With reporting by Alex Garland
A darker, moodier 1100 block of 12th Ave is being shaped. MariPili is coming soon. Anchorhead Coffee has arrived.
The latest expansion of the black and brown clad Seattle coffee company is now open on Capitol Hill and has transformed the former Stumptown and roasting facility into a new cafe and bakery just as neighboring Cafe Presse has gone dark, closing after 15 years of business.
Anchorhead’s Ross Beamish said neighboring a legend like Presse would have been great but the coffee start-up now has hopes of forming a “cool day and night combo” on the block and has found a kindred spirit in MariPili chef and owner Grayson Corrales.
Beamish says Anchorhead and MariPili have a plan to repaint the old auto row building they call home as part of bringing a new feel to the block. The color? Black, of course.
CHS reported here in September on Anchorhead’s plans to “lean into really dark” and transform the two-level venue formerly home to Stumptown into a new cafe and central bakery for Anchorhead’s growing family of cafes.
Beamish says the February opening has gone mostly smoothly after a buildout that included some self executed elements like paining, demolition, and refinishing the floors. “That was… challenging,” he said of the mostly successful in-house work.
Now on 12th Ave, Anchorhead has space for its cafe upstairs with baking busily underway below plus room for classes and presentations. The move has allowed the company to move its baking fully in-house and into the city from Duvall where its “air convection” roastery remains.
Teaching customers and “home baristas” more about coffee and making the process more accessible is part of Anchorhead’s mission, Beamish says. That includes at the coffee bar where a one of a kind prototype espresso machine is the centerpiece. The creation from Seattle’s Mavam Espresso Machines is a push button system that does all the grinding and brewing “under the counter,” leaving the space clear for more interaction and connection between Anchorhead’s staff and customers.
“It’s a bit of a risk embracing automation,” Beamish says.
But the connections, they hope, will be worth it. The first weeks at the new cafe have brought plenty of people inside to meet up and hang out as pandemic concerns lighten after weeks of heavy case totals. Beamish says Anchorhead isn’t sure, yet, about whether it will continue to require proof of vaccination due to concerns about keeping its staff on the “front lines” of enforcement but he says they might continue to ask customers to keep masking even if the state requirements change. There are other, simpler but important elements of the coffee experience Anchorhead is also eager to put back into place.
“We’re ready for real cups to come back,” Beamish said. “It’s starting to feel like there’s a chance for that.”
Anchorhead Coffee is now open at 1115 12th Ave. You can learn more at anchorheadcoffee.com.
PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.
