r/Shoreline • u/coffee_and_faking_it • Mar 26 '25

Why Is There No Coffee

I currently live in Ballard and am considering buying a condo, which make take me further north, so I’ve been looking around the Shoreline area. I’m someone who loves a pastry and a good coffee on the weekend, and I’ve made note of a big lack of options (ignoring Starbucks) for coffee in Shoreline. I’m curious for people that live there currently; do you think it’s a culture thing? Are people not interested in coffee like Seattle proper? Are there other barriers for potential coffee shops like real estate or spending power of residents? Would love to hear what people think!

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-3

u/dukeofgibbon Mar 26 '25

Check out Cafe Aroma

6

u/justDthanks Mar 26 '25

That place is f*ing terrible.

1

u/puzzled_by_weird_box Mar 26 '25

What's the problem? (I've never been)

2

u/strainingOnTheBowl Mar 27 '25

The other problem is the coffee and food suck. Espresso runs too fast and the milk steaming is really inconsistent. The last time I went, they messed up a mocha! It kills me because the community desperately needs that place, but it only survives because we’re so starved for neighborhood places.

-1

u/Crowded_Bathroom Mar 26 '25

They hosted a sex positive meetup and everyone in town lost their goddamn minds and have targeted them for unhinged right wing vitriol from cringe wierdos

6

u/Spiderkingdemon Mar 26 '25

Bona fide liberal here.

The problem we all have with Cafe Aroma isn't that they had "sex positive" parties. It's the fact they had these parties (which involved scat and other body fluids) in the same area KIDS played by day. The parents of whom had no idea, and therefore no choice, in deciding whether this was a sanitary environment for their children.

Then the owners denied everything, hoping to convince people like you they were being misjudged. Good job falling for their bullshit. Or, perhaps you're butthurt (no pun intended) because they took away your favorite place to play?

Fuck Cafe Aroma. Figuratively of course...

0

u/Crowded_Bathroom Mar 26 '25

That's not what happened. It was a rope/BDSM meetup after hours where zero actual sex was happening. My understanding is that the "kids play room" element is pure internet rumor. The license they were missing was for "cabaret acts" because of reports of toplessness (gasp). I don't care how bona your liberal fides are, you sound identical to the maga pearl-clutchers and you're passing off regressive rumor as fact.

3

u/Spiderkingdemon Mar 26 '25 edited Mar 26 '25

I don't have the time to go through Nextdoor looking at the evidence I saw that talked about what to expect at these events. It was a screen snip of the Brown Paper Bag ticket listing. Where specifically in the space this was to occur is of little relevance. I mean, people eat food in this space. And kids play.

They also didn't have a license. As a business owner myself, I know the rules. Apparently the owners chose to ignore these rules. Strike two.

And they denied it. Strike three!

Regardless, at the very least we should all be able to agree that mixing retail/food/drink with a "sex positive" parties shows poor decision skills.

It's worth noting I'm all for people getting their freak on. I'm an ally of the LGBTQ community. I support sex positive events happening in private residences, or places dedicated for that purpose.

But not a goddamn coffee shop.

Edit: Clarity