Simple and elegant…Chemex with Kone.

Caffé Vita’s Public Brewing School returns in February at the usual location at our Capitol Hill roasterie on the 19th. Also, we are excited to announce that PBS will make its debut at our recently opened Portland location on NE Alberta Street on February 26th.

PBS is a free, 2-hour class focusing on home brewing techniques. We cover basic techniques like French Press, more advanced methods like brewing with a vacuum pot, and everything in between. Classes always begin at 10am and run approximately two hours. Space is limited, so please RSVP if you’d like to attend.

Seattle – Capitol Hill (1005 East Pike Street)
- February 19th, 10am.
- Please contact jacob@caffevita.com if you would like to attend.

Portland – NE Alberta (2909 NE Alberta Street)
- February 26th, 10am.
- Please contact chad@caffevita.com if you would like to attend.

No hoops and no strings. Just show up at our Portland location on Friday (now through 2/25) between 10am and 2pm and we’ll serve you up whatever your heart desires (espresso, latte, french press, etc). Then come back the next week and we’ll do it again. How’s that for keeping the dream alive?

View Larger Map

Ah, the smell of a just-opened container after its month long journey from Medan to Seattle;  the dense sweet hay-like aroma of green coffee escapes, vibrant and fresh.  It has been a difficult season for the farmers and producers of northern Sumatra, and we feel extremely fortunate to have received this shipment.

Excessive rains have caused a number of problems for the farmers, with their trees struggling to produce as they once did.  Cycles of flowering and fruit development have been disrupted, and yields are down.  To make matters worse, much of the coffee being harvested is falling prey to the mildew and bacteria which thrive in the moist conditions. 

Last week Caffé Vita fired up a new page in our long and storied history by firing up our new (to us) vintage 60-kilo Probat roaster. For the first time in 14 years, our trusty 45-kilo 1930s Probat roaster is sitting dormant, but not for long. The old girl will get a complete overhaul as we get used to the logistics of roasting on a larger volume machine. The 60 gives us the new option of roasting an entire bag of coffee beans, which wouldn’t quite fit into the 45 before.

Obviously, our vintage Probat roasters offer a nice aesthetic touch to our roasterie, but more so we seek them out for the level of precision they lend our talented roasting team in terms of controlling temperatures throughout the roasting cycle. Furthermore, the pretty vintage shell of a Probat roaster is nothing without the accompanying vintage cast iron drum it holds within. If you think of a cast iron pan getting better with time and use as it’s “seasoned,” then you can understand why we seek out older machines.

If you’re in the Capitol Hill area, please feel free to stop by our cafe and pop your head into the roasterie for a quick look.

December 2010 Source Trip: Homacho Farm, Sidama Region, Ethiopia from jvoss on Vimeo.

In December 2010, Caffé Vita’s lead trainer, Andy Kent, traveled to Ethiopia to work on a project to trace coffee from the country from Farm to Cup. During this important traceability project, Andy visited the Homacho Farm in the Sidama region (about 4 hours drive south of Addis Ababa). Enjoy the scenes and the music…

On December 30th, High 5 Pie celebrated their grand opening at their new location at 1400 12th Ave (at Union) on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. Fuel Coffee and High 5 Pie founder Dani Cone is near and dear to our hearts at Caffé Vita as she is a former employee (but forever family). Dani started Fuel Coffee, which now has three locations around Seattle, and her newest venture in High 5 Pies is a delicious diversion. Caffé Vita is proud to offer High 5 Pies in our Seattle cafes, and we had a darn good time at the party…