although you can get espresso and coffee at any corner store or coffee shop in seattle, and the neighborhood just beyond pike place market has some amazing options for coffee (i’m looking at you moore cafe!), this is my guide to the best coffee in pike place market.
how do I know? I spent four years stomping on Pike Place Market, living a few blocks above this bustling urban destination and commuting to graduate school on foot, right across the market, at unreasonably early hours.
Reading: Best coffee pike place
Trust me, I’ve had a lot of coffee at Pike Place Market and I’m not a creature of habit. instead, I love to try new things until I find something irresistible and worth making a habit of. so my coffee recommendations are based on a lot of experimentation and my own experience discovering which coffee shops in pike place market drew me in time and time again.
my favourite: the shopping bag
le panier (1902 pike pl) is a french bakery in the heart of pike place. Despite being known for its macarons, baguettes, and croissants, this place makes a good cup of coffee. in fact, after much taste testing, I decided that le panier had my favorite vanilla latte in town.
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You won’t regret ordering anything on the menu here, which is unique as most of the market cafes (including starbucks) don’t serve food.
best for relaxing: storyville cafe
storyville coffee (94 pike street, top floor, suite 34) rises above the market on the third floor of the corner building. Although it’s easy to miss, this spot is popular with locals and tourists alike. A benefit of Cafe Storyville that you won’t find at any other cafe in Pike Place Market is that it has ample seating. If you’re looking for a place to sit back and relax at Pike Place Market, Storyville is the destination for you. And as a bonus, Storyville is known for giving out random chocolate cake periodically throughout the day.
storyville coffee is perched above the market in a third floor space with expansive waterfront views to the market below. Cozy seating around open fireplaces is perfect for lounging on Pike Place and maybe even making friends with fellow travelers.
find it via the ladder above the corner produce, and don’t miss your chance to take an amazing and unique photo of a pike from this second floor landing on the way up.
best for non-coffee drinkers: rachel’s ginger ale
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if you really don’t like coffee, rachel’s ginger ale (1530 post alley) is the destination you’ll enjoy more than a non-coffee drink at a pike place market coffee shop. Rachel’s Ginger Beer includes house-brewed ginger ale, ginger ale, ginger/cheese ale, and other seasonal beverages.
coziest/most haunted: ghost alley coffee
ghost alley coffee (1499 post alley) is a small enclave located below the fish pitchers. follow the stairs down rachel the pig. Just before you hit the gumball wall, you’ll stumble upon a small hole in the wall with an aged-looking sign that says ghost coffee in the alley.
ghost alley coffee is locally owned and the espresso drinks, as required for a coffee shop at pike place market, are phenomenal. During grad school, a fellow student worked as a barista at this coffee shop. When I asked him if he really was haunted, his answer was simply an ambiguous “it’s not not haunted.”
where you’ll probably go anyway: starbucks
Despite great marketing to the contrary, Pike Place Starbucks (1912 Pike Place) is not the original Starbucks: It was demolished many years ago in Seattle’s march toward modernity. instead what makes pike place starbucks unique is the constant line, no food on the menu, no mobile ordering (this may be updated in response to 2020 health and safety changes), and psychological screenings for potential employees to determine if they can handle the chaos of this starbucks location.
if your heart is crying out for that classic pic of pike place starbucks, here’s a time-saving trick: on your way to the market, stop at pike street starbucks (102 pike st) which is 0.2 miles from pike place Location. have a drink there and take your mug down the street and take a picture of yourself (here are my tips!) next to the pike place location sign. you’ll save up to 30 minutes of time waiting in line!
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