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Columbia City now has some caffeine from the capital. Olympia Coffee — the Olympia, WA, chain known for its award-winning fair trade brews — has opened a new shop on Rainier Avenue and South Edmunds Street today. The brightly-lit 1,750 square foot space (in a historic 1920s building) houses a cafe, training facility, and community room for local businesses and nonprofits to meet. This is Olympia Coffee’s Seattle flagship store and the second location in the area, following its West Seattle expansion in 2018.
In addition to some of the cafe’s signature coffees (currently featuring a mix of Ethiopian and Columbian roasts), customers should expect a rotating list of snacks, such as pastries from the Olympia-based Left Bank Pastries, sandwiches and salads from Homegrown, and curry beef okazu pans from Umami Kushi.
This spot has some coffee competition in the neighborhood, with Empire Espresso and Columbia City Bakery within just a couple of blocks. But Olympia scored a good location and hopes its process of caramelizing the sugars within roasts — resulting in sweeter tasting brews — will help it stand out.
