Cortona Coffee Now Open

By nicpottier
(4 votes) (report abuse)

On a whim decided to stop by 25th & Union this morning to see if the Cortona had opened yet, and sure enough they had. (apparently Friday was their opening)  The layout is a bit odd downstairs but the upstairs area is quite nice, with lots of little tables and a few bigger ones and lots of power outlets.  It looked like they had WiFi but I didn't try it.

Most importantly I am happy to report that the coffee was excellent.  Brian from Tougo helped with the training and coffee setup and it shows, I'd have a hard time telling the difference between the two.  Great to see such yummy coffee a bit closer to home.

I'd also be remiss to say that I entered the establishment pro gay-marriage and somehow escaped the same way, without any attempts at conversion.  :)  Although there were many from Mars Hill in attendance supporting their friend's new business everybody was polite and friendly.

Happy to see them there, I'll be back and wish them the best of luck.

tags: Coffee, Business, Cortona Cafe + add tags
savecancel
location: Central AreaSeattle, Washington
posted on Sat, Nov 07, 2009 11:31 AM
last updated on Sat, Nov 07, 2009 11:32 AM
Share this post:
Permalink
Thanks for the review, Nic bycarolyn3 months ago (0 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
We saw that it was open when we were on our block watch trash pick-up this morning, but I was hesitant about going there based on previous info. Your words are reassuring, and I'll give it a try tomorrow.
Good Americano byNora3 months ago (0 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
We went by this morning as well- a little hesitant given the concerns raised.
Sweet place- good use of limited space downstairs, nice seating up.
Counter help wasn't particularly friendly, but warmed up as I talked a bit.
Good coffee- despite no nutmeg yet.
They expect hours to be 6a-10p daily.
Umm... byIdaho Spud3 months ago (0 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
Okay, so a new coffeehouse opened in the neighborhood but is an Evangelical hangout? I guess I'm a little confused by the review.
RE: Umm... byNora3 months ago (0 votes) (report abuse)
I was in at 8:30, only one other customer was there. So, not an Evangelical hangout then- not even the owner was there.
Coincidence? bybonghits4jesus3 months ago (3 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
The moment they opened for business was the very second God hurled down that giant flash of lightning and clap of thunder a couple of mornings ago.

As for trying out Cortona, I'm holding out until they give a grand opening discount to CD News readers.
RE: Coincidence? bypickup3 months ago (3 votes) (report abuse)
Hey, we were passing by the shop as we were picking up trash around the neighborhood this morning, and they offered us free coffee. It's a nice gesture.
RE: Coincidence? bybonghits4jesus3 months ago (5 votes) (report abuse)
If Satan gave you free coffee would you be singing his praises too?
RE: Coincidence? bypickup3 months ago (2 votes) (report abuse)
When did you give me free coffee?
RE: Coincidence? bybonghits4jesus3 months ago (1 votes) (report abuse)
If Satan had a car, his license plate frame would read

"Gas, grass, or a**, nobody rides for free"
Speaking of Gay-Friendly.... byCDRyab3 months ago (2 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
SOHO Coffee at Yesler and 20th is now open until 7pm on Saturdays and 5pm Sundays. Great place to hang out, drink coffee and use wifi. Oh they serve Stumptown Coffee.. excellent. Anyone know anything about the owner of SOHO?
Um... they do pay for the ads here, right? byHeath Hunnicutt3 months ago (3 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
Journalists disclose that stuff. Meanwhile, atmosphere is one thing, but if I spend money there, will 10% of it go to Mars Hill? Hmmm.
RE: Um... they do pay for the ads here, right? byscott3 months ago (2 votes) (report abuse)
Cortona is now an advertiser on CDNews, with a campaign that began this morning, and which we welcome as we do all advertisers that support community news.

While we always note "a CDNews sponsor" when we mention an advertiser in any editorial or news context, this story was posted by a CDNews member, not CDNews staff, and we're not in the habit of adding that disclaimer to contributions that come from the public.
Scott, thanks for that response byHeath Hunnicutt3 months ago (1 votes) (report abuse)
I can see how your explanation would occur and not much you can do about it.
RE: Um... they do pay for the ads here, right? bynicpottier3 months ago (1 votes) (report abuse)
Just to be clear, I don't know the owners and am not associated with Cortona or Mars Hill in any way shape or form. I just like good coffee close(r) to home.
Simply a coffee shop review bymchen3 months ago (0 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
On my morning stroll, I happened upon Cortona and decided to give it a try. After ordering my coffee, I ventured upstairs for a quick peek. I found a pleasant area with filled with comfortable tables. What was particularly nice was how bright it was due to the loft style and surrounding windows.
The coffee was delicious but I would hesitate to return due to the customer service. The service felt lukewarm at best (particularly strange for a grand opening). With other coffee shops in the area that provided just as good coffee and friendly service, I may have to pass on Cortona next time.
RE: Simply a coffee shop review byNik3 months ago (1 votes) (report abuse)
I checked it out Saturday mid afternoon - coffee was very good, as was the service. This coffee shop is the most convenient (ie walking distance) to me, but leery of the Mars Hill connection, I'm not sure if I will frequent the place . . .
Let's give them a second chance bybubba K3 months ago (4 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
Always good to see new locally owned business opening their doors. Let's wish them luck
SOHO byBrad3 months ago (0 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
The owner of SOHO is a really cool guy. I believe his name is Bruce. Lives on Capital Hill.
RE: SOHO bycdstudent2 months ago (0 votes) (report abuse)
his name is Barry, he's a character
being choosey byjakebrake3 months ago (5 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
I believe is supporting local businesses and that's why I'm glad I live closer to SOHO. I know that the money I spend there won't end up in the coffers of and organization that subjugates women and gays.
I did go there this afternoon as planned, and bycarolyn3 months ago (2 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
coffee and pastry were very good, service was fine, no proselytizing occurred, there's probably plenty of parking for those not close enough to walk. I expect to return enough times to decide whether to add it to my other "regular" coffee places, which include Tougo, Soho, Watertown, and Char's.
more biz to boycott..... byPerez Hilton3 months ago (5 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
i hope everyone is avoiding these mormon owned business' too....Marriott Hotels & Resorts ,JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts ,Renaissance Hotels & Resorts , Marriott Conference Centers ,Ritz-Carlton Hotels & Resorts ,Courtyard by Marriott ,Fairfield Inn by Marriott ,SpringHill Suites by Marriott
and Catholic owned busineeses -they're pretty anti-gay marriage, womyn subjugating group, and let's boycott the Jews too with their support of apartheid policies in Gaza.
RE: more biz to boycott..... bynicpottier3 months ago (2 votes) (report abuse)
You'd have to boycott a lot more than those if you didn't want to shop anywhere whose owners opposed gay marriage. To be clear I am strongly pro, but you have to realize we live in our little Seattle bubble here, and even here the recent vote was relatively close. As a nation the approval rating as a whole is probably well below 50%, good luck surviving without using any of the services or products from anybody with that opinion.
RE: more biz to boycott..... bybonghits4jesus3 months ago (3 votes) (report abuse)
Excellent observation, Perez. Here are some comments. While I try to pick apart your logic, I think you make a basic point that is very interesting.

1. Your argument assumes that the issue is whether or not to boycott or refuse to patronize Cortona. There's a broader issue of how Cortona, owned by a leader of a very conservative church, will fit within the context of this very diverse, very liberal community. And by "liberal" I'll offer up a single data point of debatable validity: 94% of my precinct voted for Obama.

2. You seem to be making the argument that others have made in previous posts, which is "It's impossible/impractical to make decisions about where to do business based soley on the religious beliefs of business owners". This argument contains a potential flaw. Let's say that Domino's is owned by hard core Catholics, and I am personally opposed to the beliefs of the owners. If I am a regular Domino's customer, regardless of whether or not I'm aware of the owner's beliefs, that doesn't disqualify me from being able to make other decisions about how to spend my money based on the beliefs of business owners.

3. You may also be making the argument that a single person's spending decisions are irrelevant in the larger scheme of things. You seem to be making this point with your example of Israel and Gaza. It's not a valid argument (Israel is a state, so an effective boycott would be one of Israel and not of Jewish-owned businesses. That argument also relies on the unproveable premise that all Jews support Israel's policies regarding Gaza). There's also the example of the boycott of companies that did business with the apartheid regime in South Africa during the late 1980's. That boycott was generally believed to be successful.

4. You and other commentors may be making a companion argument (one that I'm not sure has been clearly articulated on CD News) that one danger inherent in responding to intolerance is that we become intolerant ourselves. This is the strongest argument of the bunch, but only if you're assuming that a boycott is the primary issue, and only if you're evaluating solely the owner's beliefs and not his position of leadership in a church that advocates views that are likely in direct opposition to views held by a vast majority of residents of this community, and has stated ambitions of influencing public policy in Seattle.
RE: more biz to boycott..... byElvis3 months ago (1 votes) (report abuse)
not really taking sides here, but isn't "liberal" also supposed to mean "tolerant" and "open-minded". I know, Mars Hill church is homophobic, racist, sexist, says female prostitution is a strong career path depending on your locale, etc, but have you had a conversation with Will? Have you asked him his views?

Or, as I suspect is the case, have you made up your mind about him (see above) and just enjoy stirring the pot?
RE: more biz to boycott..... bybonghits4jesus3 months ago (1 votes) (report abuse)
Elvis, this is a great response.

I'll take your questions in reverse order:

1. To say that I enjoy stirring the pot is like saying you savored popping a Quaalude now and then. On this site as well as on most other news sites, there's a lot of opinion but not a lot of evidence of rigorous thought. Who cares about hearing someone say "I believe X" when the far more interesting thing is to understand "Why do you believe X?"

2. I haven't made up my mind about Cortona, it's owners, or Mars Hill. I think my own visceral response to the Salon/NYTimes articles says far more about me than it does about Will. So a big part of my comments are aimed at organizing my own thinking.

3. I haven't had a conversation with Will.

Let me just say that your three questions appear to be an "ad hominem" response to the arguments previously laid out. In other words, you may be attempting to disqualify the arguments by attacking the credibility of the speakers instead of countering the arguments themselves. In the study of logic, the argument is examined independently of the speaker's subject knowledge, credibility, or motivation.

4. In your remaining question, about the definition of "liberalism", you're starting to target the meat of the arguments themselves. The flip side of "Who is Will?" and "What are his motives?" is "Who are we?" and "What are our motives or predjudices?" You're hitting a vein of thinking that is worthy of further examination. I think one valid question you could ask is "Are we indeed a liberal community, and by what definition"?

You'll notice I tried to leave myself an "out" by qualifying my definition of "liberal" in Commment 1 and by addressing the issue of liberal intolerance in Comment 4 of my previous post.
RE: more biz to boycott..... byElvis3 months ago (1 votes) (report abuse)
i didn't know we were deploying the socratic method here.

actually, i never questioned a commenter's credibility, and i certainly didn't attack anybody, although I know you would like folks to believe that so they'll read more of your meanderings.

but alas, you digress, and before you do why don't you go meet the guy who so easily spout off about.
RE: more biz to boycott..... bybonghits4jesus3 months ago (0 votes) (report abuse)
Don't take my comments personally.

I admit that I like the stir the pot, but I'm mainly interested in picking apart the logic of myself and anyone else who comments about this issue.

Instead of "attack", I guess I could have used the word "counter". I certainly didn't mean to infer that you were attacking me personally.

Regarding the questioning of my credibility (or "shortcomings")...there were several replies to the original post, so if you were making a blanket response, then I'd have to agree that you might not have been taking my specific credibility into question. The formation of your response, however, leads me to believe that you were employing an ad hominem argument across all responders, myself included. It seems to me that you were making the argument, "You haven't talked to Will", therefore "Your argument lacks merit".

That argument is clearly an ad hominem argument. You're addressing the shortcomings of the speaker(s) instead of addressing the shortcomings of his or her argument. That's a logical flaw. I don't need to meet Will or gather information from him in order to make a valid argument.
I like byElvis3 months ago (1 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
I went by yesterday afternoon around 2pm.

I thought the use of the space and the layout was great. The americano I had was pulled very well and my wife's mocha was great. So, in sum, very nice use of the space, good salvaged wood, and very good coffee. I like it.

As for some religious undertones, I've met Will probably 5 times before and never had him mention God, christianity, Mars Hill, or church once. I feel pretty comfortable that this is a solid division of church and state (state being the state of coffee)
been twice, great coffee both times byje55ica3 months ago (0 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
I've been twice, once on opening day (the drip was free!) and again today. Coffee and service were great both times, looking forward to becoming a regular customer of a local business.
The place looks great! byEnvyOwner3 months ago (0 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
We owned Envy in that same space for a year and we were stoked to hear that something like a coffee spot was making a go of it. Much better area for coffee than for our type of biz, and our new location on 15th on Capitol Hill is way better for us. Being that we are a gay couple (who are very happy about the 52% who voted to let us keep our rights!), it's interesting to see all of the controversy around this owner's background. Any publicity is good publicity, right? :)
Miss you, Envy byIdaho Spud3 months ago (0 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
I'm glad to hear 15th Ave E. is being good to you, but I still miss you, Envy. :-)
RE: Miss you, Envy byEnvyOwner3 months ago (0 votes) (report abuse)
Thanks, Spud! You should come by and see the new store on Thursday 6-9pm during the Cap Hill Art Walk. Free cupcakes and beer and music! :)
Cortona Coffee now open byBud E Boy3 months ago (1 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
I've never heard of Mars Hill before and frankly I don't give a flying crap.
I give a flying crap only about the coffee, the service, and the atmosphere.
Cortona bybeenaroundawhile3 months ago (0 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
being open minded means accepting people that you may or may not agree with.

everything is not about what is salient to ourselves-
I am just happy they had the courage to open a business and try to provide a service that the neighborhood needs-

wait to write someone off until they offend you--none of us have ESP.
Pastor byJen2 months ago (1 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
The owner is a pastor of Mars Hill as indicated by his Twitter account on July 26th. It's one thing to be a member of a church that has certain beliefs but to be a pastor would indicate a relatively serious commitment to the ideals of the church. Personally, I'd rather make Folgers coffee at home. I don't need expensive coffee to the point where I will patronize a business / owner who are deadset against my family and my friends. One can justify one's purchase however one likes, but I will justify my opposition to the place as well.
How about this analogy? byT Scott2 months ago (1 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
I can't say I agree with some of the comments that came out of Jeremiah Wright's mouth. Did I vote for Obama? Hell yes. And I resented the guilt by association that happened with that issue. I won't do it myself now. I don't care for Driscoll's sermons, but I'm going to frequent Cortona.
RE: How about this analogy? byNotReallyAnAnalogy2 months ago (2 votes) (report abuse)
How is it an analogy to compare the Wright/Obama fiasco to this? For it to be a relevant analogy, you would have needed to vote for Obama after the news came out that HE made those statements, not his pastor. Or you'd have to be going to Jeremiah Wright's coffee shop after learning that news. But to say voting for Obama after his pastor said some really, really stupid racist shit is the same as buying coffee from the guy who says some really, really stupid misogynistic and homophobic shit just shows ignorance. That being said, enjoy your coffee! :)
RE: How about this analogy? byT Scott2 months ago (0 votes) (report abuse)
Thanks for pointing out my ignorance. I see now that guilt-by-association has nothing to do with this topic. Now please direct me to the "really, really stupid misogynistic and homophobic shit" that this owner / pastor has said. Or are you assuming he has said these things because of this association with that church?
Cortona Review byLFC1 month ago (0 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
I was so looking forward to trying out this new place and was really disappointed. The place is clean and fixed up but the beverages were mediocre. Hey folks - it's all in the execution. We can have local, corporate or whomever owning a place but if the main item for sale does not measure up, it won't make it as a business. The Chai Tea I had this past week, was watered down and weak. The latte my dining partner had was not up to snuff (and served in a wet cup). I so want our neighborhood to have these services but I won't patronize a place with a poor product. One more chance to get it right.
Add Your Comment
Name:
Email:
(will not be displayed)
Subject:
Comment: