Our new friends at CakeSpy have written a wonderful review of the Wallingford, Seattle neighborhood's bakeries and were kind enough to include Zoka! You will find the article below, but be sure to check out www.cakespy.com for a special treat (pun intended).

Zoka Coffee: The pastry case here is an absolute feast for the eyes, overflowing with deep-dish pies in flavors from a vaguely virtuous blueberry to an absolutely sinful chocolate peanut butter; cookies ranging from vegan thumbprints to dense chocolate truffle cookies, to the decadent "Zoka Bar"-- a multilayer confection of coconut, chocolate, butterscotch and walnuts cradled on a graham cracker crust (reminiscent of the Magic Cookie bar from Magnolia Bakery, or the Bakedbar of Brooklyn). We love it all, and everything (except for a few bread items like bagels) is made in-house at their own commercial bakery. Sweet. A few different locations, but we visited 2200 N. 56th St.; online at zokacoffee.com.

It's always great to read reviews about our customers, and their experience with Zoka's coffee and tea. Katrina at The Tea Pages sent us this great review of one of our customers, Cafe Aiello, who serves Zoka Coffee and Tea. If you have the chance, check out the blog or visit Teapages.net and gain some wonderful knowledge. Congratulations to Cafe Aiello, and thank you Katrina!

Katrinas post starts here:

What a find. I am always thrilled to find new tea locations that aren't too far from home. I've driven by Cafe Aiello (30 Gorham Street, Lowell), which opened in 2006, so many times and never stopped in. It's not in the easiest location - on a busy corner with very few parking spots. A local moms' group I occasionally attend had been going there over the winter so I'd been meaning to stop by. According to the press release, the two owners are former Starbucks managers who sought to open a coffee house that uses hand roasted beans and shuns automatic coffee machines.

Widge at Needcoffee.com sent us this amazing compliment of a writeup just the other day, and we thought it would be best to share it with everyone. We visited the Great American Dessert Experience Expo last month, and met many interesting people and had the chance to taste many excellent desserts. Widge was one of the many folks who passed by our display, and stopped to chat with us for a short time. This is what he had to say:

"The best coffee we had while we were there was from Zoka, a coffee roaster/retailer/wholesaler out of Seattle. They made us macchiatos in the booth and they were damn fine. But even moreso than that, these guys facilitate the opening of independent coffee stores. They can hook you up with barista training, equipment, and of course, coffee. And they have a focus on comfy atmosphere, as made evident by their booth, which was one of the most professional looking there. And the most inviting. We could use these guys in the Atlanta area, they're welcome back anytime."

Congratulations to Zoka's own Maki Campbell who won 2nd place with a skillful and polished performance at this year's Northwest Regional Barista Competition! In only her third competition, Maki stood out amid the field of competitors with her precision, speed and creativity. After a fifth place finish at last year's Northwest Regional and advancing through the first round of fifty competitors at the last US Barista Championship, Maki felt she could do better and set out to refine the various skill sets required in the craft of espresso preparation.

During the competition, each barista is given fifteen minutes to serve 12 drinks (4 espressos, 4 cappuccinos, 4 espresso based signature drinks created by the barista) to a panel of four sensory judges and one head judge. Throughout the performance, two technical judges score a barista on their technical competency. The winner of each regional competition is assured a spot in the semi-finals of the US Barista Championship and the winner of the USBC goes on to represent the US at the World Barista Championship.

A dedicated professional, Maki spent hours behind the espresso machine fine tuning her technique and polishing her routine. From minimizing waste to velvet cappuccino foam, from her knowledge and description of the espresso to her elegant table setting, Maki left no area of her performance untouched. And when it came time to perform, the countless hours of hard work paid off. The espresso poured beautifully and she served some of the best cappuccinos she has ever made.

Not only can Maki boast some of the best cappuccinos in the region, she is always pushing the envelope with creative and delicious signature drinks. This year's drink was called "Onyx". An espresso based drink, Onyx contains a homemade black soy bean syrup, nutmeg, cinnamon, a pinch of sea salt, and a touch of heavy whipping cream. Maki wanted to create a drink that was simple, healthy, and amazing. After a lot of experimenting in the kitchen and taste testing along the way by coworkers, Onyx was born. Black beans contain antioxidants as well as other healthful properties and Maki appreciated the connection of using two beans, black and coffee, to tie her drink together. (As a side note, not only did Maki create a tasty black bean syrup for her drink, she now has lots of yummy recipes for the cooked black beans that were a byproduct of the syrup!)

Maki loves being a barista because it is an art form which gives the artist immediate feedback. She loves to see the smiles and appreciation of those to whom she serves her espresso beverages. So stop by University Zoka and let Maki "wow" you with an espresso or one of her amazing capps!

p.s. Maki says thanks to the staff at Zoka for their enduring support.

Monster Fueled by Caffeine
featured in Wired Magazine
written by Leander Kahney

SAN FRANCISCO -- Delicious Monster is the Mac software company behind the hit Delicious Library, a program for cataloging collections of books, movies and games. The software is selling like hot cakes and has garnered rave reviews and awards, yet the company's headquarters is a Seattle coffee house.

Co-founded by graphic designer Mike Matas and programmer Wil Shipley, the company's first title, Delicious Library, was launched in November 2004. It generated $250,000 worth of sales in its first month, and the company has a crowded, popular booth here at Macworld.

But its four main employees meet every day at the popular Zoka coffee shop in Seattle's university district.

"It's cheap rent and a fun environment," said Matas. "We go down there every day with our laptops and work. It's an incredible place. They have two or three of the top baristas in the country (the awards are on the wall). We pay our rent by buying coffee.... They love us. We're some of their best customers."

NOTE:
The Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda should really be called a "drawing" for the winner. A half pound of this amazing coffee is valued at $75.00!!

Seattle, Wash. U.S.A. (Sept. 4, 2007) - Seattle-Based Zoka Coffee Roaster & Tea Company has opened its third coffeehouse in Snoqualmie and will celebrate with a grand opening event September 7- 9, 2007. The event will feature coffee from La Esmeralda, which set a world record at auction in May, when Zoka paid $130 a pound. La Esmeralda will be brewed one cup at a time on the unique Clover brewing machine, and this extraordinary coffee can be enjoyed while you visit with the farmer. Rachel Peterson, from La Esmeralda in Panama, will be on hand to talk about her family's coffee.

The grand opening activities also include:

By Melissa Allison and Monica Soto Ouchi
Seattle Times business reporters

Howard Schultz wasn't the only entrepreneur inspired by the Starbucks of old, a retailer begun in 1971 by three men determined to bring high-quality coffee beans to Seattle.

Schultz ultimately led a group of investors to buy Starbucks, then turned it into a publicly traded powerhouse that aspires to have 40,000 stores worldwide.

Another early Starbucks acolyte, Jeff Babcock, took a different path and now owns a decade-old Seattle chain called Zoka Coffee Roaster & Tea that is gearing up for expansion.

Seattle, Wash. U.S.A. (May 28 2007) - Vice President of Seattle-Based Zoka Coffee Roaster & Tea Company, Tracy Allen, possesses exceptional taste buds, according to the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA). Allen passed a rigorous "sensory skills test" administered by the trade association, scoring high enough to receive the designation of Super Taster.

According the Joseph Rivera, Director of Science and Technology for SCAA, only about 20% of the population have taste buds talented enough to qualify as Super Tasters, and only a small percentage of those score as high as Allen. "He definitely qualifies as a Super Taster among Super Tasters," said Rivera.

Hey everyone, as you can tell the site is up and running again.

You may have read over the past few weeks (if you have been checking the site), that our webhost went down and took our site with it. So, for the last month we've been exhausting all of our efforts to get the site back to the way you've come to love it, with a few improvements to boot (added security features, enterprise-class servers, and more content - to name a few).

We have received many phone calls from our loyal customers asking when they can order their favorite coffee online again, and our wonderful sales staff has been ceaselessly working to fulfill all of your requests offline until today. Now you can continue to order your coffee with us just as you have in the past, online. Easy and convenient.

Thank you to all of our customers who have been patient with us through this turbulent time, we at Zoka appreciate your understanding and compassion during one of our most chaotic moments. We will be unveiling new features to our site in the near future- added usability, more coffee education and information, as well as some interesting multimedia. Keep an eye out for all the exciting new stuff!