordon, Campagne and Café Campagne executive chef
A big press pot of the daily special at Stumptown, starting with a dash (sometimes two) of sugar, a tiny bit of cream and a few taps of cocoa powder, then pressing the coffee on top of that base

Derrick Cartwright, Seattle Art Museum director
A tall Pike Roast—no room—at the Benaroya Hall Starbucks

Steve Pool, KOMO 4 News weather forecasteR
Nonfat single-shot latte with lots of nutmeg on top

Jody Hall, Cupcake Royale owner
A doppio (double) macchiato—topped with a bit of velvet foam

Macklemore, hip-hop artist
When he’s feeling luxurious, a white velvet [with white chocolate] from Vivace; when he just wants
to drink something “for the sport of caffeine,” an Americano from Café Dharwin on Capitol Hill

Lily Jang, Q13 Fox News morning anchor
Starbucks drip with three creams and one sugar

Jonathan Porretta, Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancer
Starbucks grande bold drip of the day with nonfat milk and two Sugar in the Raw packets (the mermaids on the cup and on the sleeve have to line up with the mouth opening on the cap)

Patty Murray, U.S. senator
Drip coffee, black


More stories from our October 2010 Coffee issue:

SEATTLE’S COFFEE EVOLUTION
As coffee roasters and drinkers ride a new wave of obsession with single-origin beans, small-farm sourcing, artisanal roasting and high-precision brewing, SARA DICKERMAN takes us down memory lane with a history of Seattle’s caffeinated culture—looking at how our love affair with the drink came to be and how it continues to evolve.

THE SHOPS
Given the throngs of people filling Seattle’s countless coffee shops morning, noon and night, it’s a

 

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