About

I’m Danni, a Seattle native, medical student, and coffee enthusiast. I spend a lot of time studying so I’m always looking for the best places to go. I also like to ski and mountain bike so I tend to visit the coffee shops in the mountains as well as cities. Southwest Brew is directed at coffee shops that are good for studying, so keep this in mind when reading reviews.

What were looking for:

Southwest brew is primarily looking at coffee shops that good for studying. This includes quality espresso, space to sit, comfortable chairs, food to nourish someone to study all day, long hours- especially on the weekend, and other logistics like parking and location.

Each coffee shop is rated on five categories:

Food

Do they serve full meals? Are they good? Do they have anything healthy? Are there only pastries? Are the pastries good looking?

  • 5/5: Full meals that are delicious and filling, lots of menu selection
  • 4/5: Good meals but limited selection or large selection but tastes bad
  • 3/5: Delicious looking pastries that are bakery quality
  • 2/5: Pastries only
  • 1/5: No food or random bars, very little

Coffee

Is there espresso? Does it taste good? Are there speciality drinks? This means original espresso drinks that the coffee shop has created on their own using different syrups, types of chocolate, milks, coffees, etc. (ex. lavender latte, creamy coconut latte)

  • 5/5: Coffee shops with lots of speciality drinks
  • 3/5: A standard espresso menu (Americano, latte, mocha, cappuccino, etc.)
  • 1/5: Tea or drip coffee only (no espresso)

Coffee shops will be ranked 1-5 based on what they serve

Comfort

Are there comfy chairs? Are there couches or cushiony chairs? Are all the chairs solid wood or metal and super uncomfortable?

  • 5/5: Cushy chairs and couches
  • 1-4/5: A range of how comfortable the seating is

Study All Day?

This literally means, can you study there all day… if it was open. This is the best rating for those who are trying to study to decide where to go. We’re looking for large areas where people can stake out their space and spend hours getting work done. Best studying includes larger spaces, more comfortable seating, food and coffee to nourish you, not super loud, not being right up next to the barista where they can stare at you and wonder when you’re going to leave, wifi, and long lasting parking.

  • 5/5: I can literally stay there open to close

Overall

It should be noted that the overall rating is NOT the sum of all the other categories, nor is there a formula that makes this up. The overall rating is how we feel about this coffee shop based on everything that it has to offer. Some may have high ratings and not be great for studying if they offer other good attributes. The overall rating is more reflective of if we’re willing to go back and if it stands out compared to the others.

  • 10/10: This place is really special and will definitely be visited again