Issaquah Coffee Company

Issaquah Coffee Company sits inside Gilman Village, in the former Grimaldi farmhouse, one of the old buildings hauled onto the site rather than knocked down when the village was assembled. Ryan Heidy opened the shop in November 2010 and the Issaquah Reporter covered it that month: he had brightened the paint, doubled the lighting and turned the coffee bar around so baristas face the room while they work instead of presenting their backs to it.

The intent was never only coffee. Heidy told the paper he wanted Gilman Village to feel the way it did before the big box stores went in up the road, and he opened with free WiFi, live music, a children's play area and a plan for boardwalk seating once the weather turned. It is a useful thing to know before you walk in, because the room is laid out for staying rather than for a queue.

Doors open at 6 AM on weekdays and 7 AM at weekends, and close at 6 PM every day, which makes it one of the few rooms in town that works both before work and in the late afternoon. Park in the Gilman Village lot. Front Street and the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery are under a mile east, so the shop pairs naturally with a morning downtown.