Victrola is named for the popular home phonograph of the 1920s, and the Jazz era runs through the business, from live vintage jazz to the architecture of its cafés. It opened on Capitol Hill in 2000, doubled its space a year later by taking over the storefront next door, and in 2003 began roasting in the café’s tiny back room. In 2007 it opened its showcase café in a 1920s auto row building at the foot of Capitol Hill, with the roastery, a training facility and a cupping room. Beacon Hill followed in 2009. In 2022 Victrola took on the Seattle Coffee Works brand and cafés, and merged them into Victrola in May 2024.

Victrola buys through importer partners and builds lasting relationships with producers. It has bought from Luis Alberto Balladerez, who runs farms and mills in Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua, for nearly a decade, and has taken the entire harvest of Denis Teruel’s Finca las Brisas in El Cielito, Honduras, since 2014, as the farm grew from about two bags a year to ten or twelve. Many of its coffees are shade-grown, and it pays above the Fair Trade minimum whether or not a coffee is certified.

The Pike St café and roastery holds free public cuppings on select Fridays. The 15th Avenue café, once called “the living room of Capitol Hill” by a regular, has hosted art openings and a rockabilly show and has a community room that can be reserved for free; Ballard, close to the Sunday farmers market, has one too. Beacon Hill sits near the library and the light rail station. Thomas St occupies the 1927 Troy Laundry Building, a Seattle Landmark in South Lake Union, with couches and a garage door that opens in summer. Downtown, the 3rd & Pine café takes a corner of the Macy’s building above Westlake Station and serves sandwiches, wraps and salads, and the Pine Street café is a short walk from Pike Place Market.

Locations

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  1. Pike St Cafe & RoasteryPike St., Capitol Hill, Seattle, WA (street number not published on the official page)Capitol HillOpen in Google Maps
  2. 15th Ave. E. Cafe15th Ave. E., Capitol Hill, Seattle, WA (street number not published on the official page)Capitol HillOpen in Google Maps
  3. Beacon Ave CafeBeacon Hill, Seattle, WA (street address not published)Beacon HillOpen in Google Maps
  4. 3rd & Pine Cafe3rd Ave & Pine St, Downtown Seattle, WADowntownOpen in Google Maps
  5. NW Market StNW Market St, Ballard, Seattle, WA (street number not published)BallardOpen in Google Maps
  6. Thomas St1130 Thomas St, Seattle, WA 98109South Lake UnionOpen in Google Maps
  7. Pine Street108 Pine St, Seattle, WA 98101DowntownOpen in Google Maps

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Victrola Coffee Roasters