Two months into its life on Madison and 12th in Capitol Hill, Nudibranch Coffee is already doing something Seattle has never quite seen: a Thai-inspired coffee shop built on community, ethical sourcing, and a deeply personal sense of welcome. Owner Emily Sirisup, a 24-year-old lifelong barista and Seattle native, opened the shop with her partner Cole after a Kickstarter campaign brought her vision to life. Drawing on her Thai American heritage and memories of visiting family in Thailand, Emily built Nudibranch as both a coffee shop and a third place.
You’ve been a barista your whole career. What finally pushed you to open your own place?
I’ve been in coffee my whole entire life, so it’s always been a goal of mine. And I think growing up as a Thai American in Seattle, there isn’t a very big community here. Going back to Thailand every couple of years and seeing the community and family there impacted me a lot. I wanted to share that culture here. So we went back to Thailand, brought back the beans, and I wanted to share Thai coffee culture with Seattle. We’re the first Thai-inspired coffee shop.
What does Thai coffee culture actually look like, and how did it shape what you built here?
Thai coffee culture is actually really recent. Over there, all the shops are third wave now, and it’s really embedded in the culture. The community of family and spending time with each other is really important, so they embed that third-place aspect into it. Every time you go in, there’s always an event, there’s always art that people are working on. There’s also a Thai word, “sabai,” which means comfortable, relaxed, and happy. Even when you have a tough work week, you should be setting aside time to spend with your friends and family. A lot of the cafes there reflect that culture. Anytime I would go in, there’d be like an art class going on or a bracelet-making class. I wanted to reflect that here.
You also went to Thailand to source the coffee directly. Can you talk about why that matters?
Sustainability is a really important part of the picture there. The coffee culture is small and they only import coffee within their own country. A lot of young business owners there are now owning their own farms and sourcing their coffee directly to their coffee shops, so there’s no middlemen involved. The farmers are being treated really well, and that’s a big thing in the coffee world, because there are so many third-party members that people often get underpaid. We flew over to Thailand, met a farmer, and got the coffee ourselves, so the relationship is direct and everyone is taken care of. I also want people to understand the why behind the rising cost of coffee. With everything going on, including climate change, coffee is getting harder and harder to grow.
Where does the name Nudibranch come from?
It’s based on my childhood. While my identity is really tied to being Thai American, I also wanted to do something tied to the Pacific Northwest, where I grew up. Growing up here, I used to go tide pooling with my dad at Golden Gardens all the time, and it’s one of the hobbies I’ve picked up as a young adult. In Seattle we have a lot of things based off orca whales and fish and salmon. Nudibranchs are also really important to the ecosystem here and they’re one of my favorite animals, so I decided to go with something funky and cool.
Tell us about the back room and what you want that space to feel like.
The back area is our community space. In Thai culture, when you meet a stranger, you treat them like family, and that “homie” aspect is really important. So it doubles as a quiet studying space during the day, and then three days a week we use it as our event space. I wanted it to feel very homey, with all the natural wood, plants, and greenery, like open-concept furniture that brings in some of that warm, tropical feeling. Because in Thailand it’s so warm and tropical, a lot of spaces are half inside, half open, and I wanted to bring that feeling here even though, you know, Seattle. I want our customers to feel welcome like family.
You host community events three times a week. How do you make sure they actually feel accessible?
I’ve been to a lot of community events where you go into a room and no one tells you anything, and it’s really hard to just approach someone and be like, hey, do we have something in common? With the way our events are structured, they usually have a theme, and me and Cole are there to introduce everyone and tell people what’s going on. I think the most important thing is having a starter conversation, or having something in common, so it’s not awkward. For example, we have a free plant swap coming up, and that already curates a group of people with one thing in common. You like plants? Oh, you brought a pothos. I’m a pothos lover too. I think having that inclusive vibe makes it easier for people to open up.
What are some of the drinks on the menu, and what inspired them?
All of my drinks are inspired by Thai cafe culture and by my childhood growing up. One of the most popular is the Tangerine Americano. When we went back to Thailand, it was the most common thing on the menu. Because it’s so hot and tropical there, fruit-flavored drinks are super popular, and our coffee is on the lighter side so it pairs really well with citrus. Our newest seasonal drink for summer is the Mango Sticky Rice Matcha. Mango sticky rice is just one of those childhood desserts I grew up eating, especially around Thai New Year at celebrations and birthday parties. We also have the Bangkok Cherry Latte, which is inspired by my favorite childhood drink, Milo powder. It’s a Thai malt chocolate drink, and I was inspired to put it on top of the cherry latte to make it feel tied to my childhood while still being something new.
What do you hope a first-time customer feels when they walk in?
In Thai culture, when you meet strangers for the first time, they become your family. I hope the atmosphere of my coffee shop makes them feel at home and welcome. I hope they feel connected, and I hope they learn something about our culture on the way out. I also just want it to feel whimsical and not transactional. I don’t want it to be somewhere you walk in and everything is blank and white and it’s just plain seating. I want people to come in, make a bracelet with their friends, walk out, and feel like they just had a good time.
You’re 24 and you opened this in Seattle. What would you want other young people with big dreams to know?
I just want to set an example for young people who feel like a dream is too big. When I first started this with my partner Cole, it just felt like, you know, every barista says, I would love to have a coffee shop one day. I want people to know that dream is not out of reach. Getting a space in Seattle and being credible enough to get a location set up, it was a hard journey. But I think there is a way. It’s a lot of hard work, but if you persevere, it can happen. And none of this would have happened if I didn’t have my Kickstarter backers. The foundation of Nudibranch was already built from community from the very beginning.
What makes it worth it on the hard days?
Doing something I truly love. I’ve always loved coffee, and I love all the people it fosters. I’m not an extroverted person where I’m talking all the time, but I love being in a room filled with people coming in to meet their friends after a long time, or family getting together. Being somewhere with that energy makes me happy every day. I get creative freedom to do my own marketing, make my own art, build a rotating menu with my team every month. I’ve always been a creative person and this field gives me that freedom. And you get so close to all these people. You make really meaningful friendships. You kind of build your own community within.
You can find Nudibranch Coffee in Seattle on Madison & 12th
