The 4 Best Coffee Shops in Downtown Everett

If you are looking for the best coffee in downtown Everett, the good news is that you have some hard choices to make, because there is more of it than this old mill town usually gets credit for.

Quick note for the regulars first: yes, the show is back. After six months off, I relaunched the Exploring Washington State podcast the only sensible way, by drinking too much coffee and talking too much about it. I dragged my friend Brooks Smothers from RV Out West to four very different coffee shops in downtown Everett on a Saturday morning, supposedly to review them. Mostly we just drank coffee and had a good time, and somewhere in there I finally learned what a one and one is, after a lifetime of thinking I knew coffee.

Here are the four shops we hit, what each one is good for, and a few things worth knowing before you go.

Narrative Coffee

Narrative is the one that feels most like Pacific Northwest coffee culture done right. Exposed brick, open beam ceilings, concrete floors, and on a Saturday morning a line out the door that nobody seems to mind, because the coffee is worth the wait. It started years ago as a single coffee cart downtown and grew into this, and it still works with small local roasters on a rotating basis, so the menu changes and you can buy a bag of whatever they are pouring to take home.

What to order: a cortado if you want something simple and coffee forward, served in a glass the way it should be. If you are hungry, the ham and gruyere on sourdough is the move, and almost everyone here is eating, not just drinking. This is a sit and stay place, with couches up front and window seats for watching downtown go by.

Nadine’s Coffee

Half a block from Narrative and a completely different mood. Nadine’s is quieter and calmer, all hardwood floors and mellow jazz, the kind of room where the couple next to you is deep in a game of chess and nobody is in a hurry. It is easy to miss, though. It sits back off the street in a parking lot rather than on a storefront, so watch for the sign or you will walk right past it.

What to order: the one and one. That is a shot of espresso, a sparkling water chaser to reset your palate, and a cortado, all brought out together on a little tray. It is a lovely way to slow down, and it is the drink that gave our whole episode its running mystery.

The Loft Bake Shop and Cafe

The Loft, over on Hewitt Avenue, is the roomy one, and it is the pick if you actually need to get something done. Big space, lots of tables and comfy chairs, plenty of outlets so you are not fighting anyone for the one good seat, and historic photos of early Everett on the walls. New owners took over about a year ago and now bake everything on site, so the pastry case is worth a look.

What to order: they pour Fidalgo, a solid regional roaster, and the cold brew is easy going if you are pacing yourself across a few stops. Brooks calls this his go to remote work spot, and once you see all the outlets you will understand why. Bonus: you are steps from Sunken Ship tattoo, a local natural grocery, and Obsidian taproom if you want to make an afternoon of it.

Choux Choux Bakery

Choux Choux, on Grand Avenue, is more bakery than coffee shop, and I mean that as high praise. Croissants, baguettes, sourdough, the kind of counter that would fit right in as a French boulangerie. It is tiny inside, just a couple of tables, with more seating on the patio when the weather cooperates. They pull espresso on a real machine and serve Olympia Coffee, so the coffee is no afterthought, but the pastries are the reason to come.

What to order: a croissant and a breve, then go dig through the crate of beat up records by the turntable and put something on while you sit. One catch: the croissants sell out, often well before the afternoon, so come in the morning if that is what you are after.

Before you go

A few practical things. Parking downtown is easy and mostly free, which is a bigger deal than it sounds, because it is what lets you park once and walk between all four of these.

If you are coming on a Sunday between Mother’s Day weekend and early October, the farmers market sets up right out front of Narrative and Nadine’s, so you can grab a coffee and wander.

My one gripe, and I said as much to Brooks: most of these shops close at 3 pm. If you are rolling into town in the afternoon like a lot of travelers do, plan around it, or join me in gently lobbying Everett to stay open until 5.

And if you are traveling by RV, leave the big rig at the campground and come into downtown in something smaller. There is nowhere to park 55 feet of truck and trailer on these streets, and Brooks would know.

Listen to the episode

Everett has quietly become a real coffee town, with four distinct shops that each do their own thing well. Whether you want a coffee forward cortado, a quiet corner to work, a pastry worth the drive, or a crate of records to flip through, downtown Everett has a cup for you.

For the full tour, including the surprising story behind the AeroPress and a few more Everett tangents, listen to the episode below.

Coffee shops in this episode:

• Narrative Coffee, downtown Everett
• Nadine’s Coffee, downtown Everett
• The Loft Bake Shop and Cafe, Hewitt Avenue
• Choux Choux Bakery, Grand Avenue

Also mentioned: RV Out West with Brooks Smothers, plus roasters Fidalgo, Olympia Coffee, Stumptown, and Island Time Coffee.

Podcast Transcript

Scott Cowan [00:00:00]:
Hey, friends, remember me? It’s Scott with the Exploring Washington State podcast. And we’re back after six months off. And to start things up again, I dragged my buddy Brooks Smothers from the show RV out west to four coffee shops in Everett, supposedly to review them. And I’ve been drinking coffee my entire life. And at the very first shop, I learned something. Do you know what a one in one is? I didn’t. So at the second shop, I ordered one. I’m not going to be explaining much more here, but you’re going to have to listen to find out how it went.

Scott Cowan [00:00:30]:
So we mostly were just drinking coffee and talking too much, but I think the episode holds up better than you, you’d imagine. So grab a cup, settle in, and let’s get back to it. Hello, friends, and welcome to the Exploring Washington State podcast. My name is Scott Cowling and I’m the host of the show. Each episode, I have a conversation with an interesting guest who is living in or from Washington state. These are casual conversations with real and interesting people. I think you’re gonna like the show. So let’s jump right in with today’s guest.

Brooks Smothers [00:01:11]:
We are doing a collaboration project between RV out west and the Explore Washington State podcast where we are going to take a look at at some of the coffee shops and coffee culture in and around Everett, Washington, which is about a half hour to 45 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on traffic.

Scott Cowan [00:01:28]:
Depending on traffic, yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:01:29]:
For this Seattle. So joining us on the show today is Scott. So, Scott, thanks so much for coming on the show.

Scott Cowan [00:01:34]:
Thanks, man. This is going to be fun. Coffee and travel. I love it.

Brooks Smothers [00:01:37]:
First, I think which one of us reached out to. Was it me or you that talked about this idea?

Scott Cowan [00:01:44]:
I think it kind of. Honestly, I don’t remember. I think we both probably said, let’s do a show about coffee.

Brooks Smothers [00:01:48]:
Yeah. Because we’re both coffee nerds.

Scott Cowan [00:01:50]:
That are revolvers.

Brooks Smothers [00:01:51]:
Yeah. Oh, it could have been the revolvers. That could have been the revolvers on the campfire. That is true. But kind of the intent or purpose of this was that we really just kind of wanted to explore what coffee is and what it means from a coffee culture perspective, as well as from the beans and coffee itself. So we are going to take you on a journey as we travel around four distinct and very different coffee shops in Everett. And we’ll make sure that we have in the show notes, links to these coffee shops with pictures and stuff. So if you do find yourself in Everett and are looking for a cup of Coffee.

Brooks Smothers [00:02:28]:
You can come and check out one of these great places.

Scott Cowan [00:02:31]:
Absolutely. I look forward to this adventure today.

Brooks Smothers [00:02:35]:
Me too. I’m excited.

Scott Cowan [00:02:36]:
Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:02:37]:
All right, stop number one. We are narrative coffee. Scott, why don’t you go ahead and kind of just describe what you’re seeing, what it looks like, kind of what the feeling is. Tell me about it.

Speaker C [00:02:47]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:02:48]:
I’m facing towards the front, and you can’t see this, but there’s a line going out the door. Now we’re recording this on a Saturday morning. We’ve got one barista working at the bar, but when you come into narrative, open beam ceiling, exposed brick, a lot of wood, concrete floors. Really welcoming vibe. Noisy, as you can probably tell, because we got music going on in the background. And what I’m surprised by are people are patient because the coffee’s good. Coffee’s great.

Brooks Smothers [00:03:17]:
So it’s worth the wait.

Scott Cowan [00:03:19]:
Yeah. No, mine. So I started off with a cortado.

Brooks Smothers [00:03:23]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:03:23]:
Which is kind of my new go to. I won’t say go to, but my treat. My go to is going to be a pour over all the time.

Brooks Smothers [00:03:31]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:03:31]:
Or maybe a French press. But the cortados, nice, simple drink. Especially when we’re going to go to multiple shops today. Got to pace myself, because otherwise, by the end of this show, no one will understand a word coming out of

Brooks Smothers [00:03:43]:
my mouth, and my heart is going to feel like it’s jumping out of my chest.

Scott Cowan [00:03:46]:
Right.

Brooks Smothers [00:03:48]:
So tell me about a cortado, because I’m actually not familiar with it. What is it?

Scott Cowan [00:03:51]:
Equal shot of espresso, shot of steamed

Brooks Smothers [00:03:54]:
milk, one to one.

Scott Cowan [00:03:56]:
Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:03:57]:
How is that different than a cappuccino?

Scott Cowan [00:04:01]:
There’s no foam. It’s just. It’s just warmed milk. I love just drinking straight espresso.

Brooks Smothers [00:04:07]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:04:07]:
I’m not going to do that multiple times in a day, so I find that to be a good way of just kind of cutting it. The thing that I find interesting is that in most coffee shops, it’s always served in a glass, not in a. In a. In a ceramic.

Brooks Smothers [00:04:20]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:04:21]:
Yet I’m noticing everything here is glass.

Brooks Smothers [00:04:24]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:04:24]:
All the drinks are coming out. Your. Your. Your. Your cappuccino came out in a glass.

Brooks Smothers [00:04:28]:
My cappuccino came out in, like, what I would call a. A juice cup. Really? I mean, like, it’s like a little kid juice cup.

Scott Cowan [00:04:33]:
There you go.

Brooks Smothers [00:04:34]:
I love the exposed brick in this place, too. It kind of gives that charm of Everett, where, you know, it’s that mill town, and it kind of what would

Scott Cowan [00:04:43]:
be really fun to know is the history of this specific building, what was here, because this building’s probably 1920s, I’m guessing.

Brooks Smothers [00:04:51]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:04:52]:
So as Everett has changed over the last hundred years, wonder what’s been in this building.

Brooks Smothers [00:04:58]:
Yeah, me too. I don’t know. I have no idea. Yeah. The other thing I would say is the food here is fantastic. They do a lot of really good kind of, you know, you got your traditional pastries and coffee shop, you know, those kind of things. But also, like, I started with the ham and gruyere cheddar cheese, and that is my go to here. I love that sandwich.

Scott Cowan [00:05:21]:
I can’t say it’s my go to, but I followed along with you, and it was a great choice. It was excellent. I never thought of a ham and cheese as a breakfast sandwich. I don’t know, why not add an egg to it? And it’s

Brooks Smothers [00:05:35]:
sourdough, too.

Scott Cowan [00:05:36]:
It was wonderful. What I’m noticing also is that almost everybody’s getting food.

Brooks Smothers [00:05:43]:
It’s not just come in and have coffee.

Scott Cowan [00:05:45]:
It’s just not just coffee and go. It’s coffee, come in, sit around. There’s conversations going on all around us. And almost everybody has food. Yep.

Brooks Smothers [00:05:55]:
And I love how they have the two couches up in the front of the shop that are facing. So if you’re here with four to eight of your friends, you can kind of sit and almost like be hanging in a living room in your own little corner of the world.

Scott Cowan [00:06:08]:
Right. And then also they got the. The window seats so you could sit out there and watch the world go by. Kind of busy out there today.

Brooks Smothers [00:06:14]:
Yep.

Scott Cowan [00:06:14]:
So a lot of people watching.

Brooks Smothers [00:06:16]:
And I like that. It’s right in the core of the heart of downtown. It’s a pretty cool. It’s a pretty cool spot. It’s been around. Originally, it started with a gentleman by the name of Maxwell, who originally started coffee, a coffee business with just a single coffee cart in Everett. Oh, really is just set up outside, kind of getting. Targeting the downtown core of businesses.

Brooks Smothers [00:06:38]:
So people on a lunch break or, hey, it’s 11 o’.

Scott Cowan [00:06:41]:
Clock.

Brooks Smothers [00:06:41]:
I want to get away from my desk and, you know, go grab a cup of coffee and. And Maxwell started that and the coffee cart was doing really, really well that he decided he wanted to open up a brick and mortar.

Scott Cowan [00:06:54]:
So how I first heard about this place was a very dear friend of mine who I met when we worked at the Evil Coffee Empire. He would love to take me around Puget Sound and go, hey, let’s go try coffee here. And this was his absolute favorite place because he lived in Edmonds, so it’s easy to get up here. And he would. Whenever I’d come over, he’d drag me here. And it’s like he loved the fact they had rotating coffees here. It’s kind of like your local pub scene where you could get rotating taps. They were doing that.

Scott Cowan [00:07:25]:
And that was. To me, that was. This was the first coffee shop I was ever at that wasn’t just serving one brand of coffee.

Brooks Smothers [00:07:34]:
Right. And also, it’s really cool that they work with a bunch of local ish roasters who are, you know, craftsmen in their own right, doing these artisanal roasts with beans.

Scott Cowan [00:07:44]:
Right.

Brooks Smothers [00:07:45]:
And then they. You can come in here and either buy your own bag of beans to take home or that’s obviously the beans they’re using here in the shop too. So.

Scott Cowan [00:07:53]:
Yeah. And I liked it. What I heard originally was that they really tried to focus on the roasters that with very small footprints that didn’t have large distribution channels to help them gain an exposure, they took great care to present the coffees in the best possible way.

Brooks Smothers [00:08:11]:
Right.

Scott Cowan [00:08:12]:
Each, each. Each coffee brand. So I really, I’ve always thought this, this company has a really cool coffee aesthetic.

Brooks Smothers [00:08:20]:
I would agree. And it’s always for. This is a place too I really like to come to. And they’re like, what are you having today? Or what, you know, what can I get you when they’re. When they’re taking your order? And I do this at bars too. And I’m like, I don’t know, pour me something.

Scott Cowan [00:08:34]:
Right.

Brooks Smothers [00:08:35]:
And anytime I’ve just kind of left it up to them to say, I will drink whatever you put in front of me. And they have made me some incredible coffees. And I’ve learned a lot just by being open to that.

Scott Cowan [00:08:49]:
So you can’t see this, but there’s a guy, he’s wearing a narrative coffee T shirt, but he’s got one of those twin lens cameras.

Brooks Smothers [00:08:59]:
Oh yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:09:00]:
Hanging off his chest. And he’s in taking shots of Photoshops. And I just think it’s kind of an interesting observation of somebody’s out capturing the moment. Let me ask you something. This is. This kind of relates to me to coffee. Well, you rv, right. You have met your thing.

Scott Cowan [00:09:21]:
So to me, that seems very slow paced.

Brooks Smothers [00:09:23]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:09:24]:
Are you finding yourself getting away from screens and taking on more leisurely, purposeful activities?

Brooks Smothers [00:09:34]:
Absolutely.

Scott Cowan [00:09:35]:
Okay. I’m here today. I’m witnessing. Kind of think people are. This isn’t a Starbucks.

Brooks Smothers [00:09:43]:
No, this is an analog place. People are here and they are engaged with each other. They are not sitting in a Starbucks, engaged with their phone, doing a doom scroll on their Instagram feed. They are here talking with friends, with family, with their children, and having that in person, conversational.

Scott Cowan [00:10:01]:
I think that many of us are finding interesting ways to be more present and connected to reality versus our screens. That’s just my observation. And this place kind of symbolizes that.

Brooks Smothers [00:10:17]:
Absolutely.

Scott Cowan [00:10:18]:
In coffee.

Brooks Smothers [00:10:19]:
That’s a great observation. I. I totally agree.

Speaker C [00:10:21]:
Thanks.

Scott Cowan [00:10:22]:
Y’ all have a great.

Brooks Smothers [00:10:29]:
So we have moved down, really about half a block, if even that, from narrative, and we now find ourselves at Nadine’s Coffee. It’s quieter, it’s calmer. You know, if you’re looking to just come and sit and have a conversation with a friend, there’s a couple to our right here that are quietly sitting and deep in the throes of a game of chess, you’ve got mellow, iconic coffee jazz music playing in the back. I’m getting some kind of Girl from Ipanema. All the music just ended as I said that. But the music, I was getting kind of the girl from Ipanema. Loft style, with open air ducting, beautiful old hardwood floors, beautiful wood. It’s kind of a really cool, mellow, mellow place.

Brooks Smothers [00:11:26]:
I could come and sit here and either just pound away on my laptop and do some writing, come in here, sit and have a cup of coffee and read a book or play a game of chess, hang out with a friend.

Scott Cowan [00:11:39]:
You wouldn’t use the little piano?

Brooks Smothers [00:11:42]:
I don’t think that’s a piano. Is that a harpsichord? What is that?

Scott Cowan [00:11:44]:
I don’t know. It’s a little kid’s organization.

Brooks Smothers [00:11:47]:
Is it?

Scott Cowan [00:11:47]:
Yeah, it’s old school. It’s got the buttons, like accordion. It’s like a. Buttons like on an accordion, but it’s. It’s more just. This was probably a kid’s toy in the 50s.

Brooks Smothers [00:11:59]:
That is super cool.

Scott Cowan [00:12:00]:
So let’s. Let’s. Let’s jump into the coffee.

Brooks Smothers [00:12:03]:
You.

Scott Cowan [00:12:03]:
You copied me here.

Brooks Smothers [00:12:05]:
I did. So tell me, what did we order? Because I just got what you got. So tell me what we got.

Scott Cowan [00:12:08]:
Called the one and one.

Brooks Smothers [00:12:10]:
Okay. What is the one and why?

Scott Cowan [00:12:11]:
It was a shot of espresso with a glass of sparkling water chaser and then a cortado, which have you. You haven’t had a cortado before, have you?

Brooks Smothers [00:12:23]:
Negative.

Speaker C [00:12:23]:
I haven’t.

Scott Cowan [00:12:23]:
Okay, so you just finished your espresso shot?

Brooks Smothers [00:12:27]:
I did.

Scott Cowan [00:12:27]:
And you haven’t tried the cortado yet? I like the presentation. I think it’s kind of comes on a little platter here. It’s kind of cool always, you know, sparkling water to clear the cleanse the palate. Not to sound like a coffee snob. Cause I’m not a snob. I just like coffee.

Brooks Smothers [00:12:41]:
What is the rainier of coffee?

Scott Cowan [00:12:43]:
The what?

Brooks Smothers [00:12:43]:
What is the rainier of coffee?

Scott Cowan [00:12:46]:
Starbucks.

Brooks Smothers [00:12:47]:
Starbucks. You’d say for you, that’s the rainier of coffee.

Scott Cowan [00:12:51]:
Yeah. Okay. True confession time.

Brooks Smothers [00:12:53]:
Yeah, absolutely.

Scott Cowan [00:12:54]:
So I, I gotta say two things. Okay. Number one, explore Washington State. My site, my, my, my podcast. My sponsor is Island Time Coffee Company, which is a friend of mine. It’s a little micro roaster up in Whidbey island. And I genuinely love his Island Sunset French roast. That’s.

Scott Cowan [00:13:15]:
But when he doesn’t send me my care package, my go to.

Brooks Smothers [00:13:22]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:13:22]:
Is Safeway’s Italian roast.

Brooks Smothers [00:13:27]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:13:28]:
I find it to be an eminently drinkable cup of coffee. I use an AeroPress at home primarily. Yep. And it makes a nice drinkable cup of coffee. That’s my.

Brooks Smothers [00:13:41]:
You’re go to.

Scott Cowan [00:13:43]:
Well, not my go to, but that’s my daily driver, if you will.

Brooks Smothers [00:13:46]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:13:47]:
Okay. How about you?

Brooks Smothers [00:13:51]:
Lately I’ve been on a stumptown kick.

Scott Cowan [00:13:54]:
Okay.

Brooks Smothers [00:13:54]:
So I’ve been getting stumptown.

Scott Cowan [00:13:56]:
Now which stumptown are you getting?

Brooks Smothers [00:13:59]:
The yellow bag. The yellow bag, I can’t remember. Homegrown, I think is what it’s the stump down homegrown. And I believe it’s the yellow bag. So that’s kind of recently been my go to when I’m making it at home. But Back to the AeroPress. I got one on your recommendation from a few years ago. And I’ve used the AeroPress a lot, especially during the snowboard season because it’s my like go to for tailgate coffee after a day of being up on the mountains, snowboarding all day, and I’m about to make the hour and a half drive home, coming down off the mountain pass, need a fresh cup of coffee.

Brooks Smothers [00:14:34]:
And so I use the AeroPress. I just realized something, literally about three weeks to a month ago. I think I’ve been doing it wrong. So what happens is, is when I use the Aeropress, I put the. I, you know, put the ground beans into the press, I add the water. And then I’ve been keeping it like the plunger facing the sky so as it’s blooming, the gravity is still putting it into my cup. And so by the time I go to depress the plunger like half to two thirds of it has already kind of gone into the cup. So I realized there’s an attachment or not an attachment, but a thing came with the opress that I’ve left at home.

Brooks Smothers [00:15:15]:
I’ve never taken. So when it’s blooming, it sits plunger down and that rests. So that doesn’t happen.

Scott Cowan [00:15:24]:
So that’s called the inverted method.

Brooks Smothers [00:15:25]:
Yeah. Well, I just discovered that by default, I was like, oh, I should try it this way.

Scott Cowan [00:15:29]:
So I have another question for you. Are you using the paper filters?

Brooks Smothers [00:15:33]:
Yes. And I do two. Two paper filters.

Scott Cowan [00:15:35]:
Okay. So I use the stainless steel metal filter.

Brooks Smothers [00:15:39]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:15:40]:
And I do that because my good friend, that was one of his recommendations when he. He introduced me to the aeropress.

Brooks Smothers [00:15:50]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:15:51]:
Into the. The cult.

Brooks Smothers [00:15:52]:
Yep.

Scott Cowan [00:15:53]:
And back then, they weren’t. Aeropress wasn’t even selling stainless steel filters.

Speaker C [00:15:59]:
You.

Scott Cowan [00:15:59]:
They. The company has changed a lot over the years for the better in a lot of ways.

Brooks Smothers [00:16:04]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:16:04]:
But then I started looking on YouTube of like the. Do you. Are you aware that there’s aeropress championships?

Brooks Smothers [00:16:10]:
No.

Scott Cowan [00:16:11]:
There’s coffee competitions where baristas come. They have them in Seattle. On occasion, they come in with their best AeroPress recipes and compete. It’s crazy.

Brooks Smothers [00:16:23]:
That’s wild.

Scott Cowan [00:16:24]:
So my recommendation to you is the inverted method is a great way of doing it. Okay. Letting it bloom, giving it a quick stir, and then inverting it onto the cup. One quick motion. Yep. Careful. If your plunger’s not really secure, it can pop off and you will get hot grounds on your hands, which is no fun.

Brooks Smothers [00:16:44]:
Yeah, I can do that. So safety first. Yep, safety first. Okay, that makes sense. I’m with you.

Scott Cowan [00:16:47]:
All right, So I love coffee shops that have AeroPress as an option.

Brooks Smothers [00:16:52]:
How many coffee shops have you been to that have AeroPress options?

Scott Cowan [00:16:56]:
Blue Star Coffee and Twisp.

Brooks Smothers [00:16:58]:
Okay, Great.

Scott Cowan [00:16:59]:
Coffee shop in the Methow. I mean, I love. I love what they’re doing. There’s one. I cannot think of the name of it because I’m on the. You know, you got put me on the spot down in Vancouver that they also competed in the aeropress competitions.

Brooks Smothers [00:17:12]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:17:13]:
And there’s one in Wenatchee that offers it.

Brooks Smothers [00:17:16]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:17:16]:
And more and more of them are doing it because it’s a. It’s a. In my opinion, it’s a little easier than doing a pour over for the barista behind the counter.

Brooks Smothers [00:17:27]:
Yeah, that makes sense.

Scott Cowan [00:17:28]:
And then if you go to, like, coffee shops, but essentially.

Brooks Smothers [00:17:33]:
Wait, hold on. Essentially. Sorry to interrupt, but essentially an aeropress is just a French press. How is an aeropress different than a French press. It’s the same concept. It’s almost a hybrid.

Scott Cowan [00:17:43]:
It’s. It’s a hybrid because it’s number one. The grounds are finer, so it’s not as. It’s not as coarse of a grind as with the French press. So the flavor profile is different than what you get on a French press. Aeropress is a cleaner cup of coffee without the sediment of most French presses. Okay.

Brooks Smothers [00:18:03]:
Yeah, that’s.

Scott Cowan [00:18:04]:
And I love French press coffee. This is. No, no, no shade. Second of all, except I will say this, I have not ever been good at making a single or 2 cup French press. I’m getting a good cup of coffee. I have to make a big eight cup to get good coffee.

Brooks Smothers [00:18:21]:
And then I find by the time I go back for the second, it’s cold, cold.

Scott Cowan [00:18:24]:
So I like the Aeropress because it gives me that. So it’s kind of a hybrid between an espresso shot and a French press.

Brooks Smothers [00:18:33]:
Got it. Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:18:33]:
That’s my interpretation.

Brooks Smothers [00:18:34]:
Yeah, that’s a good interpretation. Yeah. You know what’s interesting about a French press? And again, I’m about to give medical advice. I am not a doctor, so take this with a grain of salt. But many moons ago, I worked with a professional dietitian at one of my previous jobs, and she shared with me something about French presses that if you were on a statin, there’s something about the way the French press does whatever and it Messes with your LDLs and something along those lines. I don’t know all of the detail, but she was like, if you’re on a statin, you shouldn’t be drinking French press, at least on a daily basis as your regular cup of coffee.

Scott Cowan [00:19:12]:
So that’s perfect reason for me not to do that.

Brooks Smothers [00:19:14]:
Yeah. So there you go.

Scott Cowan [00:19:14]:
I’m not on statins and I don’t want to be.

Brooks Smothers [00:19:16]:
So, yeah, there you go. All right.

Scott Cowan [00:19:18]:
So here at Nadine’s, they don’t offer aeropress. That’s fine. But they do have French press offerings, which we didn’t try. What did you think of your cortado?

Brooks Smothers [00:19:28]:
The cortado is fantastic. I think I’m going to be a convert of this.

Scott Cowan [00:19:30]:
This is a nice. I encourage the listeners to. If you’re looking for a slightly different drink versus your daily driver Latte. Yeah, give. Give a cortado a fair shot. No pun intended. Give it a fair. Because it’s a.

Scott Cowan [00:19:47]:
It’s a nice, simple drink.

Brooks Smothers [00:19:48]:
Yeah. And I like that. Again, they called it out that they come in these nice little like little kid juice cups. And so to be able to sit here and have it be in my juice cup has been a nice little. It’s like an adult. I like it, I like it. Glassware, juice cups.

Scott Cowan [00:20:05]:
Yeah, yeah. I want to circle back to the AeroPress for a second.

Brooks Smothers [00:20:09]:
Yeah, go for it.

Scott Cowan [00:20:09]:
Now, do you have the original kind of the smoked plastic one?

Brooks Smothers [00:20:13]:
Yes. Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:20:14]:
Do you know the story of the aeropress?

Brooks Smothers [00:20:16]:
No.

Scott Cowan [00:20:17]:
Have you ever heard of the Orobi flying disc?

Brooks Smothers [00:20:19]:
Yes. Loved it. That thing would sail, right?

Scott Cowan [00:20:22]:
The guy that invented the Orobi flying disc invented the AeroPress.

Brooks Smothers [00:20:26]:
Are you going to tell me he’s a Washingtonian too?

Scott Cowan [00:20:28]:
No, he’s not. He’s not. This unfortunately doesn’t tie to Washington. It’s Washington adjacent.

Brooks Smothers [00:20:33]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:20:33]:
So this, this guy bought or created the aeropress and he, his goal when he created it was to create a simple good cup of coffee. You know, he kind of had the same. In an interview I listened to, kind of had the same comments about a French press as I do is that, you know, it’s, it’s a little finicky for one and all that. Aeropress had been out there for a while. It had that octagon packaging and it was just kind of a, if you knew, you knew type product. Right. So there is a investment company up in Victoria, British Columbia.

Brooks Smothers [00:21:04]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:21:06]:
And they buy small businesses and they ended up approaching this guy, okay, to buy aeropress. He told them is a story that I heard from the, from the, from the guy, the, the, the, the guy who runs the company’s called Tiny.

Brooks Smothers [00:21:25]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:21:25]:
The van up in Vancouver is on Vancouver Island. I believe they bought Aeropress for $70 million. So since tiny bought the company, most of the time when you buy a company, you know, you make some changes.

Brooks Smothers [00:21:38]:
Well, and you also sign a non compete that you can’t turn around and start a new one. Right.

Scott Cowan [00:21:43]:
So now aeropress is available in a few different shades of plastic. There’s a clear plastic. They have come out with a stainless steel aeropress because a lot of people

Brooks Smothers [00:21:55]:
are concerned about plastics, right?

Scott Cowan [00:21:58]:
But the one that I want, they have a glass AeroPress. It’s a double wall, laboratory grade glass. Cool. AeroPress. So they, and they come out with a larger AeroPress so you can like do two cups simultaneously. And they’ve come out with all sorts of accoutrements to the, to the line. That’s where now these metal filters are prevalent. But yeah, aeropress has got this, they

Brooks Smothers [00:22:25]:
got their game, they’re on point.

Scott Cowan [00:22:26]:
But they also have this really cult following of fans and I, I send them to people randomly. Like the, my island time coffee guy. Yeah, they came over to visit us recently and we were talking about coffee and he’s like, well, how are you making my, you know, what are you, how are you making my coffee? And what are you doing with my coffee? And I said, I use an AeroPress. He goes, I, I don’t know what that is. And I’m like, how can you be a coffee guy and not price.

Brooks Smothers [00:22:51]:
So you made him want.

Scott Cowan [00:22:53]:
So, so they were, they visit us in Wenatchee and they were gonna go stay at a state park for a couple nights. So when I got home, I just went to Amazon and ordered it and it was on his doorstep when he, when he got home.

Brooks Smothers [00:23:04]:
But you didn’t make him one that night?

Scott Cowan [00:23:05]:
No, no, because they weren’t at the house.

Brooks Smothers [00:23:06]:
We were having dinner. Dinner.

Scott Cowan [00:23:08]:
Okay, so they were. And so when he got home, there was a press on his doorstep.

Brooks Smothers [00:23:14]:
Has he followed up with you?

Scott Cowan [00:23:15]:
Yes, I talked to him the other day and, and he hasn’t used it yet because his son is coming up from California and they’re going to be filming a whole bunch of new content. How to, you know, island time coffee, blah, blah, blah. And so they’re going to use, that’s when they’re going to try the aeropress.

Brooks Smothers [00:23:31]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:23:32]:
He’s going to use, make his son do it.

Brooks Smothers [00:23:34]:
Why? Is he too scared?

Scott Cowan [00:23:35]:
I, I, I think he’s, you know, he’s, he, he’s a, I think he.

Brooks Smothers [00:23:39]:
No, he’s a coffee curmudgeon.

Scott Cowan [00:23:41]:
No, no. Just because he has a Mr. Coffee doesn’t make him a curmudgeon. No, just kidding. Sorry. Chris. If you’re listening to this. No, I think Chris is a very busy guy and I think he’s a little overwhelmed by the thought of learning a new platform.

Brooks Smothers [00:23:59]:
Got it.

Scott Cowan [00:24:00]:
Fair.

Brooks Smothers [00:24:00]:
Yeah, okay, that’s fair.

Scott Cowan [00:24:01]:
But this is a really, this would be a place where I’d come in and read a book.

Brooks Smothers [00:24:05]:
Yeah, that’s on my laptop. Work on my laptop. I would love to come in here. I could write in here with the music just kind of going and get in the zone. A good cup of coffee and really enjoy the process of writing would be really easy here. Read a book would be good here.

Scott Cowan [00:24:21]:
Yeah, no, this is, this is another great suggestion. You had to check it out.

Brooks Smothers [00:24:24]:
And the couple next to us over there is, they’re sitting, just playing a game of chess. Yeah, lots of plants here that I like.

Scott Cowan [00:24:31]:
No, no, it’s very cool.

Brooks Smothers [00:24:33]:
Yeah, it’s a cool spot. So Nadine’s Coffee Shop, right in the core of downtown Everett. The one thing I do want to call out if you decide to come to these coffee shops from, say, Mother’s Day weekend through till, I don’t know, I think it’s like early October on a Sunday, the farmer’s market is happening right out in front here. And so the farmers market’s really cool to come and visit to all sorts of, not just produce and, you know, handmade artisanal food products, but also there’s other, you know, artistry craftsmen as well selling their ware. So you could easily come grab a cup of coffee, sit, and then just right outside the door of either one of these two coffee places, go and explore. Farmer’s Market.

Scott Cowan [00:25:23]:
I will say this about Nadine’s. It’s not on the street itself. It’s not a storefront on. So it’s a little, it’s. You have to go kind of into the parking lot and look for the sign.

Brooks Smothers [00:25:35]:
Right.

Scott Cowan [00:25:35]:
It’s not hard to find, but it’s. You’re not going to stumble on it. If you’re walking just down the street looking for it, you’re going to miss out. So be on the lookout for that.

Brooks Smothers [00:25:43]:
I would agree. So if you do find yourself in Everett and you’re looking for a different experience, a little quieter, a little more laid back, Nadine’s is a great place to come for just a great cup of coffee and a pastry.

Speaker C [00:25:58]:
Thanks.

Scott Cowan [00:25:58]:
Y’ all have a great day.

Speaker C [00:26:05]:
We’ve made it through two of our four coffee stops and covered everything from favorite coffee drinks to the Aeropress and even tackled the question, what coffee is the Rainier of Java? After the break, Scott and I continue our walk through downtown Everett as we visit our final two cafes, sharing a few more stories, and of course, enjoying another great cup of coffee.

Brooks Smothers [00:26:29]:
So stay with us.

Speaker C [00:26:31]:
If road trips, RV adventures, and discovering memorable places across the Pacific Northwest sound like your kind of journey, then you’ll feel right at home with RV Out West. RV out west helps you discover the best RV destinations, travel tips, and camping experiences across the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Hey, I’m your host, Brooks, and every Monday we explore Pacific Northwest destinations, share practical RV tips, and tell stories from the road that will fuel your wanderlust

Brooks Smothers [00:27:03]:
and help you plan your next getaway.

Speaker C [00:27:07]:
From experienced RVers to those planning their first adventure, RV Out west delivers ideas, insights and inspiration to help you travel

Brooks Smothers [00:27:16]:
smarter and go farther.

Speaker C [00:27:18]:
Find RV out west on Apple Podcast,

Brooks Smothers [00:27:21]:
Spotify, Amazon Music, and all Major podcast apps.

Speaker C [00:27:25]:
Head to rvoutwest.com for free travel guides, trip ideas, and so much more. Search RV out west and start exploring today. Welcome back to our coffee adventure through downtown Everett. I’m Brooks from RV out west, joined by Scott from the Explore Washington State podcast. We’ve still got two more cafes to visit, more coffee to sip, and plenty of conversation ahead. So let’s get back on the sidewalk and continue this collaboration one cup at a time.

Brooks Smothers [00:27:57]:
We are at the Loft Bake Shop and Cafe here on Hewitt Avenue in downtown Everett. About a year ago April, this coffee shop sold and has been under new ownership for just a little over the last year. The inside of the space hasn’t changed at all over the exchange of ownership.

Scott Cowan [00:28:22]:
I think I was here maybe five years ago and it seems very familiar.

Brooks Smothers [00:28:28]:
Yeah, this is kind of, I would say more of like your stereotypical what you kind of expect from the inside of a coffee shop. It’s got a lot of tables, comfy chairs, there’s a couple of sofas, you know, there’s local artists, painters, photography artists on the wall. You do have some cool old historic Everett pictures of like Everett in the maybe 30s.

Scott Cowan [00:28:55]:
No, that’s, that’s 20s. No, early 20s.

Brooks Smothers [00:28:57]:
Early 20s, yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:28:58]:
Those are Model A’s.

Brooks Smothers [00:28:59]:
Yeah. So it’s got old, old timey pictures of like Everett. What’s really cool too is that in the course of this last year, since the new owner took over, their bake shop is now internal. So they make their baked goods here on property, on site. So if you’re looking for a pastry or a little light snack or a little satiate, a sweet tooth.

Scott Cowan [00:29:20]:
Right.

Brooks Smothers [00:29:21]:
They have all of those that they now bake and make here on property, which is really pretty cool about it. Of the coffee shops that we’ve been to, back when I was 100% work remote, this was probably my go to where I would come down here. And it’s. Of the ones we’ve been to, this is the largest one from an interior square footage space and we didn’t even go to. But in the back there’s a whole back area back behind in the back there too. So if you want to come in, put some headphones on, listen to the Explorer Washington State podcast or listen to RV out West and knock out some work. You know, you can kind of come in here, put your headphones on and just kind of be left alone and, and right. And do what you need to do.

Scott Cowan [00:30:05]:
And in here, the coffee that they serve as Fidalgo. So it’s A local regional coffee that’s prevalent in a lot of places, grocery stores and all of that. So it’s a solid cup of coffee. I’m drinking the cold brew. Brooks is copying me drinking cold brew as well.

Brooks Smothers [00:30:20]:
Yep.

Scott Cowan [00:30:21]:
You know, full disclosure, we’re doing four shops today. We have to pace ourselves. Yeah. So cold brew is a little easier for me sometimes.

Brooks Smothers [00:30:28]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:30:28]:
It doesn’t feel like coffee, but it’s coffee. So when you were coming here before, kind of as your, you know, remote work spot, what were you drinking back then?

Brooks Smothers [00:30:37]:
I really. I’m kind of boring. I’m an Americano kind of guy. I just like a good cup of black coffee.

Scott Cowan [00:30:46]:
Well, yeah, there’s nothing. Don’t. I hate it when people go, oh, I only like good coffee.

Brooks Smothers [00:30:52]:
I mean, no, I love a good Americano black coffee. You know, I’m not going to put the sugary crap in my coffee because I want to taste the beans. I’m not hating. I’m not hating. You know, it’s just. I don’t need all the sweet, sugary. You know, I’m.

Scott Cowan [00:31:10]:
I’m. I’m with you.

Brooks Smothers [00:31:11]:
I’m not going to get a frap or any of that. You know, not that this place serves a frap, but.

Scott Cowan [00:31:14]:
No, I will say, I will share a story. It has nothing to do with Everett, but I was up in Bellingham.

Brooks Smothers [00:31:19]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:31:21]:
And I visited, I think, 13 coffee shops in two days.

Brooks Smothers [00:31:26]:
That’s baller status.

Scott Cowan [00:31:27]:
It was. And my goal was to go into each shop and say, what should I have? So I knew I was fully opening myself up for something other than a pour over.

Brooks Smothers [00:31:40]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:31:41]:
And so I went to the Alphabet Streets coffee shop up in Bellingham. And I can’t remember what the drink was, but it was basically lavender and golden something. And it was like I. And the barista said, oh, you should have this. And listening to her describe it and thinking to myself, I’m gonna hate this. This is gonna be horrible. And. But I promised I would.

Scott Cowan [00:32:01]:
Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:32:02]:
Give it a try.

Scott Cowan [00:32:03]:
And so she told me what it was. Oh, it had oat milk in it. I mean, everything that I’m probably philosophically against in a coffee. And it was actually delicious. I have to be honest. It was delicious.

Brooks Smothers [00:32:13]:
Well, that’s great. See, I love that as an experience when you. Again, you open yourself up to say, hey, what are you drinking? Or, I’m not going to order my go tos. You know, I’m going to try something new.

Scott Cowan [00:32:24]:
Right. And if we open ourselves up sometimes it can be kind of Fun. That being said, here. We didn’t try any of the pastries. No, they look pretty darn good. And I do like the fact that a coffee shop’s trying to do something besides just coffee and besides saran wrapped muffins and scones.

Brooks Smothers [00:32:44]:
Yep. Or bagels. I mean, nothing wrong with a bagel, but.

Scott Cowan [00:32:47]:
Right. But kudos to them for offering all that. That’s great.

Brooks Smothers [00:32:50]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:32:50]:
Lots of seating here. We’re here now. It’s afternoon and it’s pretty quiet, so it’s not busy like the earlier shops were. But that’s okay. But I could see working here, coming here and having a meeting, conversation place.

Brooks Smothers [00:33:08]:
You could easily have your earbuds in and take a zoom here and do a zoom meeting and it be totally fine and not awkward. Right.

Scott Cowan [00:33:16]:
Lots of parking.

Brooks Smothers [00:33:17]:
Lots of parking. Yeah. Parking is easy down here. And that’s one great thing about parking. It’s mostly free. There’s no metered parking and so it’s easy to get parking right out in front.

Scott Cowan [00:33:27]:
Right. And I think one of the things that is helps these city shops is the abundance of parking. If it’s difficult to park somewhere.

Brooks Smothers [00:33:37]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:33:37]:
People are probably more inclined to sit in our car and go through a drive through and grab a cup of coffee on the car and go on. But I, I do like the idea of us being more purposeful, slowing down,

Brooks Smothers [00:33:47]:
going in and having that experience. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. And that’s the one thing too that I’ve witnessed today as we’ve done this collaboration is that of all the places we’ve gone, I mean, even here, there’s three people sitting right next to us in a sofa situation and they’re all just having a cup of coffee and chatting.

Scott Cowan [00:34:10]:
Right.

Brooks Smothers [00:34:10]:
Nobody here is really even on a screen there. There’s one person maybe in the back there working, but.

Scott Cowan [00:34:17]:
Well, it’s a weekend. I mean, they’re hopefully, you know, I mean, if we were here on a Monday, Monday, Monday through Friday, it might be a little. People might be working here, but.

Brooks Smothers [00:34:25]:
Right.

Scott Cowan [00:34:26]:
Once again, here’s the other thing about this observationally. Lots of outlets.

Brooks Smothers [00:34:30]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:34:31]:
So it’s a good place to work. You don’t have to like have the one. You don’t have to fight for the table with the outlet.

Brooks Smothers [00:34:36]:
No. And. And I agree. And I would say that that’s one of the things that makes this place. Why I think it made our list.

Scott Cowan [00:34:42]:
Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:34:43]:
To come and check out.

Scott Cowan [00:34:45]:
So since this is kind of your stomping grounds, what else is around here? This location, like shop wise and all that.

Brooks Smothers [00:34:52]:
Two doors down is an absolutely fantastic tattoo shop. I couldn’t give a pitch for, but they’re fantastic. Sunken Ship tattoos does great ink, so you can come get caffeinated and go to get inked. But around the corner is what we call the hippie grocery store in my house. But you have the snow owl food parked.

Scott Cowan [00:35:11]:
That was the only parking I could find.

Brooks Smothers [00:35:13]:
So the co op is great for a small hippie grocery store. There’s a yoga studio right over here. There’s ShuChoux Bakery, which I think is our next and final stop. Just around the corner that does croissants and other big kind of cool pastries, coffee. And they have records, which is cool. There’s some restaurants and there’s a great tap room just a block away. Obsidian.

Scott Cowan [00:35:40]:
So this is your stomping grounds. Let’s talk about Everett in general for a second here. Sell me on Everett. Like, what’s really cool about Everett. Because I’m older than you and I grew up in Tacoma, and when I Tacoma aroma. Well, but Everett was. Everett was the other armpit of Seattle. I mean, we were the south armpit.

Scott Cowan [00:36:03]:
This was the north armpit.

Brooks Smothers [00:36:04]:
Right.

Scott Cowan [00:36:05]:
No offense to anybody.

Brooks Smothers [00:36:06]:
No.

Scott Cowan [00:36:07]:
I’ve made derogatory comments about Spokane, and people have literally emailed me and saying I’m a mean, horrible person. But every of my memory was kind of meh.

Brooks Smothers [00:36:20]:
I have moved 37 times in my life.

Scott Cowan [00:36:24]:
Okay.

Brooks Smothers [00:36:25]:
Some of those have been just across town. Move. Some of those have been bigger.

Scott Cowan [00:36:28]:
Well, how many of them were forced?

Brooks Smothers [00:36:30]:
I don’t even know. But I like, I one time went through and did count. I’ve moved 37 times. And so even in my 20s, everybody knew just to keep my address in pencil because you just don’t know where I’m going to be. That said, kind of my formative elementary, middle school day life, I was in Snohomish county. And if you had told me I would be living in Everett, I would have said you’re crazy.

Scott Cowan [00:36:58]:
Right.

Brooks Smothers [00:36:59]:
I have been in Everett now since 2010, and I absolutely love this city and I love living here.

Scott Cowan [00:37:08]:
Why? What is it about it? I’m not.

Brooks Smothers [00:37:10]:
Yeah, I know. So let me. I want to answer that question. And what’s so cool about it is it’s a city, so it still has its grit. Right? So, you know, being the county seat, if anybody needs any resources, those resources are here. So, yes, we, you know, homeless and drugs and other crimes exist in the city because people are here or if they go to jail, we’re the county jail. So that’s kind of where Everett, I think, has gotten its bad rap. That said, there is a thriving art community here that is everything from people doing podcasts and videos and murals.

Brooks Smothers [00:37:53]:
There’s the whole community of graffiti artists who came here and painted a bunch of murals about four years ago. So we have these beautiful now murals in our city. We have the hockey team, we have the Everett Silvertips, part of the WHL hockey. We have our baseball team for the Aquasox For farm league baseball. We have Billy Strings coming to town in October. So we have a lot of great music. And the food scene, I’ve been all open.

Brooks Smothers [00:38:26]:
I am a food nerd. I search out looking for quality places to go and eat. I don’t have a problem spending my money on a nice meal. And there’s a lot of different places here. That doesn’t mean you need to spend a lot of money. But right here, from where we are a block up is a place called the New Mexicans. And they’re like New Mexico Mexican food. So it’s hatch chilies and rich moles with rich thick chocolate mole and kind of more of what you would find in Taos or Albuquerque or Santa Fe.

Brooks Smothers [00:38:59]:
So there’s just this food scene too that is really great and in the realm of things, maybe not so much right now, but if you look at things, it’s affordable from a cost of living situation.

Scott Cowan [00:39:13]:
One thing you didn’t say, and I don’t know that you know the answer to this, but what about Funko? For somebody who’s not from around the area, they might still know a Funko Toys.

Brooks Smothers [00:39:25]:
Yeah, the Funko Pops. Big puppy.

Scott Cowan [00:39:27]:
How did that get started here, do you know?

Brooks Smothers [00:39:29]:
I don’t even know. I don’t know. And the other thing I will say, transitioning the waterfront down here is bumping. I mean, there are so many great restaurants and there’s distilleries and breweries and tap rooms all popping up down in the waterfront now too. Right. You know, that is just live music in the marina. They’re doing all the FIFA watch parties right now. So there’s all of that stuff going on that just makes this, you know, farmer’s market, the sort of culture.

Brooks Smothers [00:39:57]:
There’s all of these different kind of street things over the summer that just happened here. So lots are happening. Lots of things are happening here.

Scott Cowan [00:40:03]:
Okay, I’m saying this tongue in cheek, so to speak, but bring it on. It’s really cloudy today. It’s not blue sky. I want blue sky. That’s that’s my, my.

Brooks Smothers [00:40:12]:
That was yesterday.

Scott Cowan [00:40:13]:
I know yesterday was. From what I was told, yesterday was a, you know, a bluebird day here, if you will. You know, it was. Yeah, Beautiful. So far. You know, this episode is mostly coffee, but we’re throwing in some local stuff. What you get? I’m going to give you one last question about Everett. And for this question, you can snap your fingers and you have ultimate power.

Scott Cowan [00:40:39]:
Okay, what would you change?

Brooks Smothers [00:40:41]:
Ooh, what would I change? What would I change? Man, we got a record store. That’s awesome. I don’t know if there’s anything right off the top of my mind.

Scott Cowan [00:40:51]:
Well, I’ve got something. I changed from what I’ve seen today.

Brooks Smothers [00:40:54]:
What is it?

Scott Cowan [00:40:55]:
Coffee shops that say open past 3:00pm

Brooks Smothers [00:40:57]:
oh, yeah, that’s a really solid point. None of the coffee shops here are open.

Scott Cowan [00:41:01]:
That’s my negative. I will say that. I don’t mean it negatively, but the one, my wish, as someone who’s coming to Everett and on my show, so you know, you’ve been on my show and I always ask you, where’s a great place to get coffee near you? So, Brooks, where’s a great place to get coffee in Everett? You’re going to say, you know, the loft or narrative or wherever you want to say. My follow up question would probably be how late are they open? And you’re going to go, they close at 3. And that’s as a, as someone who’s coming into town as a quote unquote tourist, for lack of a slight word. I would like them to be open to five o’.

Brooks Smothers [00:41:37]:
Clock.

Scott Cowan [00:41:38]:
That would be my request of Everett, is that let’s get those coffee shops open past 3pm Yeah. I gotta believe you guys are drinking

Brooks Smothers [00:41:46]:
coffee here after 3pm Yeah, I think that’s fair.

Scott Cowan [00:41:49]:
Should we go to the next shop?

Brooks Smothers [00:41:51]:
I think we should.

Scott Cowan [00:41:52]:
Awesome.

Brooks Smothers [00:41:52]:
We’re gonna mosey just around the corner and our next and fourth and final stop is Choux Choux Bakery.

Scott Cowan [00:42:02]:
Thanks, y’ all have a great day.

Brooks Smothers [00:42:10]:
So we are at our fourth and final stop here in Everett on Grand Avenue at Choux Choux Bakery. This is more of a bakery than a coffee shop, but they have incredible pastries. The croissants here are off the hook. The baguettes, the French breads, the sourdoughs, like this is a true, like boulangerie. If we were in France, I would call this like a boulangerie. And you can come in and get a nice cup of coffee, they’ll pour you an espresso or make you a cappuccino.

Scott Cowan [00:42:48]:
Or a breve?

Brooks Smothers [00:42:49]:
A breve.

Scott Cowan [00:42:49]:
I had a breve.

Brooks Smothers [00:42:51]:
So they have all of that. It’s tiny. There’s only two tables inside. Outside, if it’s a nice, sunny, beautiful day, there’s a bunch of outside patio seating. So you can kind of sit outside and do that. But what I love about this place is the turntable with a ton of. Of dusty, musty records that I have no idea. You might find Lawrence Welk to.

Brooks Smothers [00:43:14]:
I found Men at Work Cargo. And before we started recording, I was busting out a little Men at Work, which is amazing.

Scott Cowan [00:43:24]:
I’m looking up there at the Platters.

Brooks Smothers [00:43:27]:
Yep. I found the. Guess Who they had the Smiths. I found Santana. Yeah. You know, it’d be kind of fun

Scott Cowan [00:43:34]:
to go through this and, and, and, and find what we think is the most. Dare I say the, the hidden gem.

Brooks Smothers [00:43:42]:
Okay. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:43:42]:
Nice album wise. You know what would be like, you know, ooh, let’s play this.

Brooks Smothers [00:43:47]:
Herb Alpert in the Tijuana Brass.

Scott Cowan [00:43:50]:
Okay. I think there’s Sarah McLachlan there.

Brooks Smothers [00:43:52]:
See, which.

Scott Cowan [00:43:53]:
That’s sad music. I can’t do that. I can’t do that. The. The Zapp band.

Brooks Smothers [00:43:59]:
Oh, yeah. Now you’re dating yourself.

Scott Cowan [00:44:02]:
I know, but, you know, and then, anyway, I’m looking, I. The albums here all look like they were from the discard bin at a vintage store.

Brooks Smothers [00:44:11]:
I was gonna say at a Value Village or some sort of trashed.

Scott Cowan [00:44:14]:
I mean, the spines are trashed.

Brooks Smothers [00:44:15]:
Oh, they’re not taken care of.

Scott Cowan [00:44:16]:
You cannot read the spines and go, oh, there’s this or that. No.

Brooks Smothers [00:44:20]:
And that’s kind of cool because then you gotta dig. And I’m a crate digger. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:44:24]:
No, and I also. But I have no problem with playing it either. Like, that’s the whole point. It’s like, oh, this is a pristine. Da da da Dunn. No, I like that. I’m going to full disclosure. Brooks tapped out on coffee.

Scott Cowan [00:44:34]:
He didn’t have coffee here.

Brooks Smothers [00:44:35]:
Nope.

Scott Cowan [00:44:36]:
So I can only speak to this. So I had a, an eight ounce breve.

Brooks Smothers [00:44:39]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:44:39]:
Because I’m a coffee guy and they serve Olympia coffee here, which is, you know, one of those regional brands. Regional roasters got a big presence. It’s good coffee. It’s very good coffee. But it’s not like, oh, I found that, that, that brand of coffee, that’s hard to find.

Speaker C [00:44:56]:
No.

Brooks Smothers [00:44:56]:
And like I said, this is to me more of a bakery. Yeah. Than a coffee shop. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:45:02]:
But they have, they have a full on espresso machine.

Brooks Smothers [00:45:04]:
They do.

Scott Cowan [00:45:05]:
They’re equipped to, to present good coffee here. So I’ll give them. I’ll still call the coffee shop. Yeah, it is not, it’s not like they have an old consumer kitchen Brev Breville coffee maker on the counter. And I’ve been to places where that’s, you know.

Brooks Smothers [00:45:20]:
Right.

Scott Cowan [00:45:20]:
And the coffee, you’re like going, oh, this presents coffee.

Brooks Smothers [00:45:25]:
Well, to me this is a place I come in to take just a quick break, sit down, have a pastry. Really to have a croissant here.

Scott Cowan [00:45:33]:
I’d probably spend more time digging through the albums, to be honest with you.

Brooks Smothers [00:45:35]:
Right.

Scott Cowan [00:45:36]:
And going, what’s this one? And put it on for a few minutes because. And here’s the other thing. The turntables beat up and it, it’s. But it’s approachable. That’s where I’m going with this. None of this equipment is like, oh, I’m. Or can we use it? No, it’s here to be used. Now they have the.

Scott Cowan [00:45:49]:
Here’s the sign. You can’t read it because it’s behind you, but it says, please do not stack records on top of the receiver. Thank you. And then if you look at the receiver, there’s a bunch of books stacked

Brooks Smothers [00:45:58]:
on top of it.

Scott Cowan [00:45:59]:
So it’s like, okay, yeah, that’s true. I just gotta chuckle.

Brooks Smothers [00:46:04]:
So, Scott, I got a question for you. Let’s talk about Camp Coffee. Now I know you’re not a big camper right now. Maybe in the future. Yeah, I’m working on that. But let’s talk about what it would be like for you. We’ll call it Tailgate Coffee. What would be your go to in the field? Bean mix.

Brooks Smothers [00:46:24]:
How would you make it? And for this conversation, I’m going to take the Aeropress out because we’ve already talked about the Aeropress a bunch today.

Scott Cowan [00:46:30]:
Okay.

Brooks Smothers [00:46:31]:
So that is not an option.

Scott Cowan [00:46:33]:
For this question, I’m bringing a keurig and a 150 foot extension cord.

Brooks Smothers [00:46:37]:
Nice.

Scott Cowan [00:46:38]:
And where are you going to plug that into? Yeah, I don’t know. So jokingly, my idea of camping is bad room service. That’s right.

Brooks Smothers [00:46:45]:
We’ve talked about that on my show.

Scott Cowan [00:46:46]:
Yeah, it’s been the joke. But playing along with the spirit of it, what I’ve been thinking about doing, full disclosure, was with an Aeropress, but I’ll go on. I’m thinking about buying one of those like jet boils or like a portable camp stove that I can heat some water on. So I have a Honda Pilot. Yep. And I drive around a lot and so lift the tailgate Have a camp chair out, make some coffee. That’s what I want to do.

Brooks Smothers [00:47:09]:
Yeah. And that’s exactly what I’m talking about. A camp coffee to me is the same thing.

Scott Cowan [00:47:13]:
So I can’t use an AeroPress, which makes me think what else I would do. I’m probably gonna go with the pour over.

Brooks Smothers [00:47:21]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:47:22]:
And because it’s a pour over, which to me can be a little more finicky than the Aeropress. See, the beauty of the Aeropress is it’s, it’s. I got that dialed in. And in an Aeropress, I kind of fiddle.

Speaker C [00:47:35]:
Or not.

Brooks Smothers [00:47:35]:
Excuse me.

Scott Cowan [00:47:36]:
With the, with a pour over, I kind of fiddle more.

Brooks Smothers [00:47:39]:
Yep.

Scott Cowan [00:47:39]:
And I think of camp coffee. What I think of camp coffee is that it’s saving me from going through a drive thru at a big box brand. Whether it, whether it be Starbucks or Dutch Brothers. Yeah. I don’t want to. I’m probably going with. Because I like dark roasted coffees. I, I like in primarily Latin American beans.

Brooks Smothers [00:48:03]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:48:04]:
So I’m probably going with something like. Well, island time. Yeah. But you mentioned Stumptown. Yep. Another solid, very solid brand. So I would probably go with a, an Italian or a French roast of Latin American beans by somebody single origin. Not necessarily.

Scott Cowan [00:48:25]:
Necessarily. And one of the things I like to do when I travel around is try local roasters coffees. So like up in Bellingham, have you ever had Hammerhead?

Brooks Smothers [00:48:38]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:48:38]:
Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:48:39]:
So I get Hammerhead at the co Op.

Scott Cowan [00:48:41]:
Okay.

Brooks Smothers [00:48:41]:
Right here.

Scott Cowan [00:48:41]:
The hippie store that you talk about.

Brooks Smothers [00:48:43]:
Yeah, the hippie grocery store.

Scott Cowan [00:48:45]:
Hammerhead has a velvet Elvis. Have you had the velvet Elvis? It’s just a cool name.

Brooks Smothers [00:48:49]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:48:51]:
And last time I was in Bellingham, I bought a. A bag of that and took it home. And that’s a really, really good dark cup of coffee. So I would probably. In this fantasy.

Brooks Smothers [00:49:04]:
Yeah. Let’s make it a reality though. Let’s talk.

Scott Cowan [00:49:07]:
No, I’m talking about like finding a local. Like, where am I?

Brooks Smothers [00:49:11]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:49:11]:
Like if I’m in Twisp, I’m going to grab some Blue Star. Yep.

Speaker C [00:49:14]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:49:14]:
Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:49:14]:
Fair.

Scott Cowan [00:49:15]:
So if I’m in Yakima, what am I going to grab? I don’t know. Down. You know, if I’m in Spokane, I’m probably going to First Avenue Coffee and Roast House.

Brooks Smothers [00:49:23]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:49:24]:
That’s. Spokane’s another great city for coffee. Spokane’s got a great coffee scene. We should go to Spokane and do this in Spokane. We should.

Brooks Smothers [00:49:33]:
Version 2.0.

Scott Cowan [00:49:35]:
Well, I’m actually 2.0. I think we should go to Bellingham.

Brooks Smothers [00:49:37]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:49:37]:
Because it’s a lot closer for both fans. So that’s what I’m doing is a dark roast. Probably gonna pre grind it because I’m lazy and I don’t want to take a hand grinder with me in the car. I’m just lazy.

Brooks Smothers [00:49:50]:
No, I get that. I don’t grind coffee when I’m making tailgate coffee. I. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:49:55]:
So I mean, cut some corners, but that’s probably what I’m doing is a pour over.

Brooks Smothers [00:49:59]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:50:00]:
Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:50:01]:
With the jet boil.

Scott Cowan [00:50:02]:
Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:50:03]:
Pour over.

Scott Cowan [00:50:03]:
Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:50:04]:
That’s fair. Makes a great cup of coffee. And you know what I mean, it

Scott Cowan [00:50:07]:
seems like it’s no fuss, no muss.

Brooks Smothers [00:50:08]:
Yep. And that’s what camp coffee should be. It should be good quality. So you’re using good beans, you’re getting quality there. No mess, no fuss, easy to do.

Scott Cowan [00:50:18]:
Yeah. Pour over paper filter. You know, put the paper filter in the trash can, easy peasy.

Brooks Smothers [00:50:23]:
And you’re done.

Scott Cowan [00:50:24]:
We’re good to go. Now for the filter or for the pour over. Probably going to go with the ceramic one versus plastic or metal because of

Brooks Smothers [00:50:33]:
the way for the container. You mean to hold the paper filter?

Scott Cowan [00:50:35]:
Yeah. Yeah. And because from the thermal aspects of it.

Brooks Smothers [00:50:39]:
Right.

Scott Cowan [00:50:39]:
But we’ll, we’ll.

Brooks Smothers [00:50:40]:
You don’t want plastic leaching into your java.

Scott Cowan [00:50:42]:
No, it’s not so much. That is that plastic doesn’t retain the heat quite as well.

Brooks Smothers [00:50:46]:
Yeah. So by the time you get to drink it, it’s cold.

Scott Cowan [00:50:48]:
So I’d probably go that way.

Brooks Smothers [00:50:49]:
Okay. You should put a warning on your cup just to let you know that the contents might be hot so you don’t sue yourself for spilling coffee in your lap or something. I’m just saying that, you know, I

Scott Cowan [00:51:00]:
appreciate you looking out for me. Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:51:02]:
You need a sticker on your coffee mug that, you know. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:51:04]:
Contents may be hot. Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:51:06]:
Warning.

Scott Cowan [00:51:06]:
So let me ask you this. When you’re. When you’re on the road and you’re in the rv.

Brooks Smothers [00:51:10]:
Yep.

Scott Cowan [00:51:11]:
And you’re doing coffee.

Brooks Smothers [00:51:12]:
Yep.

Scott Cowan [00:51:12]:
So scenario I’ll throw at you. Last year you sued your content creators summit up at Angel.

Brooks Smothers [00:51:19]:
Yep.

Scott Cowan [00:51:20]:
Very cool. I stayed in New York.

Brooks Smothers [00:51:21]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:51:22]:
So I had the best, best place. Sorry. That year it was. You didn’t see it that year. It was off the chart.

Brooks Smothers [00:51:28]:
I believe it.

Scott Cowan [00:51:28]:
It was cool.

Brooks Smothers [00:51:29]:
Although I have a 12 inch memory foam mattress on the trailer.

Scott Cowan [00:51:32]:
Yeah. You’re packing up. You’re closing up the trailer. You’re going to make a cup of coffee and you’re going to drive away. So you’re driving from there towards your house.

Brooks Smothers [00:51:41]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:51:42]:
What do you put in the coffee end?

Brooks Smothers [00:51:43]:
You mean mug wise? Yeah, I have a. Whatever. It’s not a Yeti tumbler, but it’s like a yeti tumbler.

Scott Cowan [00:51:51]:
So metal.

Brooks Smothers [00:51:51]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:51:52]:
Okay.

Brooks Smothers [00:51:53]:
Yeah, that’s what I use.

Scott Cowan [00:51:54]:
Okay.

Brooks Smothers [00:51:55]:
Doesn’t burn my hand. Keeps the coffee warm. You know, keeps it warmer for.

Scott Cowan [00:51:59]:
And the truck’s got enough cup holders.

Brooks Smothers [00:52:02]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:52:02]:
Seal pilot. The pilot’s lacking. Oh, well, that’s the pilot. The pilot. The single biggest failure point that my Honda Pilot is the lack of cup holders that work.

Brooks Smothers [00:52:12]:
That’s a bummer. That is a real bummer.

Scott Cowan [00:52:14]:
Fun fact. Before my pilot, I had a Honda Fit. You know, the little.

Brooks Smothers [00:52:18]:
Yeah, we had a Honda Fit.

Scott Cowan [00:52:19]:
The little clown car.

Brooks Smothers [00:52:20]:
Yeah, we had a Honda Fit. Great gas mileage.

Scott Cowan [00:52:21]:
I’m six’ four. I climb in and out.

Brooks Smothers [00:52:23]:
Did you sit in the back like Hightower and Police Academy? Did you take the whole front seat out?

Scott Cowan [00:52:27]:
No, actually I had plenty of. Shockingly, that was a very roomy driver’s compartment for me.

Brooks Smothers [00:52:34]:
It was okay.

Scott Cowan [00:52:35]:
And I loved my Honda fit. It had 10 cup holders in that little car. I mean, I had five cup holders in the front that I could reach because, you know, it’s so small I could get to the passenger side.

Brooks Smothers [00:52:45]:
Right.

Scott Cowan [00:52:45]:
My Pilot only has two in. In the center console and it doesn’t handle big cups. So you’re doing a. You’re doing a metal double wall stainless thing. See, I’m.

Brooks Smothers [00:52:54]:
I know you got. You’re anti metal.

Scott Cowan [00:52:56]:
I’m not anti metal, but it does something to the coffee. But I’ve yet to find a good ceramic travel mug. Mug. Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:53:08]:
All right.

Scott Cowan [00:53:09]:
Yeah. Let me ask you this.

Brooks Smothers [00:53:10]:
Yep.

Scott Cowan [00:53:11]:
We’ve been to four shops today. Yep. I’m not going to ask you to pick your favorite.

Brooks Smothers [00:53:15]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:53:16]:
But give me the high point of today.

Brooks Smothers [00:53:20]:
So that’s a really good question. When we planned this trip and looked at doing this kind of collaboration tour, these are four very different establishments. And so it’s not like I can compare them apples to apples, even though they all kind of fall under the coffee shop window or umbrella, if you will. There were four very distinct, different places. I would say narrative and Nadine’s are probably the most similar in atmosphere, vibe, quality of. Of coffee and presentation and all that. They were both, you know, high end. You can tell that they really, really, really care about.

Scott Cowan [00:54:03]:
Right.

Brooks Smothers [00:54:03]:
You know, the quality and the presentation of how they do their coffee. The loft is probably one of my most go to’s Here in town, because I can go, I can sit, get my work done, or, you know, take my laptop and do what I need to do. And they make a great cup of coffee and it’s no frills and you just go in and get it done. And then here as ShuChoux again, this is a place I come for a croissant, but they sell out of croissants often. So if you’re here at 3 o’ clock in an afternoon, they’re not going to have croissants. You got to come in the morning. But.

Scott Cowan [00:54:38]:
Okay, I’m going to pivot the question slightly. So you mentioned to me in between our recordings, you have a friend in Pennsylvania. Imagine your friend comes out here to visit you.

Brooks Smothers [00:54:49]:
Where would I take him?

Scott Cowan [00:54:50]:
Yeah, where are you taking him?

Brooks Smothers [00:54:51]:
If my wife isn’t listening, I’m gonna take him to a bikini barista. Just kidding.

Scott Cowan [00:54:57]:
Which one?

Brooks Smothers [00:54:58]:
I don’t know that. I don’t know that. I don’t know. I’m just kidding. I would say probably narrative or Nadians, because it’s that whole kind of what I would think of that more kind of traditional coffee shop.

Scott Cowan [00:55:12]:
Yeah. Showing those are both of those places to me, or especially narrative. Narrative has a very northwest coffee culture vibe.

Brooks Smothers [00:55:23]:
Yes.

Scott Cowan [00:55:24]:
Okay. It’s coffee forward.

Brooks Smothers [00:55:27]:
Yes. And that’s.

Scott Cowan [00:55:29]:
Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:55:29]:
So that’s what I would do.

Scott Cowan [00:55:30]:
Yeah. Which. Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:55:32]:
And you and I were talking about some of the last bastions of coffee shops in Seattle. And so, you know, I had talked about the last exit that was on Brooklyn Avenue in the U District that I used to go to a lot umpteen decades ago. And that place, really larger scale than narrative is from the square footage space. But very much narrative brings back to me that reminiscent.

Scott Cowan [00:56:00]:
Right.

Brooks Smothers [00:56:01]:
Minus the stage where Last Exit, you could go in and there’d be, you know, somebody doing acoustic folk music on a guitar, you know, or whatever.

Scott Cowan [00:56:09]:
Right. So if I were bringing my wife into Everett for coffee, I’d bring her here because she’d want pastry. Yeah. So she’s not as coffee forward. I’d make her happy here with the choices of pastries because I know her taste. And that counter is dangerous.

Brooks Smothers [00:56:28]:
Right, right, right.

Scott Cowan [00:56:30]:
The loft, however, would probably be a good, solid one also for her. I think all four of these show to me that coffee’s not an afterthought in Everett.

Brooks Smothers [00:56:44]:
No, it’s not. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:56:46]:
And that makes me happy.

Brooks Smothers [00:56:47]:
Yeah. And I think that that scene here in Everett, you know, there’s a community around it that appreciates being able to Go and find a good quality cup of coffee.

Scott Cowan [00:57:00]:
Right.

Brooks Smothers [00:57:00]:
And understand that and have those expectations. So when they go, they know what they’re getting. And to be like, hey.

Scott Cowan [00:57:07]:
So I would say to anyone listening, if you’re in Everett, we just gave you four places to check out.

Brooks Smothers [00:57:12]:
Absolutely. And we will make sure to have in this show notes all of these four stops. I’ll link to the record store and some of the other places that we discuss. So that way too, there’ll be links in the show notes for all this. So you can go over to rvoutwest.com or to explore washington state.com and get additional information for the things that Scott and I talked about.

Scott Cowan [00:57:33]:
I got one last impossible question for you.

Brooks Smothers [00:57:35]:
Okay, bring it on.

Scott Cowan [00:57:37]:
Of all these four coffee shops, if I’m bringing my RV into Everett, where’s the best parking?

Brooks Smothers [00:57:44]:
I would leave your RV at the campground and come in on your toad or your dinghy. Unless you’re in a class B like sprinter van, then you can find parking. But I would not ring my rv. There’s nowhere to park.

Scott Cowan [00:57:58]:
Okay.

Brooks Smothers [00:57:58]:
There’s really no good to know. Yeah, there’s nowhere to park.

Scott Cowan [00:58:00]:
You’re not going to pull your 36 foot Airstream in here.

Brooks Smothers [00:58:03]:
No, because let’s be honest, when I’m hooked up to my 26 foot trailer with my tow vehicle, my one ton truck, I am 55ft in length.

Scott Cowan [00:58:12]:
Yeah, yeah. There’s no parking.

Brooks Smothers [00:58:13]:
There’s no parking for that. Here’s no place for anywhere here in town. All right, all right, Well, I think we are going to end that here. So thank you all for tuning in and it’s been great. Thank you for joining us as we have tried something different here with Scott Cowan of the Explore Washington State Podcast and Brook Smothers of RV Out West. And I hope you guys enjoyed this different kind of show episode. Thanks for listening.

Scott Cowan [00:58:40]:
All right. Hope you enjoyed the show. You can reach me on Twitter at Explore State. I’d love to hear your comments. You can also visit our website explorewashingtonstate.com if you know anyone who would like to show. It’d be amazing if you’d share the show with them. This is the biggest way that we grow this show.

Brooks Smothers [00:59:01]:
Good old word of mouth.

Scott Cowan [00:59:03]:
Glad you were here with me today and I hope to have you listening to the next episode. See you then.