Anthem Coffee and Tea

Anthem is a Puyallup family's company. The Reynolds family bought a Forza franchise in 2006, and in November 2011 Bryan Reynolds, with his wife Alicia and his parents Larry and Janie, converted it into their own brand and opened this downtown Tacoma cafe across from the University of Washington Tacoma the same month. It has grown to six Washington locations and two in Arizona, all independent, none franchised.

The coffee comes from Dillanos Coffee Roasters in Sumner. The food is the thing people mention: a menu of naan bread pizzas alongside pastries delivered daily from The Vintage Baker, plus wine and beer. The homepage has lately been pushing a peanut butter and jelly latte, white chocolate and peanut butter with raspberry.

Anthem also hosts barista throwdowns it calls TNT, Thursday Night Throwdown, with dates at the Tacoma location, which makes it one of the few places in the city where you can watch competitive latte art on a weeknight.

This location has no drive through; the Sunrise Village store in Puyallup is the one with a window. Hours are 7 to 4 on weekdays and 8 to 4 on weekends.