One store that I mention over and over again is the Starbucks at 328 – 15th Avenue East, in Seattle, Washington.  It started out as an experimental store called, “15th Avenue Coffee and Tea” and initially lacked the Starbucks branding.  Once in a while in the news, there would be stories of the “stealth Starbucks,” and this was it.   On February 1st this year it changed back into a Starbucks, returning the branding and the logo to both the exterior of the store, and the interior.  Now even the paper cups are standard Starbucks cups.  Nonetheless, in many ways, it is still very unique and still to some degree, an experimental location.  It is still one of the only Starbucks where you might easily find a coffee cupping in progress.  It still has a manual espresso machine.  It still has unique pastries.  And it is one of the few locations that offers beer and wine.

This Starbucks has changed quite a bit since opening day.  I was the second person in the door the day it opened as 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea.  Initially, there was no soft seating anywhere in the store.  I really wish I knew where all my early photos of the store from that day are.  It was before I had a blog so I didn’t worry about taking pictures.  I can’t seem to find a single photo showing the old seating.  The original seating was a lot like vintage, hard theater seats.  Though it has been through a lot of change, I definitely have quite a soft spot for this store.  It was the first of the two “experimental” locations.  The other experimental location is the “Roy Street” store, also in Seattle’s Capital Hill neighborhood.

Here’s the contact information:

Starbucks store #5184
328 – 15th Avenue East
Seattle, WA
(206) 323 1568

Though the Starbucks siren hangs outside, it is still such a remarkable store that I thought I would do a whole series of photos of it for my readers.  This blog post is a bit of the sequel about coffee cuppings and processing methods.  Here is this gorgeous photogenic store: