Roastery’s Complexity Still Challenges

4/13/18 First Covenant Church

When we planned our sketch outing at the Starbucks Roastery and Tasting Room, it was impossible to know if the weather would allow us to sketch outdoors, too. Our dry-weather contingency plan was Plymouth Pillars Park and the First Covenant Church, both within a block of the Roastery.

4/13/18 One of the Roastery's several tasting bars

Rain was in the forecast, and it was already spitting when I got off the bus. Since I had arrived a little early, I ducked under an overhang across the street from the church and grabbed a quick sketch of that beautiful golden cupola before the rain got worse. And worsen it did, so I gave up my plan of grabbing the pillars, too.

I spent the rest of the morning inside the Roastery enjoying my Costa Rican pour-over and marveling as I always do at all there is to see there. As many times as USk Seattle has visited the Roastery (most recently just about a year ago), I haven’t yet tired of the complex, overwhelming interior of warm copper colors, snaking pipes and tubes and people everywhere.

4/13/18 Interesting lines, shapes and contrasts all around

Our turnout today was triple what it was a year ago at the same location!

Roastery Still Dazzles

3/24/17 Starbucks Roastery

I think today was my fifth time in two years visiting the Starbucks Roastery and Tasting Room, all but once with USk Seattle. You’d think by now that I’d be done with it, but it is filled with so many amazing and challenging things to sketch that I remain dazzled. I may do my share of eye-rolling at the marketing copy – “Zesty lime citrus notes and brown spice accents with a chocolaty mouthfeel” is the description of my cup of Costa Rica Bella Vista F.W. Tres Rios – and my rolling eyes may pop out of their sockets when I see how much I paid for that cup, but I can sit just about anywhere and find something interesting to draw.

3/24/17 First Covenant Church

For a Friday morning, the place was mobbed and noisy, and I think we lost one or two sketchers because of that. I generally don’t like loud music and crowds either, but once I decide on a view to sketch, I get lost in drawing and hardly notice the buzz around me. The enormous copper vat with the Reserve logo was a popular spot for selfies.

Finished with that sketch, I got up to look around for the next one when something rare and astonishing caught my eye – the sun! I grabbed my coat and dashed outside for the view I was hoping to catch – the domed top of the First Covenant Church just up Pike from the Roastery.

The sun stayed out long enough for us to take a group photo outside the Roastery, but by the time I caught my bus ride home, it was pouring again.

Welcome to Roxanne (second from right), a visitor who
sketches with Urban Sketchers in North Carolina!