Just this week I was able to catch up with an old co-worker friend of mine Andrea Florissi, who I worked with for a number of years left his role as a Senior Project Manager to open a cafe. The last few months have been amazing to see and a delight to hear the story of how Andrea took his time in this venture of a lifetime and his dedication to doing it right now shows!
Andrea told me it took so much longer to find the location the he realized. One spot that he thought was ideal took a very long time and ultimately didn’t work our. Now he has the newest cafe in South Lake Union, just a few blocks from REI, this could be one of the hottest areas in Seattle, and a great place to start a cafe.
While I visited when the cafe was still under construction, Andrea mentioned to me the special drink that they would offer to make the unique in the city of Seattle. Needless to say it sounded like the Italian version of voodoo and I was not a believer, especially since my favorite coffee shop is on block away.
So after stopping in to say hi a few days ago, I turned to the employees working that day and yell, “Alright hook me up with that secret drink!” which is called Bicerin. The drink was described to me as a mix of Italian hot chocolate, coffee and cream. I took one sip and it changed my life. My favorite speciality coffee drink in Seattle has been a Vivace Mocha. Generally I do not drink Mochas but the richness and bitterness at Vivace has made it my favorite drink for almost fifteen year. Vivace has competition, the chocolate in the drink hangs on in an amazing way, needless to say I was blown away. Only later did I find out that they use Theos Chocolate for the drink…amazing.
So if you want to try something new on the Seattle coffee scene go check out Andrea and Cafe Torino. The food looked great and they have free wireless, so it has now become my shop for meetings in that area of Seattle. Andrea did things the right way, and I hope you get to enjoy it! Check them out on facebook too.
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