Liberty: Now with Mediocre Coffee

Seattlest still hadn't been back to Liberty after the bad service fiasco we encountered there when sampling their drinks and sushi early this spring. Once bitten, twice shy, and we haven't received official word that they've gotten their shit together just yet. But earlier this week, we were up on 15th running a few errands when we saw sandwich boards advertising Liberty's espresso.

And so we returned to the scene of the crime.

Turns out that Liberty's been serving coffee for the past month or so. And whaddya know? Save the near-ubiquitous latte art, it's completely unremarkable. We're not sure where the beans come from (no signs up to indicate the roaster of origin), but we've had better - the coffee's flavor was decidedly flat. The fact that the grinders were really noisy (yes, even for coffee grinders) ensured that we would never consider consuming the cup on the premises. Additionally, there were only four flavors of syrup, including one sugar-free, and that's not nearly enough by way of selection. No hazelnut? No em-effing almond? Inexcusable.

There is one thing going for Liberty's coffee: the price. We got a double tall vanilla latte for only $2.36, including tax. It may not be the best espresso on the Hill, but it is quite possibly the cheapest.

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By Audrey in Food on October 4, 2006 9:00 AM

Comments [rss]

Katelyn

Oh I totally knew that. *cough* Thanks Audrey

Audrey

Andrew and Katelyn: this post was written in November 2006, well before Liberty starting serving Stumptown the following March.

Katelyn

Andrew, if it makes you feel any better, I love Liberty's coffee.

LIbertybar

Well.

Hmm.

'Unremarkable'. Not a good review.

First, my name is Andrew, and as owner of Liberty, I have to say that there are good and bad experiences, it's unfortunate that you had a bad experience, and I'm sorry about that.

To let you know, we were the second cafe in town to serve Portland's awesome Stumptown espresso which makes a bad espresso drink all the more tragic.

I'm not sure what the problem was the day that you came by, but I hope that you'll give our espresso another try. The main baristas, Ian and Doug, are easily two of Seattle's best, so I'd like to hear what you think if you come by and try again.

In terms of some of the other comments, yes - we only at one point had four flavors but are now serving the best flavors available, the Monin syrups and have seven available. We did at first resist having more than just the few standards because Stumptown is so damn outstanding, but have added more as our customers requested them. At least with the Monin syrups, they are made with cane sugar and real flavorings, as opposed to 99% of the rest of the syrups, which use synthesized flavors and sugars.

Noisy grinders? Well, just like the Simonelli espresso machine, our grinders are one of the best one's available, and they are rather noisy.

So, hopefully we now have all the syrups that you can wish to enjoy in your espresso, and I hope that you stop by again to see what's changed.

Andrew

Audrey

Hey Snob, when the coffee's sub-par, syrup becomes that much more vital.

CoffeSnob

You had me. I was right there with you. Bad coffee: no excuse.

There is so much good coffee to be had in this city. You had me. Right up until the part where you complained about there not being enough syrups. You can't be snobbish about coffee at the same time you are flavoring it with sugar syrups that were meant for Italian sodas.