Straight from the mermaid's pressroom, Starbucks has quietly released the full list of U.S. store closures. There are 19 stores in Washington on the list and 7 stores in Seattle. If Seattlest went to Starbucks, or if we weren't fond of brewing our own strong drip coffee, we'd be mourning the loss of our neighborhood store on 15th Ave E. Also facing closure? Starbucks stores all over the city--from West Seattle to Northgate Mall to......

After announcing on July 1st plans to close 600 retail stores nationwide, the powers that be have released the locations of the first Starbucks stores that will close. None of the doomed stores are in Seattle or even Washington state. Heck, even Oregon and Idaho's Starbucks are safe for now. The closest Starbucks store facing closure thus far is in California, but there are hundreds more to come. So, breathe easy Seattle Starbucks baristas. Your......

Things are not well in the land of the mermaid and her coffee empire. Starbucks announced a huge round of layoffs and store closures this afternoon. The coffee giant will be closing 600 stores nationwide and laying off 12,000 of its store employees. The 12,000 layoffs equal about 7% of Starbucks global work force. The layoffs and closures will occur between now and March 2009. No word yet if any local stores will be......

"Colorful Building" by saul_xavier Another dreary day, another vibrant selection from our ever-evolving Flickr Pool.......

STEP UP YOUR BRUNCH GAME: Brunch for Seattlest usually means stumbling to the closest eggs-and-bacon joint, slamming some coffee, and thanking God we didn't have to put on real clothes for the occasion. But we will make an exception and actually dress up (ish) for a fancy weekend brunch, now offered at the Saint, if only for the opportunity to taste Tecate-marinated Carne con Huevos (yum) and sip on a house mimosa. The Saint's from......

Sitting here, looking out our window at the torturous rain and gray skies, thinking about killing ourselves--you know, the usual thing to do when it's June but still feels like February. But what is this? Yet another story about scantily-clad baristas! Joy! Boobs and joy and boobs and joy. This latest assault on our provocative purveyors of coffee, comes from the City of Bonney Lake and their efforts to put a stop to the girls......

"Tully's Headquarterby herbiehancock00 Courtesy of the increasingly arresting Seattlest Flickr Pool.......

What was that about getting back to making the perfect latte? Starbucks announced today that they are debuting two new, non-coffee beverages. The company unveiled their plans in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. The new drinks you will be able to buy, instead of the delicious tasty disappearing breakfast sandwiches? According to the article, one of the new drinks will be a "smoothie-like drink made of fruit and whey." The new blended......

The historic Panama Hotel Tea and Coffee House pays homage to Seattle's Asian immigration boom by perfectly blending elements of the east and west in this classy, immaculate coffee and tea house in the International District. We enter to a hushed atmosphere and tip toe across the gorgeous hardwood floors to the counter, where a very new, but very helpful young barista tries to guide us through the pastry selection, many of which are......

Unlike the month of March, there aren't a ton of beer festivals/events going on this month (the break was a welcome one). That should give you time to check out a new spot that recently opened up in Ballard called The Dray. This European-style cafe opens up at 9 a.m. for coffee (from Stumptown), and you can stick around like the booze hound you are until 2 a.m. every day for drinks. They've got......

Attention, Seattle caffeine addicts....wait, let's rephrase that. Seattle, what a week it's been for free coffee! First, Starbucks debuted a new blend on Tuesday, giving patrons a free taste which resulted in lines out the door at many stores. Now, tomorrow, McDonald's begins a four-week promotion called "Free Latte Friday." Go to any McDonald's in Western Washington tomorrow before 10:30 a.m. and get a free (Mc)latte. McDonald's has launched "Un-Snobby Coffee.com" and have recently launched......

It cannot be easy, being green, shade-grown and responsible. It cannot be easy, being the butt of endless Dunkin Donuts commercials. It cannot be easy, watching McDonalds roll out espresso machines. It cannot be easy, being Starbucks. Evangelist-in-chief Howard Schultz roundly denies that Starbucks is losing its way. "Our best days are ahead of us," he says. To prove it, an extravagant product launch of a new blend, Pike Place (named for the company's......

Hurry! Starbucks is offering free 8-ounce cups of the Pike Place Blend today. So says the AP: "Chairman and Chief Executive Howard Schultz said the new blend will have a bold, robust flavor profile that customers have come to expect of Starbucks coffee, but with a smoother, buttery finish." Your free cup of coffee is available from 9-9:30 a.m. today, so GO! HURRY! photo courtesy of Seattlest Flickr user scarequotes......

A year ago Liberty, the coffeeshop/bar/sushi joint on 15th Ave, had the unmitigated gall to advertise their establishment via posters on telephone poles near their business location. As with the Iraq War, China's unlawful presence in Tibet, and Crash's Oscar win, Liberty's advertisements resulted in massive protests. Or at least some classic passive-aggressive Seattle behavior, like an "I, Anonymous" submitted to The Stranger and masking tape put on the posters indicating that Liberty was......

Because we haven't said enough about Starbucks this week, and because we haven't said enough about local coffee shops today, we figured we'd jump in on this story. Starbucks has to give their California baristas $87million (plus 7 percent interest). According to LA Times, some baristas could get $10,000. Apparently, the rule has been that all tips are pooled at the end of the day, and then shift supervisors get to take some of......

The failing state of the roads on Capitol Hill (and maybe all over Seattle, we just happen to spend most of our time cursing Capitol Hill potholes) has been getting to us the last few days. Biking around, we're spending as much time avoiding potholes that will swallow our front tire as sleep-deprived drivers on cell phones. We wanted to get a photo to illustrate what we're talking about, and the only issue was, which......

Pity poor Pluto. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union reclassified the celestial body as a dwarf planet. Along with being totally emasculating, the IAU's declaration meant that Pluto was stripped of its rights as a full-fledged planet, including health insurance (medical, vision, and dental), a sweet parking space, and a Platinum American Express card. Well, now Pluto is fighting back, or at least it's found a group to take up the cause: On Saturday,......

At the Starbucks in our West Seattle neighborhood this morning, a (chronically inattentive) cashier and a (disarmingly friendly) barista had the following exchange. Guess which employee is which. SBUX employee #1 (apropos of nothing): I hope Starbucks is coughing up pizza tonight. SBUX employee #2 (with a hint of sarcasm): Uh, that is incorrect. But Starbucks will be coughing up a bunch of espresso shots. SBUX employee #1 (trailing off): Well, I’m going to......

During tomorrow night's three hour nation-wide Starbucks closure, local coffee shop Caffe Vita will be giving away free coffee and espresso drinks. Yes coffee fiends of Seattle--so that's basically all of you--that's good free coffee, just because the big chain that you feel slightly embarrassed about going to is closed. Lovely! Caffe Vita makes fabulous coffee at locations on Queen Anne, Capitol Hill, Fremont, Seward Park, and south of us in the state capitol,......

So we hear that Chris and Jen, founders and owners of Victrola Coffee, have sold "Capitol Hill's living room" to a new guy, an established independent coffee entrepreneur, whom we believe is Dan Ollis of the Whidbey Coffee Co. Dan owns a string of java joints up Whidbey way, and has been looking to break into the Seattle coffee scene for some time. Meanwhile, Chris and Jen are still running things during a 90-day transition......

We're in the International District, walking down the street, past the whole roasted ducks displayed in windows, sniffing fried Chinese food and fragrant pho broth, searching for the one thing that seems not to exist in the ID--coffee. We see the bright neon sign of Gossip Espresso and Tea and cross the street. A hand-written sign on the door says, "Closing at 6pm today." It's 5:55 and we sprint up to the counter and......

We got into Memphis last night, and we'll be here for the rest of the week, celebrating folk music along with people from all over the world at the annual Folk Alliance conference. We'll be going on and on about that in articles for another job we have, but we just wanted to take a moment to express how much we love Seattle. We miss Seattle. But mostly, we miss people. There don't seem......

We generally have little use for our jobs, except for the fact that they provide us space and time to construct quality posts for you, dear reader. Also, their paychecks allow us to pay rent and buy cute shoes. Other than that, we'd rather be at home watching CSI or What Not To Wear or playing Rockband. On second thought, jobs do have benefits: free laser printing and free coffee. It's really sort of......

Coffee Angel photo by Seattlest Flickr Contributor, Jeff Carlson The world just might stop its rotation on February 26th. Seattle's coffee giant, Starbucks, has just announced that all 7,100 of its stores will close for three hours that day. Whatever shall we do? The recently returned CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, made the announcement today. The three-hour closure will be spent retraining baristas nation-wide, in hopes of boosting sagging sales. Blessedly, it's not at......

We've been Ellen Forney fans since we read "I Was Seven in '75" -- back when it ran in The Rocket. Her latest project is Lust, a collection of the "Lustlab Ad of the Week" cartoons she does for The Stranger, published this month by Fantagraphics. We interviewed Forney about the cartoon at Georgetown's All City Coffee, just down the block from the Fantagraphics store where there will be a book launch party tomorrow night.......

It’s one of those Sunday mornings where the air is very still and heavy, and the dim light is giving you plenty of room to recover from Saturday night. For us, it’s the perfect time to visit the newest Victrola Coffee location on Pike Street. We enter the spanky-fresh store, a location mostly done up in the very popular, but tepid modern design. Like a Santa Barbara beach, all the tables are blonde-topped. The......

In another effort by Chairman and Chief Executive Howard Schultz to "get back to the roots and the core of our heritage, which is the leading roaster of specialty coffee in the world," it's been reported that Starbucks will remove those tasty breakfast sammiches from their stores. The AP reports that, "The sandwiches, which will disappear by this fall, boost a typical store's annual revenue by $35,000, so pulling them off the menu will cost......

Are you feeling lazy this winter in Seattle? It's been raining and dark (well, not so much this week), and maybe you just haven't felt like doing much or going anywhere. Well, it's time you got off your ass to do something about it; like go to a beer festival. If you've never been out to Port Townsend, this weekend is a great time to make the trip. Water Street Brewing will be hosting......

We're not sure if barista experience is even necessary. We just noticed the P-I story that Tully's fifth CEO since 2001 had just vacated the executive offices:The chief executive, chief financial officer and three other top executives of Tully's Coffee Corp. have left abruptly, and a new top executive was expected to be named later Tuesday,The other suits departing were General Counsel Andrew Mun and vice presidents Rob Martin and Dana Pratt. This is not,......

It’s early on a Sunday morning and for once, parking is easy to find in Pioneer Square. We click across the historic red-bricked plaza to the flagship store of Caffe Umbria. We’re met by a long, polished steel bar with clean lines. It’s classic Italian design, second only to the other, more rustic half of the store with exposed brick, wooden beams and beautifully painted tile work. The friendly baristas smile alluringly and then......