Elm Coffee Roasters

OUR ARTICLE

When we walked into Elm Coffee Roasters, we were struck by a few lyrics:

“Be a simple kind of man / Be something you love and understand.”

Lynyrd Skynyrd’s 1973 classic, “Simple Man,” speaks volumes to the style, service, and history of Elm Coffee Roasters and the type of man who would feel at home here with a cup of coffee.

“Simple” is a good term to describe Elm Coffee Roasters. The minimalist interior features white walls, light wooden pieces like booths and shelves, a long bar, and an industrial ceiling and lights. It takes out the overwhelming design of so many modern cafes and focuses on what matters: the coffee.

It was easy to let the mind wander to the early days of the West, when men came to Seattle for new prospects and walked the same streets, perhaps with their own tin cup of coffee.

Brendan Mullally, owner of Elm Coffee Roasters, worked in coffee for seven years in New York City before he heard the call to open his own shop. Like the pioneers of old, he took all that he had and set out for Seattle to make his dreams come true.

The coffee at Elm Coffee Roasters is sourced from small-lot farms around the world and roasted on-site. Order an espresso, iced coffee, latte, mocha, macchiato, cortado, or cappuccino and you’re sure to get the freshest in-season brew possible. If you don’t need the rush that coffee brings, they also offer teas from Song and Harbor Herbalist and fresh pastries from The London Plane.

We weren’t surprised to find good coffee and a minimalist design at Elm Coffee Roasters. Set in Pioneer Square, Seattle’s oldest historic area that dates to 1852, this place definitely vibes with its surroundings. With an Elm coffee in hand, we explored the OG of Seattle neighborhoods, a brick building-laden neighborhood with new restaurants and businesses, but one that still has that atmosphere of simpler times.

It was easy to let the mind wander to the early days of the West, when men came to Seattle for new prospects and walked the same streets, perhaps with their own tin cup of coffee. Could they hear the echoes of a song not yet written? “Boy, don’t you worry, you’ll find yourself / Follow your heart and nothing else…”

That’s exactly what Brendan Mullally did in Seattle with Elm Coffee Roasters. He followed his heart, and made a place for us simple kind of men who enjoy good brew as we to take our time and not “live too fast.”