In the fall of 2019 and spring of 2020, I was traveling to Seattle three weeks out of the month for work. My client’s corporate office was downtown, so that’s where I was staying. And when most people think of Seattle coffee, they think of Starbucks — but as anyone who reads this blog knows, I’m not a fan of chains of any kind. Sure, there are Starbucks on seemingly every corner, but there are plenty of better local options too.
One of the ones I found — either a quick Uber ride or about a twelve-minute walk from my hotel — was Mr. West Cafe Bar. I chose it for a simple reason: it had a real breakfast menu, so I could get in and out before I had to be at my client’s office in the morning. But the real double win was that it had both kombucha and chai. Kombucha is one of my favorite things to drink, and at the time I wasn’t as deep into coffee as I am now, so a place that had both chai and kombucha on the menu was an easy sell.
I ended up hitting Mr. West probably ten or eleven times over the course of that stretch of travel. One of my favorite items was their breakfast sandwich — you could build it with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, avocado, different cheeses, whatever you wanted. But the best part wasn’t the fillings, it was the bread: they used these very large, very good croissants. You could get it on regular bread if you wanted, but once I tried the croissant version, that’s what I stuck with every time. They kept some premade so you could grab one and go immediately, or if you wanted something custom, they’d put it together lickety-split.
The chai and coffee lattes came with the usual barista artistic flair. In my chai photo, you can see one of those latte-art designs on top — it looks like either a Christmas tree or an Aladdin’s genie coming out of a lamp with a whole lot of arms. I’ll let you be the judge of that one. Next to it, that bright, berry-colored kombucha was just lovely.
I’d also mix things up with their avocado toast on occasion, and it never disappointed. I usually sat at their bar-style table looking out through the glass — there’s outdoor seating too, but true to Seattle form, it drizzles so often that sitting outside is more the exception than the rule.
The service was always solid, but one visit in particular stuck with me. I’d ordered, sat down, and about thirty minutes later decided I wanted another kombucha. By then the line was fifteen people deep. I walked up and my favorite barista saw me visibly deflate at the sight of that line — and he just looked at me and said, “I got you.” He brought the replacement kombucha straight to my table and took my card back to run it himself so I didn’t have to wait in line all over again. Needless to say, he got a very good tip that day.
If you’re spending any time in downtown Seattle, Mr. West Cafe Bar is one of the good ones worth checking out.
