William Dean

Trabant uses Intelligentsia coffee. Intelligentsia coffee is direct trade and that seems to make all the difference. The nonfat iced latte they make contains virtually none of the sharp, bitter taste that causes most of us coffee drinkers to avoid nonfat milk, though we know it’s better for us. The iced mochas here are unrivalled, as well. I haven’t yet had more “pure” coffee drinks here, but I’m guessing they’d be outstanding, because the coffee is clearly top-notch.

Trabant’s interior reminds me of Bauhaus’. Lots of metal and glass. They have a couple of first-generation iMacs which are free for customers to use for Internet browsing, within reason. The staff are generally very friendly. I like how they ask if I’m “in the computer.”

I’ve discovered Trabant only recently, but it’s already one of my top five favorite coffee places in the city. And the coffee itself might well be the best in Seattle (though it’s from Chicago, not Seattle). I need to take some Intelligentsia home and put it through its paces to be sure.

I stayed in Salamanca for the first month of a three-month intensive Spanish program (don Quijote). My host family consisted of a near-elderly mama and her two daughters. They fed me hearty food; I call Salamanca “the Iowa of Spain.” They (like the rest of the Salmantinos I met) were friendly, if rather reserved, and very proud of their Castillian heritage. The city architecture is wonderful, and the education in Castillian is exceptional – they really do speak the purest Castillian Spanish of any region I visited.

How Salamanca really changed my life, however, was in the optional wine tasting class I took while there. I knew nothing about wine before I went to Spain. But that class started me on Sangre de Toro and Tempranillo. Now I appreciate all sorts of wine from all over the world.