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Juan Valdez and his Water Proof Burro In Seattle
This weekend I tried a new coffee shop over in Seattle. Now Seattle is the land of many many coffee shops and just a new one is not much news except this one. A Juan Valdez Cafe just opened at the near the corner of Pike street at 5th Avenue in Seattle. Now this is owned By The National Federation of Coffee Growers of Columbia and they are setting up shop in Starbucks home town of Seattle. It is a way of laying the smack down to Starbucks on their home turf. It is a little cool how there is an English language section on their site but t here is no translated content.
You know Juan Valdez is a bit like Santa Claus, there is no one guy who is Juan but in a way there is a little bit of Juan Valdez in all of us. It makes sense that the only commercial advertising coffee brand that comes close to Starbucks for name recognition is Juan Valdez. The Colombian coffee growers groups have had their own chain of cafes to counter Starbucks and in this age of globalization there is nothing from stopping them from coming here to Seattle and show us how they roast and brew south of the equator. There is a Juan Valdez Cafe in Washington DC and New York City and it sort of makes sense to have their third US store in Seattle. I mean Starbucks has the guts to go to all over the world and sell coffee then there is no reason why Juan Valdez can't come and pour some nice roasted shots of java here in the Emerald City.
The store is really modern looking and is pretty classy. It stands out compared to the somewhat grungy Seattle Coffee scene. They really know how to brew a good cup of coffee. I had an Espresso Cubano to start things off. It is a shot of espresso with a spoonful of brown sugar in a small cup. It was damn good and I can't think of anything better if you are hungover from to many Cuba Libres. I finished it off with a Espresso Dopio that is a shot of Joe with foam and it was one of the best damn cup of coffee that I have had in my entire life. The prices were good and they had these little butter cookies on the plate with the cup. It was so good that I got a t-shirt and a bag of roasted coffee beans to enjoy at home. The free Wifi was an added bonus.
As a firm believer in capitalism I think competition can be a very good thing and I hope that they open Juan Valdez Cafes all over the place and give Starbucks a real run for their money. Hell we just hosted the espresso championships and a Dane won it.
Jake at April 19, 2005 
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Comments
Been to the Juan Valdez in Washington DC and it was a pleasant experience. I wish they would open in Honolulu. We need more alternatives to Starbucks.
Posted by: Randy at April 19, 2005 8:46 AM
juan valdez is the best cafe, because is made of the best coffe in the world.
and we will see it on a few years this cafe as a monster never mind before.
colombia!
Posted by: federico otero at October 6, 2005 6:24 AM
I love Colombian coffee! How can I get information in opening a Juan Valdez store in NJ?
Posted by: Maria Zuffanti at November 18, 2005 5:31 PM
INFORMATION ABOUTH OPENING JUAN VALDEZ STORE IN QUEENS NY.THANK YOU..........
Posted by: CARLOS ALARCON at March 3, 2006 4:14 PM
hi, im from colombia,the colombian coffe is the best around the world, the juan valdez stores mmm cool,
it like the moka coffe...
Posted by: Andres Herrera at July 16, 2006 2:42 PM
I would like to know how to open a Juan Valdez Coffee shop in New Jersey.
Im Colombian and I know how good its the Colombian coffee..Thanks..
Posted by: Julio Aguirre at March 24, 2007 10:56 AM
