Espresso Vivace Roasteria Cafe
Category: Coffee & Tea [Edit]
Neighborhood: Capitol Hill901 E Denny Way
(between E Broadway & Nagle Pl)
Seattle, WA 98122 (206) 860-2722
- Hours:
Mon-Sat 6:30 a.m.-11:00 p.m.
Sun 7:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m. - Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Wi-Fi: Free
154 Reviews for Espresso Vivace Roasteria Cafe
I hate when I tell someone to try Vivace out and they blow me off because they don't want to deal with "coffee snobs". I say "eat shit" to those people. There are no coffee snobs here, only people who deeply care about what kind of coffee they drink.
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Pretty designs on the coffee + bohemian alternative baristas = Vivace Roasteria. You try. You like.
I committed coffee sin, and I will roast like a green coffee bean for it: I ordered a decaf espresso drink.
My head is hung in shame.
However, in the interest of not being up until 4am because for some fricken reason I'm ultra sensitive to caffeine and am awake for hours on end if I drink coffee/cokes/etc after 8pm, I asked for my espresso to be decaf. With much modesty and shame.
Actually, I initially asked for a cup of decaf, but the Barrista let me know that they don't actually serve drip here. Whoah. What? He also let me know that their decaf is tasty as well, the flavor of the espresso not changed much by the swedish decaf treatment. Hmm.
Because I'm nervous in general about ordering straight espresso anywhere outside of Italy, I got a latte instead. Decaf. My cheeks blush with shame just thinking about it.
And it was fricken tasty. And hot. Or that was the heat of my cheeks burning, not sure.
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Friendly staff, yummy drinks and even yummier baked goods. Vivace's serves Cupcake Royale cupcakes every day and also has other delectable goodies to choose from. The cupcakes are wonderful. I generally prefer my cake dense and moist, which these cupcakes are not, but they are still amazing. I still can't figure out how they manage to get them so light and soft without drying them out. My favorite is the old stand-by of vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, but the other flavors are good as well. The other 'must try' baked good at Vivace's is the cheese cake brownie. A dense, chewy brownie is combined with the sweet goodness of a cheese cake, and it's heavenly.
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Best latte ever.
While I'm by no means a connoisseur, I do know a damn good latte when I taste one. It was so creamy, from coffee beans so sweet it would have been a sin to add any sugar. What's more, it was under three bucks. It's not everyday you get world class stuff for everyday prices. If I could, I'd give Vivace another star.
I went ahead and bought a half pound of beans to bring home to my lowly espresso machine at home. While it wasn't as good as what I had at Vivace, the beans produced super thick crema.
If you've got the slightest affinity for coffee, I give my highest recommendation for Vivace Roasteria. My only wish is they had a location in San Francisco.
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Vivace has some of the best coffee in Seattle. The staff is super friendly and very cool. This place is always super busy and if you are new to Seattle coffee, it can be a bit high pressure when you get asked your order. The place has real world charm and is great to sit and chat with a friend. You can take a place at the bar and watch the barista work their skills.
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I love the space they have created at Vivace. The pictures of different pours on the walls with amazing designs, the cool retro tables , and the windows looking out onto the park. Mind you, I did not have time to hang around, I was on a special birthday walk hitting all these surprise places my husband had staked out for me. However, the coffee did not disappoint. I am a die-hard mocha drinker (forget the calories) and my mocha was not too sweet, more coffee than chocolate, creamy, and smooth. Delicious! Although, not in my neighborhood, and not an easy drive up place (what is in Cap. Hill?), if I were hanging out up there, I would definitely drop by on a regular basis.
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I'm pretty sure after 148 reviews (mine is 149) there isn't a "reviewing" reason for me to write this down. But for the love of God, I can't belong to Yelp, and talk endlessly about Seattle without mentioning four or five things about magic Espresso Vivace Roasteria Cafe:
1. Do you dream about coffee? Do you, really? Because I do. I dream about the White Velvet. In my dreams there is a combination of lyrics, velvety foam and delicious aftertaste while angels sing "White Velvet, White Velvet, White Velvet..."
2. Baci di Dame. Just a bite...from heaven. Maybe delivered by the same angels that sing in my dreams.
3. The view of the park from the windows. If I ever see sunlight on a Seattle afternoon, I will run to Denny, just to pair up a small White Velvet, a Baci di Dame and that crisp, green view of the park through their window panels. Oh, more beautiful dreams.
4. The kids corner. Just a sweet touch.
5. The roasted coffee to go. When in Atlanta, I can still wake up and have a taste of this marvelous, artisan coffee...maybe the best I've had in the U.S.
But the best thing is to walk there with Ryan to sit at a tiny table, linger on the cup that contains my lush, ambrosial White Velvet, and hold hands with him...my dream come true!
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Let me preface this review by saying that I am not a coffee drinker. I don't yearn for it, I don't crave it and honestly I rarely feel as though I need it and would be more than happy to order a hot tea or an iced tea than have a cup of Joe. However, I am always up for a new tasty adventure and since my die-hard coffee loving hostess absolutely insisted and bragged about how phenomenal the coffee is here, I figured, oh alright, I will try it.
Well, all I can say is Holy Shit. Yes, I realize that is profanity, but you don't even understand how amazing this soy vanilla latte was. I mean, it's as if the Coffee Gods came down and blessed my cup with liquid love in the form of a marshmellowy vanilly dream and wow, just wow.
Simply put, if coffee tasted like this everywhere, I would have stained teeth and a major coffee addiction, because it is THAT good!!!!
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Great place. I want to live at Vivace Roasteria. It has everything I could need or want. Great coffee, a great used bookstore downstairs (Revolution Books), and CrazyCherry (the tangy frozen yogurt shop formerly known as CrazyBerry) is walking distance. AND, if you want to cheat on Vivace with some chain-y type of place, you could crawl over to Peet's. I could set up a cot in Vivace's roasting room, install some top-down/bottom-up shades, and not get in anyone's way. Do you think they'd let me?
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Favourite coffee shop in Seattle. Period.
Vivace is the sort of place you take a long detour for. It's the sort of place where, if I didn't already live in Capitol Hill, I would still routinely drive here just to get a cup of coffee. It's that's good! The beans are perfectly roasted. The espresso amazingly rich and creamy. You'll stay up at night craving this stuff! You'll tell all your friends about it. You'll buy bags of Vivace Dolce beans as Christmas gifts!
Aside from the amazing coffee, I find the atmosphere and decor quite charming. The old building, large windows, nearby Cal Anderson Park, dappled sunlight, checkered floors, old diner furniture, large mural, wall of alternative publications, the barista/staff, great music, FREE wi-fi, pastries, etc . I can't imagine the Vivace on Denny any other way.
Between Vivace, Victrola, Ladro and Solstice, there's absolutely no excuse to drink at Starbucks if you live in Seattle! Life's too short to drink burnt mass-produced super-saccharine coffee-flavoured milk.
My weekend isn't complete until I'm sitting by the window staring out at the fountain in Cal Anderson Park slowly enjoying another amazing cup from Vivace. My iPod keeps me company. For that 30 minutes or so, I am in heaven.
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The best coffee in Seattle for sure. The macchiatos are so good that you don't even need to add sugar. I love sitting by the huge windows and looking out on the park. And the baristas are actually kind--so refreshing!
Sometimes when I go to a place that I feel like I had better to get to if I'm going to write one more yelp review I struggle terribly to find something that hasn't been said. I'll leave you with this idea:
Go there, buy an espresso and a mocha, take a pic of it, follow the espresso drinking instructions at the coffee bar (sip once, sip the rest), enjoy the mocha, and finish with a shot of wi-fi. Know that you're where Seattle Coffee Culture is defined.
No Sumatra roast to take home, no 5-star, judge me if you like, but conviction is conviction, I did buy some vita though.
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As the heroin dealer in Pulp Fiction says:
"...people who know the difference between good shit and bad shit, this is the house they come to."
There is plenty of coffee in Seattle. Some is bad, some is fine, a lesser amount is legitimately GOOD.
When I'm desperate for a hot caffeine kick in the morning, I'll drink practically anything, including the bitter black sludge that is Starbucks drip.
But in my heart I know the difference between good shit and bad shit, and when I demand quality in taste, texture, location, atmosphere... Vivace is the house I come to. And as far as exhilarating mind-body experiences are concerned, it's a lot less expensive or life-threatening than heroin.
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I have to add another drip into the giant, caffeinated bucket of fresh roasted Vivace reviews.
Let me just start by declaring how much I lurv lurv lurv the coffee.
Seattle has better tasting coffee than anywhere I have been, a certain European cappuccino stand would be the only possible exception. maybe.
Vivace has better tasting coffee than any place in Seattle I have been. It's that good. Somehow these folks have figured out how to fuse crack into the caffeine, that's the only way I can explain how the Vita and the Dolce can taste so much better than everything else out there.
I've gone astray looking for better options, but I always come crawling back like some cheating husband who ran out of money after a huge bender in Vegas.
If I don't bring 4-5 lbs of this stuff back home for friends and family when I take my annual holiday pilgrimage, I'm guaranteed to receive scorn and guilt trips the entire time. See what I mean? Crack.
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The dogs, the lines, the bed heads it all adds to these beautifully crafted cups of coffee. I love the old chrome kitchenette tables and the linoleum floors. I love sitting at the counter too. The mood of this place is that of a true coffee house.
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I grew up working for a coffee company in Hawaii. Dave Schomer, the owner of Vivace was held as an espresso God there.. so my visit to vivace was a pilgrimage to Mecca.
What amazed me the most was the casual ease, the relaxed demeanor of Baristas calmly serving the highest caliber of espresso.
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Stumptown can F@#k Off, when I roll up to seattle, this is where I start.
I always bring some of their espresso roast home. And nothing better than watching Vivace's Beautiful roasters at work whilest sipping powerful mochas.....
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BEST. DAMN. COFFEE. EVER.
That's all you really need to know, and if you don't believe me, just take a look at the other 150+ reviews. This is the real deal, Holyfield.
I am a certified caffeine addict, and after living in Seattle for 5 years and trying hundreds of lattes at various coffeeshops, I fully believe Vivace to be the best. The lattes are smooth and creamy, and the flavored syrup doesn't overwhelm the espresso or vice-versa. The baristas are so talented, and truly treat their job as an art.
My skinny white velvet is the stuff of dreams, and sipping it slowly while browsing through The Stranger is my idea of a perfect morning. The space is cool without being a scene, and there's always hip, interesting people milling over their lattes at the next table.
If I could give it six stars, I would.
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I used to wake up every morning in my apt on 15th and walk down to the best coffee place in the world. I tell that to everyone I know. People are like, "whatever." They just don't understand.
I live in Dallas now. The best coffee here is Starbucks. The best coffee where I just moved from (New Haven, CT) is Starbucks.
Two anecdotes, from my best friend and I, then I'm done...
When we were out roaming Seattle in a haze of being awesome, sometimes we would look at each other and break out in an R.Kelly song, "my mind is telling me no... but Vivace, Vivace is telling me yes."
In the movie "Coffy" (very appropriate), the arch villain Vitroni is known to like really foxy Black women, so when the pimp King George stumbles upon Pam Grier, he tells his old lady, "this one's for the Big V, baby"; He says "Big V" with awe and respect. We called Vivace, "The Big V".
I've suffered through tickets, towings, everything... cold rainy days, sun, whatever.
Americano - best in the world.
Iced caramel latte - best in the world.
Everything else: best in the world.
Coffee great, staff fantastic, wi-fi less fantastic, good location to study, have a coffee with friends and check out cute girls. I am shallow, but I love my perfectly steamed 140 degree soy lattes I get here!
Seattle has turned me into a coffee snob. Starbucks doesn't cut it. Not one bit.
This is my favorite coffee joint. White velvet americano or soy vanilla latte. YUM-O.
On a cold day, its nice to sip on some stellar coffee as you walk and browse cap. hill shops & walk over to cal anderson park.
Top 5
1. Espresso Vivace
2. Victrola
3. Ladro
4. Stumptown
5. Solstice
honorable mentions: Uptown and Zoka
need to try: Stickman Coffee
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I grew up poor, and recall going to friends' houses where I'd play with their awesome toys -- Voltron lions that form the big robot, or Mazinga Z robots with flying fists, or Big Wheels -- knowing that my parents couldn't afford them for my brother and me. Here I am in my mid-thirties, earning my own coin, and dreams of these toys and the fun I had with them still arise from time to time.
Why start a review of a cafe like this? Because my experience with Vivace's espresso drinks was just as fleeting.
My wife and I drove out there from the East side, and we waited patiently as the two artsy/grungy baristas expertly pulled espresso after espresso for the customers in the long, slow-moving line. My wife ordered a hot chocolate and I a cappuccino. And though I try not to let factors beyond the flavor take me in too much, the heart shape on the top of her hot chocolate and the rosetta pattern on my cappuccino's foam were a really nice touch!
We found two stools at the barista stand. As I got up to add some fixin's, I took a brief sip of the unadulterated cappuccino. It was really good. I mean REALLY GOOD. The espresso underneath was not shy in asserting its coffee-bean flavor without having that burnt taste that Starbucks has or that sourness that Tully's sometimes has. And the milk foam on top had a tight, glossy finish to it. This leap-frogged over what I had previously thought was the best cappuccino I ever had -- a hearty brew that a bald Italian-American sprinkled generously with cocoa at a cafe in Boston's North End.
(A small side note. Vivace's serves its drinks in real cups and saucers. Waiting for a good pull of espresso to drink it from real china is the real deal, to which sipping lesser espresso drinks through a plastic cap on a paper cup is but a pale imitation.)
I added a touch of sugar and sprinkled cocoa generously on top. I took another sip, and winced. What I thought was cocoa turned out to be nutmeg, and too much of it. My beautiful cappuccino now had a nutmeggy, slightly minty, weird flavor, and I just gulped the whole vile mixture down. Vile ... by my own hands! I suppose I could have gotten back in line and waited some more, but that was too high of a price to pay for a cappuccino, even one as good as Vivace's.
So here I sit, with only that first sip to remind me of what could have been. I will definitely go back there again, perhaps at some ungodly hour in the morning (they open at 6 AM) to avoid the line. And this time, I will add NOTHING to their drinks.
A final note: That hot chocolate that my wife ordered? Don't bother. You can get just as good at Starbuck's without the long wait.
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Ridiculous. This place is insanely good. The coffee is why I go - no other reason. Its like it was in Italy - friggin amazing. Who cares about anything else!
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For me whether a coffee shop has free wifi or not can be a deal breaker. This place has free wifi...but to be honest even if they didn't I might let it go in this case.
I don't know how I got away living in Seattle for so long with having never been here. I admit I'm not a hardcore coffee drinker ("I'll take a mocha please") but there is still a BIG difference from a tasty mocha and a 'not so much'. Believe me this place does coffee right.
On top of that the atmosphere is great. Lots of big windows so a lot of natural light.
Oh and parking Capital Hill sucks but check out the other side of the park they have back in parking and a lot of spots and it is free for 3 hours. I generally find a spot over there (then again you come on a weekend all bets are off).
Important to note re: Wifi appears it is turned off until 6pm on weekends.
i work across the street from Vivace and I can honestly say that not a day goes past that every coffee drinker at my work stops by, not just once, but sometimes twice. The coffee is that good.
But now we're spoiled. I pretty much refuse to drink coffee anywhere else now (with the occasional Victrola, and Ladro). They've even got me buying bags of beans! (goodbye bitter Starbucks, ugh)
Overall, the staff is really wonderful, the atmosphere can't be beat (especially on a snowy day overlooking Cal Anderson), and the coffee...i would still come here everyday even if it was located next to a dump with crack heads for baristas.
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The coffee here is good, but I think my expectations were just too high.
This is pretty much the coffee shop of choice for all the coffee snobs I call friends. It's a bit out of the way for me so I had never tried it. The fact that you literally pass a million coffee shops on your way anywhere in Seattle makes it tough to justify going out of your way to go to a particular one. Yet, I decided it was finally time to give this place a try.
I arrived and the line was long. Very long. But honestly, that just pumped me up for my coffee.
Then I finally got my latte. It was good, but it just didn't blow me away like I expected. Fair or not, lofty expectations knocks my rating on this place down a bit to a 4.
Definitely a good cup of coffee and worth checking out if you are in the neighborhood.
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Oh yes, coffee snobbery. But not from the baristas in this joint which is rare for a Seattle establishment specializing in serious coffee. It's just the coffee that thinks it's the best of the best, and it's right.
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This place serves the best coffee I've had in the the United States. I recently had my first latte here. I haven't coffee like this since I was last in Paris. For me, Vivace has officially unseated Cafe du Monde in New Orleans as the best coffee in this country.
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I was visiting Seattle over the holidays and came to Espresso Vivace based on the Yelp reviews. I can honestly say that this was the best cup of coffee I've ever had. I also got an almond bear claw-type pastry that was out of this world. The location was fantastic; I love the old formica tables and windows. If I lived in Seattle, I would be here almost every day.
GO.
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The best freaking coffee in Seattle.
Bar none.
And I have sat at a table in the sun along the street in the summer. Outdoor tables are available.
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A coffee experience par excellence! We waited maybe 8 minutes...OK 10....in a convivial line of folks waiting for their morning brew. The wait was punctuated by two hilarious dueling Labrador dogs who woofed playfully back and forth at each other. We didn't know what they were saying but it passed the time.
Now for the drinks: I had a killer Americano that met my highest level expectations which are: cannot be one bit watery...no no no...and must have a rim of crema on top. My friend had a latte, beautifully finished with a swirly Arte de cafe. We shared an almond croissant, fresh, tasty and buttery rich don'cha know? Give Vivace a try - you'll say "Viva, Viva Vivace"
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This place is amazing. We went today at 7:30am to get some coffee and pastries. The froth art is amazing, but even better yet, the white chocolate mocha that my husband has was delicioso! I just had a not-fat steamer, but even that was the best I ever had. The pastries are ginormous, too and yummy.
One of my favorite places to get coffee and read a paper. The great selection of pastries is worth waiting in line. Only downside, the restroom is a nightmare. Hold your nose or hold it in because you do not want to go in there!
iced mocha with extra chocolate and delish cupcakes makes a big girl swoon with love for this coffee shop.
lines are long but today the girl scouts were selling cookies to those of us waiting.
ps: the staff is friendly and eclectic -- just as Seattle should be.
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Funny story.
My old man...an old-school Indian dude (dot, not feather), who refuses to eat or drink anything that doesn't fall under the "south Indian vegetarian cuisine" umbrella, broke this pattern when I made him (or rather, had my mom make him) some coffee using Vivace beans. Now, he won't drink any other coffee.
There you have it folks. Vivace even has the seal of approval from old, picky Indians!
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The best Coffeehouse in Seattle. I had the best Iced Peppermint Mocha ever at Vivace. Vivace is also a great place to introduce friends from out of state the Seattle coffee experience and culture
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As a former barista who's worked domestically and abroad, I feel comfortable saying that this is one of the best coffee spots in the country. Here's why:
Espresso: the owner has written books on it. He meticulously roasts his own espresso to very high standards, making sure to never over-roast (as is traditionally done to compensate for lower-quality beans). The result is espresso that's full-bodied and sweet; no sugar required. For realz.
Milk: they know how to foam. The baristas are trained for approx. 1 month before they get to make a retail latte. Nuff said.
Atmosphere: Not hoity-toity (especially given how high their coffee standards are). Good coffee filters out the riff-raff. Classic Seattle.
Twin Peaks quote: "Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it. Don't wait for it. Just let it happen. It could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot black coffee."
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Quintessential Seattle coffehouse as I imagined it plus it doesnt hurt that the New York Times named it in the top 5 coffee places in Seattle.
A local Seattle acquaintance brought me and my bf here on a late night out. The coffee was smooth and decent. I like the chess games available for people to leisurely play while getting caffeinated.
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I loved this place so much that I will only make a quick jab at the ACDC that was blasting, because even amidst the truly unnecessary cacophony, I found immense joy in my smooth Americano, and all the world was right. (They WERE playing 'Back in Black'. Coincidence...or FATE?)
I would be strung from my ankles by my PDX-peers if I dared compare this coffee to the obvious Portland rival - but let's just say I know who I would put my money on. Vivace blows ANY other coffee out of the water - and is easily the best coffee I have had in this country.
And it should be! I mean...from a company that revolutionized latte art, has published research, and uses phrases like "precise scientific methodology," you'd sure hope that their bite was as strong as their bark.
It is. Plus some. I have scars to prove it: I was mildly disappointed by my normally euphoric local brew. Damn you Vivace!
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