Monday, November 3, 2008

El Diablo Coffee (Queen Anne)



Saturday, my wife and I loaded up the kids and headed over to Queen Anne and stopped in at El Diablo Coffee. I told a friend of ours that I was writing about coffee houses in Seattle and said that we had to try El Diablo out. She said that it was the best mocha she had ever had. They are located at 1811 Queen Anne Ave North. As you drive up the hill on Queen Anne Ave, they are a few blocks past the Five Spot.

This coffee house is a little out of the ordinary for Seattle. They specialize in Latin style drinks, as opposed to the normal espresso drinks. I had a Cafe Cubano, which is 2 shots of espresso served with sugar. If you aren't used to espresso and normally drink coffee with milk or cream, this will be a shock to your system. The first sip is like taking that first sip of Scotch. Wow! After the first sip, however, I really began to appreciate this style of coffee. If you aren't in the mood to sit around or are in a hurry, this kind of drink fits the bill. The sweetness of the sugar balances out the espresso and it just works. I didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. Another interesting side effect was the caffiene buzz. I normally have a latte which has either 2 or 3 shots of espresso in it, so this drink was really no different, but I was jittering around like a fool for 4 hours after I had this. I'm not sure if the sugar did it, but this stuff kicked my butt.



My wife had the Mocha. For the record, I usually hate these kinds of drinks. Any kind of drink that is a mocha, carmel, or other sweetened drink is just too girly for me. She had a few sips and demanded that I try it. I winced, but tried anyways. I'll admit, this was a decent drink. They give you a choice of the type of chocolate that is added to the drink and she chose Mexican chocolate. Rather being overly sweet, it comes off as being more spiced with cinammon than being sweet. For you Mocha fans, give this place a try. You won't be disappointed.


This place reminds me of being in Miami or in the Florida Keys. This place doesn't look like the typical Seattle joint, but you can imagine yourself sitting in a cafe on Duval Street in Key West. That is until you step outside and the cold mist smacks you in the face and reminds you where you really are.

As I uploaded my pictures, I realized how poor my pictures were after this trip. Having 2 kids around that are acting like lunatics surely doesn't inspire any creativity.

El Diablo Coffee Company on Urbanspoon

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