Ghost Note Coffee Cofounder Christos Andrews’ Guide to Seattle

Many beloved Seattle cafés are stylistically “old school,” says Andrews, featuring the darker roasts and toasty flavors associated with second-wave coffee culture. That’s changing, however, and many of his favorite shops highlight the brighter, fruitier notes favored by third-wave roasters. Here are a few spots he recommends:

Olympia Coffee: These purveyors of “slow coffee” source and roast some of the country's best beans, Andrews says. Their cafés in West Seattle and the history-rich Columbia City neighborhood both offer ultra-fresh brews in sleek surroundings.

Hello Em: Specializing in robusta beans sourced from Vietnam, this café in Seattle’s Little Saigon neighborhood is also a cultural hub. In addition to espressos and cortados, their menu offers Vietnamese egg coffee and drinks with ingredients like pandan, caramelized banana, and condensed milk.

Mr. West Café Bar: Single-origin coffee is the star at this café-bar with airy locations in Downtown Seattle, University Village, and Madrona. Seasonal menus range from pour-over coffee to creative specialty drinks such as coffee egg creams, cardamom tonics, and cold shakeratos.

Anchorhead: Great-quality coffee is a given at this shop with locations in downtown, Pike Place Market, and Capitol Hill, says Andrews. (He should know: The Capitol Hill location is just a 12-minute walk from Ghost Note Coffee.) The café and bakery offers single-origin pour over and perfectly pulled espressos as well as cold-brew coffees flavored with creative ingredients like homemade blueberry milk.

For coffee aficionados (or the coffee curious) who want to experience the flavor of the brew itself, Andrews recommends keeping your order basic. “There’s nothing better, to me, than a well-brewed filter coffee,” he says. “If I’m at a café that is very focused on the brewing process, that’s likely what I’ll order.”

The trendiest order in Seattle right now, however, is the cortado, a compact espresso drink with origins in the Basque region of Spain. “It’s a little milkier than a macchiato and a little smaller than a cappuccino,” he says. Still, he prefers a cappuccino for its balanced flavor—and sees it as the test of a truly great barista. “It’s the most technically difficult to execute. The foam should be velvety and smooth, but not stiff and merengue-like. The milk and coffee should be well incorporated,” he explains. “When you get a great one, it’s magical.”

While classic drinks remain touchstones, Seattle menus also offer lots of inventive coffee creations. Ghost Note Coffee, for instance, offers a variety of unique drinks, like their signature Sun Ship (espresso, smoked-grapefruit rosemary syrup, coconut water, and lime) and the seasonal Calypso (espresso, orange juice, pistachio-almond syrup, N/A rum, lime, and bitters).

Creating these kinds of offerings is an exacting process, explains Andrews, who is the café’s coffee director. “If I don’t completely fall in love with a signature drink that I’m working on, I’m not releasing it—even if that means that a drink literally takes years of testing and experimenting before we serve it (which has been the case for a few of our most popular drinks),” he says.

Seattle’s food scene is wonderfully diverse, and Andrews spends his off hours seeking out the city’s best fare—especially Mexican. “Carnitas Michoacan in Beacon Hill is transcendentally good; their handmade tortillas, carnitas, and lengua set the bar pretty damn high,” he says. “Birrieria Tijuana has been leading the birria charge since before it was cool.”

Other favorite restaurants include Dumpling the Noodle in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood and Tat’s Delicatessen. “The ‘tat’strami’ at Tat’s Delicatessen in Pioneer Square is the first thing I ever ate in Seattle, and may still be my favorite sandwich in the city,” Andrews says.

Capitol Hill—where Ghost Note Coffee is located—makes a great home base for exploring the city. The LGBTQ+-friendly neighborhood known for nightlife is among Seattle’s coolest neighborhoods and is overflowing with music venues, boutiques, brunch spots, and bookstores (the vast Elliott Bay Book Company is a local favorite). Its 48-acre (19-hectare) Volunteer Park also houses the Seattle Asian Art Museum.

Andrews also recommends the slightly funkier Fremont District, where Gas Works Park offers views across Lake Union to the downtown skyline. He likes to bring out-of-town visitors there to visit the Fremont Troll lurking under an highway bridge, try some sweets at the Theo Chocolate factory, and see the towering (and controversial) Vladimir Lenin statue.

Andrews’ ideal Seattle itinerary is all about food: He recommends starting with a Southern-style brunch at Seattle Biscuit Company in the Fremont District. If there’s a line for tables, you can stroll to Fremont Canal Park, a linear park a few blocks away that traces the northern edge of the Lake Washington Ship Canal. After you eat, spend some time browsing Fremont District shops.

In the afternoon, head south to the Chinatown-International District, which has been a hub for Asian communities since the late 1800s. There, you can stock up on Japanese snacks from Uwajimaya and try the Japanese-French pastries of Fuji Bakery. While you’re in the neighborhood, visit the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, stroll through the cherry trees of Kobe Terrace, and play a few rounds at the Seattle Pinball Museum.

Once you work up an appetite for dinner, return to the Fremont District for sunset at Gas Works Park and a feast at Dumpling the Noodle. Try to save room for dessert at the nearby Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream; a scoop of the local shop’s salted-caramel or honey-lavender ice cream is the perfect ending to a day of exploring.

Related: Sairen Store Cofounders The Kaitlins' Guide to Seattle's Chinatown