Caffe Vita has been independent and locally owned in Seattle since 1995. It roasts by hand on vintage German machines, in small batches and to order, at three roasteries: the flagship on Capitol Hill, a warehouse in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and Phoenix. Vita works closely with its suppliers on sourcing, and its roasting aims to show the qualities of each coffee and the work of the farmer. Deming Maclise is the chief executive and Wade McIntire the head roaster.
The Capitol Hill flagship is a roastery café where the crew and the vintage Probat roasters work in view of the room. Music has always been at the core of Vita, and its café in the KEXP Gathering Space shares the building with the radio station’s on-air studio and a record store, hosts free concerts and has a La Marzocco lab. The Fremont café is in the historic Herzig Building. Queen Anne began as a Caffe Fiore, and Sunset Hill Fiore, the first of Maclise’s cafés, is the blueprint for Vita’s new era, with a central round table at the heart of the room. The Seward Park café sits near 300 acres of old-growth forest. At Smith Tower, Vita runs a café in partnership with the Pioneer Square landmark, with food from local bakeries; gift cards and loyalty points are not accepted there.
Vita arrived in New York in 2012 with a small café on the Lower East Side. Its Brooklyn café and roastery, in a graffiti-clad warehouse off the Bushwick avenues, is the base of its East Coast operations. The Phoenix café, in the Willo and Roosevelt neighbourhoods, keeps the preserved Easley’s Fun Shop sign, hosts community events and has driven the development of new drinks for every Vita café.
Locations
- Capitol Hill flagship roastery and café1005 E Pike St, Seattle, WA 98122Capitol HillOpen in Google Maps
- KEXP472 1st Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109Lower Queen AnneOpen in Google Maps
- Fremont4301 Fremont Ave N, Seattle, WA 98102FremontOpen in Google Maps
- Queen Anne224 W Galer St, Seattle, WA 98119Queen AnneOpen in Google Maps
- Seward Park5028 Wilson Ave S, Seattle, WA 98118Seward ParkOpen in Google Maps
- Smith Tower506 2nd Ave, Seattle, WA 98104Pioneer SquareOpen in Google Maps
- Sunset Hill Fiore3125 NW 85th St, Seattle, WA 98117Sunset HillOpen in Google Maps
Elsewhere
- Brooklyn576 Johnson Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11237Bushwick, New YorkOpen in Google Maps
- Lower East Side124 Ludlow St, New York, NY 10002Lower East Side, New YorkOpen in Google Maps
- Phoenix509 W McDowell Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85003Willo and Roosevelt, PhoenixOpen in Google Maps
Coffee on the shelf
- blackberry
- plum
- milk chocolate
- caramel
- Rainier cherry
- malt chocolate
- fudge
- brown sugar
- roasted almond
- brown sugar
- apple pie
- cinnamon
- cocoa
- maple syrup
- chocolate fudge
- brown sugar
- dark chocolate
- baking spice
- nutmeg
- cocoa powder
- molasses
- walnut
- almond
- s'mores
- baking chocolate
- almond
Photograph: Caffe Vita