The final stop on my Seattle coffee tour with guide Smoovebcoffee, aka Brett Hanson, was at the charming Slate Coffee in East Ballard, which Lisanne Walker, daughter Chelsey Walker-Watson and coffee roaster/son Keenan Walker run with help from seasoned baristas like Brandon Weaver. We cozied up to the white counter at this humble slate grey building, which sprouted from the success of a coffee-fitted Airstream trailer they called the Slatestream. Walker-Watson and Weaver handed us menus, but Slate is the kind of place where people inherently trust these baristas. After all, the shop just walked away from Coffee Fest with the title of America’s Best Coffehouse. They tasted us on rocks glasses filled with Ethiopian coffee before presenting a menu option I’d never seen before: Deconstructed Espresso & Milk ($4.75).

What Weaver served was a steaming wine glass of espresso from Huila, Colombia, a glass of steamed grass-fed milk from Pure Era, which Walker-Watson discovered at a natural food co-op, and a glass combining both constituent ingredients. It was interesting to go through this educational process. Of course it helped that the beverages tasted good, and that they served the espresso & milk with a slice of chocolate covered orange peel from Chinatown’s Fuji Bakery, which wasn’t very sweet and complemented the concoction with alternating sips and bites. The Slaters were warm and welcoming, I had a novel specialty coffee experience, and I would have gladly sat longer at the counter, if time allowed.