(Images: CHS)

With spring, a fresh batch of mobile espresso providers has cropped up on Capitol Hill.

With the guys behind Slate Coffee mounting an espresso revolution and plotting a Ballard cafe while spending their mornings in a parking lot at 14th and Madison, Shari Klein is taking a more pedestrian approach to launching her Style Espresso business inside a puny trailer in the Shell station parking lot at Broadway and Pike.

[mappress mapid=”6″]So, why Style, Shari, and why this pretty darned competitive corner for launching your caffeine-based business? Convenience is one factor with a steady stream of pedestrians at the busy corner and a regular flow of drivers fueling up behind her. “I’ll also do it right,” Klein said. Both seem like decent enough value propositions to get started — even with Vita and others just blocks away and a Starbucks soon to move in across the street.

In her first week of business, Klein said she is still sorting out logistics around how early to open and how late to keep serving. Her trailer also comes equipped with whiteboard markers for customers to leave a note or decorate Klein’s workspace. You can check in on her hours and the latest trailer art via the Style Espresso Facebook page.

By the way, the lot at Pike and Broadway also continues to host taco truck Taqueria Las Torres.

Klein cut her teeth as a barista in Everett at Stars and Stripes where coffee kiosks do battle with the thong-powered bikini stands. Stars and Strikes is one of the few places in Everett where one can acquire coffee without bikinis being involved — it’s a competitive landscape that we’re sure has prepared Klein for staying in business in the sea of coffee choices that is this corner of Pike/Pine.