Black Bear Coffee Company

The City of Renton's own tourism office describes it as a double sided coffee drive through, easy to access from both sides, and that is the practical reason to know about it. Two lanes means two queues, and on a Benson Hill arterial at seven in the morning that is the difference between stopping and driving on. The honest counterweight is the lot itself, which more than one regular describes as awkward to get in and out of.

The house drink is the Grizzly Bear, which carries its own priced line on both the hot and iced menus above the mocha and the breve mocha, so it is a real menu item rather than a flavor combination. There is a Black Bear Tea and a Sunburst Tea alongside it. The coffee is described as locally roasted but no source names the roaster, so that is where it stops.

Food is the surprise here and it is better documented than at most stands, because they publish a full menu. Breakfast sandwiches come on ciabatta baked in house: an egg and cheese, a ham or sausage version, and Green Eggs and Ham with a fried egg patty, pesto, spicy capicola and provolone. Burritos come as chorizo, bacon, or potato egg and cheese. Then bagels in asiago, jalapeno cheddar and cheddar herb, oatmeal in five berry, apple walnut and maple, muffin tops, protein pucks, cake pops and banana bread.

It is independent and has been on this corner for more than a decade, and reviewers note the owner still works the stand. Weekdays run 4:30 AM to 7 PM, which is a long window, but the weekend is much shorter at 6:30 to 5. There is no seating and nowhere to sit; this is a window and a lane.