Victrola Coffee Roasters

Victrola Coffee Roasters was established in 2000 and named after the popular home phonograph of the 1920s, embracing the liveliness, exuberance, and fun of the Jazz era. The company began as a small neighborhood café on 15th Avenue in Capitol Hill, addressing the community's need for both great coffee and gathering spaces. Within a year, the café proved so popular that they doubled their space, taking over the adjacent storefront. In 2003, Victrola took a significant step forward by beginning to roast their own coffee in the tiny back room of their 15th Avenue café. The team spent countless hours experimenting with roast profiles and blends, committing themselves to sourcing, roasting, and preparing the finest coffees available. This dedication to innovation has continued to mark their roasting operations and coffee preparation ever since. The company's showcase location opened in 2007 in a beautiful 1920s auto row building at the base of Capitol Hill. This flagship Pike Street café houses their roastery, training facility, and cupping room, offering customers an exceptional place to learn about coffee through tastings, observe the roasting process, or simply enjoy a great book in the light-filled space. The café hosts free public coffee cuppings on select Fridays at 11 AM, providing an educational and engaging introduction to coffee tasting. In 2009, Victrola expanded by acquiring a neighborhood café on Beacon Hill near the Library and light rail station, maintaining the comfort, passion for quality, quirkiness, and community feel that characterizes all their locations. The company continued to grow, and in 2022, they acquired the Seattle Coffee Works brand and locations, which provided access to expanded coffee sourcing relationships, particularly in Guatemala. This acquisition was integrated when Seattle Coffee Works merged into Victrola Coffee in May 2024. Victrola is deeply committed to ethical sourcing practices, focusing on building lasting relationships with coffee producers worldwide. They work directly with farmers like Luis Alberto Balladerez in Nicaragua's Nueva Segovia region and Denis Teruel at Finca las Brisas in Honduras, often purchasing entire harvests and supporting infrastructure improvements. The company pays above Fair Trade minimum prices and sources only coffees grown with environmental respect, utilizing shade-grown methods and avoiding chemical treatments or pesticides. The company's coffee philosophy centers on showcasing the full spectrum of what coffee can be, sourcing from different regions globally and utilizing various processing methods and varietals. They emphasize exciting, progressive efforts in the specialty coffee industry, including experimental fermentation methods and soil content research. Victrola has been recognized by Epicurious as one of the 25 best coffee shops in the U.S. and has been featured in Eater's essential coffee shop lists, cementing their reputation as a leader in Seattle's vibrant coffee scene.