Ada's Technical Books & Café, Seattle Wash., has announced a soft opening for Ada's Discovery Café, which it describes as a "longterm pop-up," at the Lounge by AT&T at 425 15th Avenue East. On Facebook, Ada's posted: "We've been busy these past couple weeks... so busy in fact that we haven't even had time to talk about WHAT we were busy with! But it's BIG news and we're excited to finally have the time to share more about it with you. Until this year, we weren't sure a second Ada's location would ever be possible, but awhile back we were presented with an opportunity we just couldn't pass up." A grand opening is planned for mid-October.
Noting that they have "fallen in love with the coffee industry," Ada's owners Danielle and David Hulton said "we've envisioned a space that could allow us to truly combine our love of technology and coffee, with more of a 'nod' to our bookstore roots. Ada's Discovery will be our first chance to experiment with this sort of coffee-centric space. We are calling this cafe a 'long-term popup' because we plan to be at this location for a minimum of three years. After that, if it seems to align well with our values and vision, we may continue, or we may choose do something different... it's all part of the experiment!"
Danielle Hulton told GeekWire: "We started as a bookstore, so I am very used to talking to people about skepticism and getting them on board with a really exciting idea that I've had. My background is in tech, so I feel like I know the pace that Seattle is moving. We like to play with what I call 'slow and fast technology' and like to experiment."
Cole McBride, manager of Ada's Discovery Café and winner of the 2018 U.S. Barista Championship, said, "I think it's really cool how [Danielle and David] are incorporating technology into coffee and they're doing things that no one else in the industry is doing. No one else has built one of these, not that I know of, and I've never seen this in my life, which is really cool."