Cafe Hagen

Cafe Hagen is a cafe inspired by Scandinavia, which is considered one of the happiest places on Earth. This cafe is no exception – it has a calming atmosphere, filled with large windows to allow in the natural sunlight and features lots a greenery. They have two locations in Seattle – South Lake Union and Queen Anne. There menu online does not reflect all of their offerings and may change depending on the day you go – the weekends they offer a brunch board that is not shown online.

We ordered a number of items – let’s start with the drinks. We got their Cappuccino, Espresso Flight and Mocha Flight. The Espresso Flight is not shown on their menu, but you can order it. It comes with 3 different coffee roasts and a sparkling water for a palate cleanser. Ours came with an El Salvador Roast, Mexico + Ethiopian Blend (called Lux which is their house blend), and an Ethiopian Roast. I personally am not the biggest fan of straight espresso so I found these bitter and acidic, but if you love espresso definitely get this flight – all 3 had different and distinct flavor profiles. If you gravitate more towards espresso drinks – the Mocha Flight is for you. This is also not on their menut, but it is essentially a deconstructed mocha (espresso shot, steamed milk, and chocolate pieces). It also comes with a glass of an actual mocha made by them. This was a fun concept – just make sure to mix your deconstructed mocha immediately or the espresso will cool off too much to melt the chocolate (happened to me with all the pictures I was taking).

Now to the food! Like I mentioned above, they offer a Brunch Board on the weekends that comes with a bunch of small plates. The board features scrambled eggs, cheese, grapefruit with honey, toast, avocado, sausage (or bacon), and a waffle with their seasonal housemade jam + whipped cream and berries. The board was delicious and so fun to have a taste of everything. Their waffles was probably my favorites. It was light and you could taste the cinnamon in the waffle. The topping was outrageously delicious too – I could eat that with a spoon all day by itself. The board comes with so much food you can definitely share it. We also ordered their Healthy Breakfast Skillet with Sausage. It was filled with onions and tomatoes and came with eggs , topped with fresh arugula and served with a side of toast. This dish tasted pretty good, although the menu states that it comes with runny eggs and these were a tad overcooked and fully set. It still had a great flavor, but would have been even better if the eggs had in fact been runny.

Overall this place was fun to check out for their unique coffee experience and their board. It is worth noting that this place is pretty expensive – our bill was around $70 (without tax or tip) for breakfast, which is a bit steep for a cafe. There are a few things I would definitely change – for example if the brunch board was served with soft boiled eggs vs scrambled eggs it would be much better. The eggs were a bit reminiscent of cafeteria eggs. The brunch board costs $20, the skillet was $17 + $2 for the addition of sausage. As for the drinks – the cappuccino was $4.25, the espresso flight was $13, and the mocha flight was also $13. Is it fun and different, yes. Will I go back, also yes. But will it be a regular place I add to my rotation – probably not. I would suggest going with a friend or two and splitting a board or grab a coffee and pastry (a regular drink they offer, not the flights as those are at least double in price). They do offer a selection of pastries at the counter. They also have breakfast items that are not as costly such as their yogurt ($8), breakfast bun ($8.50), overnight breakfast oats ($8), and their waffle ($9). I do recommend going there and trying their coffee flights and their brunch board, just know that you will spend a bit more than grabbing a more basic coffee and pastry.

Although they may not have the most updated menu online, you can click here to see their locations, hours, and more!