SureShot

Seattle and coffee. Every cliché is absolutely true. On any given city block, you can find at least one coffee shop, if not multiple—chains, local chains, tiny mom-and-pop establishments—all competing for your caffeine dollar.

It’s no different on University Avenue. The main drag that runs parallel to the University of Washington has at least 3 coffee shops per block. With all that competition, though, tiny, hard-to-miss SureShot holds its own.

It can’t be for the atmosphere. SureShot doesn’t attract students looking for a quiet place to study or groups of UW staff between classes looking for conversation. Even if the music is low, which it hardly ever is, the blood-red walls and bleeping of vintage pinball machines and video games don’t create an atmosphere conducive to relaxation. In fact, the only reason I can think to linger inside (unless you are a vintage game fanatic) is during one of the few very hot summer days the region sees. SureShot has an air conditioner; a rarity in Seattle.

It has to be the coffee and the food. Good coffee is easy to find in town, but SureShot is one of the only cafes to serve “white coffee,” a delicacy adored by aficionados and worth a try. White coffee beans are roasted for less time than regular beans, creating a brew that is simultaneously more caffeinated than regular espresso and gentler to sensitive stomachs. 

SureShot also offers a wide variety of vegan scones and pastries. Again, animal-product-free is not hard to find in the city, but the variety offered at one-stop SureShot is both wide and tasty enough to appeal to those that eat critter-based snacks.

- by Caren Gussoff Sumption, Seattle Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Caren Gussoff Sumption

Caren Gussoff Sumption is a freelance writer and editor from Seattle, WA. She's written for USA Today, the Seattle Times/NW Source, MSN and AOL, and her fiction has been published worldwide. She received her MFA in writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.