Fresh from the SF Bay Area — and a rejuvenating night stay at the Best Western Sky Valley Inn — snowboarding siblings Ally and Cameron make a beeline to nearby Paesano’s Coffee & Café in their home-away-from-home base camp of Monroe, WA to fuel up before hitting the slopes.
They’re snow-bound for Vail-owned Stevens Pass Ski Resort, under an hour away up U.S. Route 2, in Washington’s majestic Cascade Mountains.
But, first things first!
Vegan pumpkin chai and white chocolate Americano, with a side of the classics: a cinnamon roll and chocolate chip cookie…coming right up!
During their visit last winter, they discovered the wonders of this friendly neighborhood fixture at 14655 Fryelands Blvd. SE, facing Lake Tye Park. They absolutely fell in love with the festive atmosphere, warm service, latte art, and creative assortment of tempting treats: white chocolate cranberry and chocolate peppermint cake pops in the shape of Christmas stockings and Christmas trees, eggnog bread and gingerbread, house-made pumpkin chai and cappuccino, all-day sammies, and so much more.
Owners Russ and Ann Tarleton take very good care of their coffee and their customers — and it shows. They’re eight-plus-year veterans in the retail coffee business, offering three locations to the public: the Café in the Fryelands District, a coffee stand at the east end of Monroe right on US Route 2, and in downtown Everett, and they’re always thinking of ways to perk up the mood. It’s all in the family — their daughters served as baristas in the past, owning several of their own coffee stands.
While sipping, nibbling, chatting, and people-watching, the brother-and-sister duo couldn’t help but notice even more to love about Paesano’s Coffee & Café: lots of regulars — moms towing kids, college students peering over humming laptops, business types meeting over the next big deal — and curious out-of-towners like them, savoring precious moments in the hustle and bustle of the everyday and the extraordinary… a neat little gift section, featuring hand-poured, small-batch soy candles in Georgia Peach and Limoncello scents from Snohomish, WA’s Little Barn Candle Co., bags of freshly roasted, locally ground, aromatic coffee, house-made chai in mason jars, top-shelf souvenir mugs to brew it all in…and oh!, is that a double chocolate peppermint muffin top?
Next time!