Common Ground Coffee and Cupcakes

Lange and Heng Woon signed a fifteen year lease on the corner of Third and Wells in 2006, when by their own account downtown Renton was boarded up. Nearly two decades later they are still behind the counter and their two daughters work it with them. Lange spent thirty one years at Boeing, and the couple ran an espresso bar in Tukwila before this one.

Heng bakes the cupcakes on site every day, about ten flavors, all buttercream, on a seasonal rotation with names to match. Miss Lavender, The Ballerina, Carmelicious and Maple Bacon are regulars. Red velvet comes with cream cheese, and for Lunar New Year there is a Lucky Cupcake of green tea cake topped with a fortune cookie. Ube, almond cherry, espresso, double dutch, peppermint, eggnog and gingerbread come and go with the calendar.

The coffee is Caffe D'Arte. Beyond the case there are breakfast sandwiches on an English muffin or a bagel, deli sandwiches including roast beef with horseradish, banana bread, cookies and bars, plus smoothies and bubble tea. They cater parties, events and weddings out of the same kitchen.

It is a sunny corner room with leather chairs, plants, magazines, big windows and free wifi, and it has been a downtown meeting spot for well over a decade. Pink patio chairs sit out front in good weather. The hours are the one catch and they have shortened over the years: it closes at 4:30 on weekdays and 5 at weekends, where a decade ago it ran to 7:30 in the evening.