Sleepless in Seattle and Coffee

Seattle! In addition to the Statue of Lenin in Fremont, the tomb of Bruce Lee, the overwhelmingly liberal political views, and of course its grunge music, Seattle is the birthplace of Starbucks, which could be seen in almost every block of Seattle and its suburb cities. People say that Seattleites developed their love for coffee, because of the cloudy and rainy weather. Although Seattle has one of the best summers in the nation, only small showers can be seen during the other seasons. It is definitely a misconception that Seattle has a high precipitation, because one research shows that Seattle ranks 44th among major U.S cities in regards to annual inches of rain. (Houston, Texas even has a higher precipitation than Seattle.) On the other hand, Seattle has a higher amount of days with precipitation.

Due to the large number of days with rain in Seattle, tourists will see locals of Seattle with a tumbler. Coffee in Seattle replaces water. (Even at this late hour, I am writing this post while drinking coffee.) This naturally created a culture of coffee in Seattle. Also being the birthplace of the Starbucks, Seattle’s Best Coffee (which is currently owned by Starbucks), and Tully’s Coffee, Seattleites spend an average of $36 on coffee according to a study. Also it showed that there are approximately 35 coffeehouses per 100,000 residents. Along with these chains, there are many other individual coffeehouses that produces its own taste. It is even said that many baristas often visit Seattle’s coffeehouses to study.

Baristas in Seattle also experimented with coffee. Latte art, an artistic method of preparing coffee by pouring milk on the espresso, begun in Seattle by a barista named David Schomer. Espresso Vivace, a coffeehouse owned by David Schomer, is still visited by many baristas from around the world.

After learning, where I am from, many people tell me about their fantasy of being sleepless in Seattle with their cup of coffee as they ponder about something great. Yes, nowadays, Seattle is filled with international corporations and companies that represent Seattle. With the research of University of Washington and these companies, Seattle is leading the field in science and technology. Of course, these innovations came from a cup of brilliance, but it could have been coffee that stayed with the people all night.