It's time for a double feature!

Come out for an outdoor movie screening at the Bakke Coffee Museum! We are proud to be presenting a double feature of two very special films, one celebrating Seattle's unique history as an iconic coffee city, and one documenting three women's brave sail across the Atlantic. Although different, both films are about things that make Seattle the city we love — coffee and the maritime world.

You've probably never heard of this short film, "The Addict", created in 1992 by Matt Thomas Draper. Although brief, the movie is packed with great footage of the Seattle scene in the 1990s. If you have lived in Seattle a long time, you might recognize landmarks and coffee stands that are now long gone. And some that are still here! Shot in moody black and white, this film packs a lot of coffee drama into less than 15 minutes. Although little known, it is an important document of Seattle's coffee history. And it has a great original jazz score!

Our feature presentation is a screening of the documentary film "Women and the Wind", now on its world premiere tour. The film follows the journey of three young women as they cross the North Atlantic on a fifty-year-old catamaran. At the heart of the film is the call of the ocean — calling out to the longing for adventure and wildness that is inside of each of us, waiting to be awakened. The movie is about the search for self, and for nature, putting aside fear and practicality to find a deeper connection with both of these things. It is also about the ever-increasing amounts of plastic in the ocean, which is a constantly growing threat to all living things. Watch the official trailer here.

The event is free! But please RSVP through our events page / brown paper tickets since space is limited.

At the event we will be taking donations and raising money for SeaStr PNW, specifically for their scholarship program. SeaStr's mission is to make the maritime world more accessible to people who have historically been excluded, due to sex, color, race and economic status. This means getting people on boats and in the water, both for fun and for work, as well as helping people get the expensive equipment required for so many ocean activities. Through this work more people can connect and engage with nature, and through new experiences gain more confidence to believe in themselves and lift up others. SeaStr's scholarships are helping more people make the jump into maritime jobs and education, that would otherwise be out of reach. Learn more about SeaStr's mission here!

The museum will be open to the public before the screening, starting at 7pm. Learn more on our events page. The screening will start at dusk. We hope you will be able to join us for our first movie night!

At the Bakke Coffee Museum, the search for the history of coffee never ends...

The Bakke Coffee Museum contains hundreds of vintage espresso machines, and each machine is hiding its own mysteries. Sometimes it is behind a gorgeous chromed exterior, and sometimes it is underneath an apparently boring facade. But there is always something unique and intriguing to be learned from a machine, a variation in the evolution of espresso machine technology that has something to contribute to the larger history of espresso.

Kent's very first espresso machine! On its way to making coffee again after decades on the shelf...

At the museum, it is part of our mission to learn more about the history of espresso through the process of taking the machines apart, restoring them, and hopefully returning them to working order. Even when the project seems straightforward, there are always new things to be learned and unexpected problems. In between major landmarks of espresso development — the portafilter, the lever, the electric pump, the heat exchanger, to name a few — there are infinite variations and approaches to the core of the problem, which is how to make the best espresso possible.

Kent testing out his original machine

As we continue to gather new information through the process of repairing and restoring machines, it is extremely important to collect it in a regimented way, so that in the future we can look back at specific details, and also so we track what changes have been made. Most importantly, we want the information to be stored in a format that will be easily accessible and clearly delineated to people in the future who are interested in the history of espresso machines, and maybe even taking care of the machines in the Bakke Collection.

We are so grateful to have as a partner and fellow investigator the team at CYA Cover Your Assets. Most of the clients of CYA are large commercial operations managing thousands of machines, usually hundreds of the same model. At the museum we have the opposite problem, with hundreds of machines that are all completely unique. But CYA has helped us adapt their information database to catalogue the machines in the Bakke Collection, and keep track of all the information associated with them. And perhaps even more importantly, the CYA folks have shared with us a passion for the history of coffee that has resulted in inspiring conversations and dreams for how we can better share all of the important information we are gathering with people in the future!

Read this article to learn more about what we are working on here at the Bakke Museum, and how the CYA group is helping us work toward accomplishing our goals, one of which is eventually having a searchable database accessible through our website.

Thank you CYA!

Coffee Traditions in Swedish Culture - Fika!

All over the world, coffee rituals are deeply entwined with everyday life. Whether you are in Vietnam, France, or Cuba, drinking coffee is part of the daily routine. Often this involves a brief pause from work. (Even if you are Italian, throwing back your espresso while standing at the bar!) On April 19th the Bakke Coffee Museum will celebrate the Swedish coffee break tradition of Fika, which has long been essential to daily patterns of life in that northern country. At least once a day, more often twice, Swedish people pause from their jobs and studies to enjoy not only coffee, but also small treats and good conversation.

This time set aside to fika, or to have a fika has been going on pretty much as long as Swedish people have been drinking coffee, which is hundreds of years. The fika was especially important for rural communities, presenting a chance to pause from a long day's work. Many of these more out of the way places developed their own special fika traditions over time. One such place is the island of Uvlön, part of the Swedish archipelago in the Gulf of Bothnia.

A postcard from picturesque Uvlön

The island of Uvlön has been an important fishing location since the 1500s. It is especially known for the fishing and fermentation of herring, producing the smelly delicacy called surströmming. This part of Sweden, along the northern part of the coastline, is sparsely inhabited. Uvlön is one of the larger communities, with a population of 40. All of the homes are situated along the edge of the coastline, and in front of each home is a boathouse, where the fishing boat is housed and the work of processing the fish is done.

On Uvlön the fika is part of the ever-repeated pattern of fishing, returning, and processing the caught fish. Historically, the fishermen set out their herring nets in the evening. Then the next day, they left early in the morning to pull in their catch. In the middle of the day, or early afternoon, the women of the community would go down to the dock of their boathouse to meet their boat as it came back. After years of repeating this work, the fisherwomen, the Uvlögumman, knew just when to expect the fishermen. After the boat was tied up, the fish were unloaded and cleaned. Then there was always a break for fika. Neighbors and family would gather together to share coffee and a traditional snack, such as an open-face sandwich or sometimes sweet rolls or cookies. Almost always there would be someone playing music on a guitar or accordion. On Uvlön the Fika has long been an important time to enjoy each others' company, to take pleasure in life, and a break from hard work. And it still is!

Inside the old church on Uvlön, where during the winter the fishermen would store their nets

The coffee shared at fika in a place like Uvlön was usually boiled or made in a percolator. It was served piping hot, in a cup with a saucer. The saucer was an essential tool for drinking the coffee. Impatient for their coffee to cool down, drinkers often poured some out of their cups onto the flat surface of the saucer to help the coffee cool faster. Then they would place a cube of sugar between their teeth and suck the coffee down through it. A sweet, delicious, long-awaited first sip for the eager drinker! So if you want to have Fika the traditional way, you must have a coffee cup with a saucer, and some lumps of sugar.

Sweden also has a long tradition of wood carving. Many people are familiar with the traditional Dala horses, which are often beautifully painted with intricate designs. In Uvlön, carvings are often made of the fisherwoman, Uvlögumman, since her figure, wrapped in a cloak against the cold wind, waiting for the boat to return, is so emblematic of the place. To celebrate this unique cultural tradition we have two hand-carved Uvlögumman to give away at our April Fika.

We hope you can join us on Saturday, April 19th, from 11am to 2pm, for community, coffee and celebrating the tradition of Fika! Please RSVP here to help us prepare. We look forward to meeting you and hosting you at the Bakke Coffee Museum!

RSVP here to join us for Fika!