Cafe Bambino

Specialties

We are proud to be the only coffee-​shop in Seattle to serve Berardo espresso from Italy. It is the best coffee that we’ve ever tasted, thanks to the efforts of artisans who have years of experience with roasting coffee. Located just outside of Rome, Berardo hand-​roasts its coffee beans in small batches over wood fires, and hazelnut shells are added to the fire to add a unique, nutty flavor to the beans.

All of our baristas have been trained and educated on how to extract this unique espresso to give you an exquisite espresso experience.

History

Established in 1937.

In 1902, Ballard was a sleepy village where the hardy, yet caffeine-​deprived townspeople delighted in uprooting trees and leaving them to rot in the salmon-​choked streams. That year, Lombardo Refrigiari arrived with coffee beans from his native Italy sewn into his underwear. He steeped the underwear in boiling water, and a coffee culture was born. People came from as far away as Crown Hill to partake in breve, or the waters from his briefs. He left as mysteriously as he arrived, some say to found a half-​calf, double shot ranch in Wyoming.

On the site of the present-​day Bambino, matriarch Zerbina Camlo told fortunes while her sons drank coffee and picked the pockets of the locals whose fortunes never improved, but who kept returning to drink dark cups of an early version of Americano called Territorio.

Meet the Business Owner

Aldo R.

Business Owner

Aldo Refrigiari, the self-​proclaimed «Coffee Cup Champion of Genoa,» came to Ballard from his native Italy with a simple, lasting dream. He wanted to open the best coffeeshop in the world, AND carry more coffee cups on one hand than anyone in the world had ever dreamed of carrying. He named his simple shop after his first-​born son, who was known by the nickname that he received at birth: The Big Bambino. Aldo served lots of coffee and broke many cups and set many world records until passing away at the age of 79, when all of the burns finally caught up with him.