By Stevi Costa

When the Aster Coffee Lounge opened its doors in the street-level retail space of a new condo development at 5615 24th Ave NW in Ballard, owner Beth Scribner said that her neighbors were a little wary, but quickly changed their minds when they realized that an independent coffee house had opened up in a space that could have easily been purchased by a chain retailer.

Snapping up the kind of large retail space chains tend to buy was part of Scribner’s strategy to build a community-focused coffee house in a Ballard neighborhood that’s a little off the main drag of NW Market St. Coffee is a staple of life in Seattle, and Seattleites obviously have myriad options for places to go to get a cup of joe, but most neighborhood coffee shops close at sundown. The Aster offers coffee well into the evening: it opens at 6 a.m. on weekdays (7 a.m. on weekends), and remains open as late as 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

“Part of the strategy was to be open late at night for an alternative to restaurants and bars,” Scribner said. While most coffee houses offer pastries and sandwiches during lunch hours, the Aster diversifies its offerings with a beer and wine menu and light, healthy food items in addition to coffee and pastries so that customers can enjoy something at the coffee house any time of day or night. They also offer freshly-made waffles, for those who want a more substantial breakfast food than the standard coffee-shop pastry.

As for the products themselves, Scribner is proud to be one of only two coffee houses in Seattle that has a Clover coffee brewer. The Aster buys sustainably farmed coffee beans from single-origin roasters like Novo Coffee Roasters and Intelligentsia Coffee. After working in coffee for 9 years, Scribner grew passionate about presenting the public with a product that was high-quality and that provided its growers with a fair wage for their labor. She makes sure that her employees are well-versed in the practices behind the coffee they serve so that they can converse with any customer who is curious about sustainability practices and fair-trade coffee growing.

Scribner also tries to keep her business green, while turning a profit. The Aster minimizes waste by making all their flavoring syrups in-house, as well as their chai tea. In addition to reducing the amount of waste by eliminating excess bottles and cans, it also cuts down on exhaust that would be produced in shipping said products from a warehouse to the Aster. “We try to make as many choices in that vein that are financially possible,” she said.

Originally, Scribner wanted to focus her beer and wine selection on local brewers and vintners, but the cost of serving only Washington state wines became too expensive. She refocused her wine selection on quality wines offered at an affordable per-glass price, with selections from both in- and out-of-state. During the month of March, however, the venue will host three Washington state wine tastings and a Washington cider tasting. The also Aster serves draft beers from Ballard’s Maritime Brewery along with a variety of bottled beer selections.

The Aster Coffee Lounge celebrated its 2nd anniversary on March 1, 2010 and the café’s relationship with the Ballard community has developed organically since its 2008 opening. The lounge-like atmosphere welcomes customers to stay awhile, and also sparked one customer to prompt movie nights at the Aster. Once a month, Tony Kay, a self-proclaimed “scholockologist,” takes over the Aster on a Saturday evening host Bizarro Movie Night, at which he screens a B-movie on the lounge’s projection system while cult-film fans take in the spectacle over the Aster’s selection of baked goods, beer and wine.

“We’re trying to strike the right balance between being a community-focused coffee shop and having events that work for the business,” Scribner said. The Aster also participates in the Ballard Art Walk, which introduces a new crowd to the venue with each artist it features, as well as walk-ins who follow the art walk map. March’s artist of the month focuses on nature photography of Washington state trails, and will donate a portion of the proceeds from the sale of his work to the Washington State Trail Association, which also happens to reflect the Aster Coffee Lounge’s focus on quality, community and environmental practice.