Day 8: Seattle, pt. 2
Welcome
Yesterday we toured Starbucks HQ and played a show outside Amazon HQ in Seattle.
The side of the rubbish bin outside Starbucks HQ.
It was our earliest morning in a while. We met in the lobby at 8:45am and walked several blocks to meet our guide for the tour, a woman named Sandy whose passion was talking about coffee and human connection, and whose job was also talking about coffee and human connection. The tour began with a walk through the historic Pike Place farmers market where we witnessed a famous spectacle, the throwing of a fish, in this case an 8lb salmon that sailed over the counter from fishmonger to cashier to be wrapped and sold. We passed florists and fruiterers, trinketers and cherry mongers. Sandy took us outside and we gazed out across the waters of Puget Sound while she talked about the history of the city, its struggles and triumphs.
A block away was the first Starbucks store, a tiny shop on Pike Place that began its life in 1971 selling coffee beans. Yesterday it was selling mostly Starbucks merch to the crowds of tourists that were lining up outside the door. We arrived and were hustled into a corner where the original wooden counter still stands, buffed smooth from fifty years of Seattitilians leaning over to order the beverage that would help them follow their dreams. Sandy brought out a plunger of Pikes Place Roast, our first tasting of the day, and as we smelled and slurped, sniffing the aroma and spreading the hot liquid across our tastebuds, we heard a passionate orator talk about coffee and human connection.
Our tour continued. We caught a taxi to a striking brick building in the Sodo neighbourhood that once housed the Sears department store, and now bore the image of the siren that identified it as the Starbucks world headquarters. The next part of the tour took us through the research and development labs, a 20,000 square foot space where the boundaries between and myth and beverage are blurred on a daily basis. I signed an NDA upon entering this facility so I won’t be able to share any details but I can tell you that in the future Starbucks beverages will be made faster and in more flavours.
The final leg of the tour was in the coffee education centre and it was here that we were let rip on all the gear with everyone having a go at making their favourite Starbucks beverage. Liz made something pumpkin spiced and Jonathan improvised a peppermint mocha that was truly monstrous. Then we crowded around a long table to do a cupping, a simple form of coffee tasting that is used by in-house tasters to sample new shipments of beans and ensure quality control. There were three blended arabica varieties ranging from a blonde roast to a dark roast, and we took turns sniffing the ground beans and making observations. I observed the sensation of coffee dust in my nostrils. Then boiling water was poured over the grounds and after a few minutes we gave the liquid a single stir and sniffed again, inhaling the contrasting aromas of the freshly brewed substances. Next we learned how to remove the sprudge before tasting. We learned that sprudge is the foamy, acidic substance on the surface of the brew, a word that I hadn’t heard before and after further investigation seems to be used to represent pretty much any mysterious substance or byproduct in the coffee making process. Two spoons were required to de-sprudge and then we slurped spoonfuls of the hot liquid, letting it linger on our tongues and experiencing the mouth feel. We talked about flavour profiles and then learned the origins of each bean, and the complex ecosystem that exists to grow and distribute this product worldwide. We ended with a passionate talk from Sandy about her history and relationship coffee, a beautiful story exploring this historic beverage and the human connection
The cupping table.
It was past midday and no one had eaten so we headed back to downtown to a salad bar called Evergreens. I ordered an El Sombrero, a southwestern-style salad with avocado, fire-roasted corn, black beans, jalapeno, Tillamook white cheddar, romaine, grape tomatoes, tortilla chips, and cilantro lime vinegarette.
Our afternoon saw us arrive at the Seattle Spheres, three glass conservatories that are part of the site better known as Amazon Corporate Headquarters. Although it hasn’t fared well in the world of Google reviews with an average of only two stars from 1,154 reviews, we found Amazon’s base to be extremely comfortable. There was a lovely square of artificial grass with games like cornholes, jenga, and giant connect four, and a caravan giving away bananas. Inside the building there was a wall displaying all the different kindles. They even had a little enclosure housing a poisonous dart frog.
We began setting up on a small stage overlooking the Amazon Playfield, watching various members of the public humiliate themselves as they missed the cornhole, or missed the connect four grid. There were several burly plain-clothes security guards assigned to look after us and one of them helped us by carrying the fish, lifting the 50kg sack as though it was a pillowcase. Once everything was done we did the shortest, quietest soundcheck we could get away with, expecting to be told off at any moment by a grumpy office building.
There were a couple of hours before our set time. The burly security men escorted us into the Amazon building and up to the conference room that was our dressing room. There was a table laid out with every type of snack as well as easy access to office supplies like highlighters and staples.
An Amazon logo made from recycled books.
At 5pm we were escorted downstairs and found that our musical concert was very well attended, the grass playing field full of people, many of whom seemed to have arrived very intentionally judging by their Beths tshirts. We had the stage for forty-five minutes and enjoyed a performance that was far less awkward than expected. We met some lovely folks afterwards and kept our wrist muscles in shape by signing records and posing for photos.
It was Jake’s final day on tour and we went for dinner at our favourite Vietnamese spot in Capital Hill. We prolongued the evening by heading back to his hotel room and having a sad viewing of the 2013 Roland Emmerich thriller White House Down. Eventually we had to say our goodbyes, hugging and then departing for the bus and our waiting bunks.
In honour of our agreeable time in the Pacific Northwest I’ve put together a small compilation of pieces of timber-inspired décor that I’ve observed during the past few days.
I am thrilled to announce Tristan has completed a brand new tour diary and it is live and ready for your consumption.