No ordinary coffee shop
High atop the Queen Anne hill and under the shadow of the city’s most visible crane, a new coffee shop opened its doors for the first time over the weekend. This is no ordinary coffee shop, however. Café Hagen is a bakery, a restaurant, a coffee roaster and more.
Hygge is the Danish concept of creating a warm atmosphere to enjoy good things with good people, and that is exactly what Café Hagen strives to do, owner Maria Beck said, adding she wants to provide a special atmosphere with the greatest people and the greatest food.
“You will feel special when you come to see us,” she said.
Café Hagen (2128 Queen Anne Ave. N.) is currently open daily from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., serving coffee, tea, breakfast and lunch; dinner and cocktails are coming soon. The bakery offers fresh baked goods, breakfast sandwiches and lunch items ranging from $9-17. The signature Café Hagen brunch is a traditional Scandinavian-style brunch priced at $21. and includes a little bit of everything: a Danish waffle with seasonal jam and whipped cream, craft cheese, avocado, house-baked bread and butter, scrambled eggs and choice of bacon, sausage or mushrooms.
Lunch items include a range of sandwiches on house baked breads and salads with organic produce. The pastries and baked goods are all made from scratch, including the handcrafted syrups that serve to keep the cakes moist. When the liquor license is finalized, Café Hagen will remain open until 8 p.m. most evenings and 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday with the restaurant converted to a full sit-down service so that the cocktails and entrees can be presented in the best way, Beck said.
Beck is originally from Denmark, and the Café Hagen name is a nod to the city of Copenhagen. She said she opened the restaurant because she missed the flavors she was used to from home and wanted to introduce them to other people.
Beck and her husband, Jan, moved to Seattle 12 years ago to establish an American presence for his pharmaceutical company. Since then, they have made their home in Queen Anne with their two children, Christian, 11, and Amelia, 10.
In 2016, Beck said she was looking for a change. Living in Seattle, she thought, “Why not coffee?” She opened her first shop — Java Bean in Ballard. As she got to know the ins and outs of running a business in Seattle, she developed her own ideas about how a company should be run.
“To make the right choices, you should be a provider,” Beck said.
This is how Beck put her years as a business strategy consultant to work in the service industry.
“The more you learn, the more you want to share and bring awareness to your customers,” she said.
In addition to Java Bean, she now operates Venture Coffee Company, three Café Hagen locations and Freya — the Scandinavian bakery at Pike Place Market that makes all of the bread and baked goods for the shops.
“Our day doesn’t stop,” she said. “Everything is connected.”
Beck said she faces the regular challenges of finding people to cover all of the shifts but also the more important challenges of sharing her sources, supporting her farmers and showing her customers why quality goods cost what they do. For example, a cup of coffee starts at $4, and staff can tell customers what kind of coffee it is, what region it was grown, the altitude of the farm, the flavor notes of the bean and the coffee-roasting process that includes 36 hours of cherry pre-fermentation followed by 48 hours of pulping. Beck said she prides herself on the quality of her very simple ingredients.
“I like the simplicity that we have: the right ingredients, black coffee, butter, simple things that help you start your day in a good way,” she said.
The simplicity of the menu is echoed in the simplicity of the store’s design. Many people are familiar with the Scandinavian design concept of minimalism but may not know is that each element that is included is there for a specific purpose. Café Hagen strives for an elegant and harmonious environment, Beck said.
There are no harsh corners. The materials and color scheme are derived from nature: marble countertops, leather furniture, hard wood accents and flooring that were refinished three times. There are plenty of windows to incorporate the outdoors and natural light and a lot of healthy plants to reinforce that connection to nature.
Beck knows that it takes the right people to create a warm atmosphere and a future for the business. She has two employees that have been with her since the first shop opened in Ballard, and she said she’s grateful for the opportunity to work with amazing people that have come to feel like family.
“Danish people are the happiest people in the world, and we want to promote positivity and harmony,” Beck said. “Small things matter. Wonderful coffee can make your day!”