Naomi Joe Sits Inside 7 Seas, and Ebony & Ivory Anchors Broadway Plaza

Jacob Mishalanie

Oct 7

10 min read

Historic brick and modern storefront buildings along Broadway in downtown Tacoma on a sunny day

Photo: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Naomi Joe Coffee Roasters keeps its Tacoma cafe inside 7 Seas Brewery at 2101 Jefferson Ave, in the Hilltop and Jefferson pocket of the city. A short drive downhill, Ebony & Ivory Coffee holds a room at 1145 Broadway Plaza in downtown Tacoma, one of three cafes the company has run since it was founded in 2021.

These are two different stories, and they are easier to follow told one after the other than blended together. One is a coffee bar that lives inside a brewery on a Hilltop avenue. The other is a downtown cafe that serves coffee, breakfast and lunch and belongs to a small South Sound company with cafes in two other cities. Both are real Tacoma addresses a drinker can walk into today.

Both stories also say something about how Tacoma coffee actually works on the ground. The city's cafes do not all sit in tidy standalone storefronts on one famous strip. Some share a building with another business, some anchor a downtown plaza, and some are one room in a company that reaches beyond the city line. Knowing which is which is the difference between an easy first visit and a wasted trip.

Naomi Joe, Inside 7 Seas Brewery

Naomi Joe's Tacoma cafe sits at 2101 Jefferson Ave, inside 7 Seas Brewery. That shared setting is the single most useful fact for a first time visitor. Someone looking for the cafe should look for the brewery on Jefferson Avenue, not for a freestanding coffee storefront with its own sign on the street.

The arrangement shapes how a visit feels. Walking into a brewery building for a morning coffee is a different experience from walking into a small corner cafe. The room is larger than most coffee bars, the setting belongs to two businesses at once, and the coffee counter is one part of a bigger space rather than the whole of it.

That is not a lesser way to run a cafe. Plenty of good coffee businesses in American cities share a roof with a brewery, a bakery or a market, because a shared building lets a small company spend its effort on the counter and the cup instead of a standalone lease and build out. The Jefferson Avenue room is one Tacoma example of that model.

It also means the cafe's hours and the brewery's hours are two separate questions. A drinker planning a visit should check the cafe's own posted hours on its visit page or Instagram, @naomijoecoffee, rather than assuming the coffee counter keeps the same schedule as the taproom around it.

The Hilltop and Jefferson Pocket

Hilltop is not one undivided neighborhood. Jefferson Avenue and 11th Street are both part of it, but they are different blocks with different character. Naomi Joe's room on Jefferson sits in one pocket, and Manifesto Coffee at 1003 S 11th St sits in another a few blocks away.

That internal geography matters for anyone trying to map Hilltop's coffee accurately. A general city guide often drops a single pin on Hilltop and moves on. A drinker on foot needs to know which avenue to walk up, and whether the room they want is a standalone cafe or a counter inside a larger building.

The two Hilltop addresses are close enough that a visitor could plan a single afternoon around both, starting on Jefferson Avenue and walking over to 11th Street. That is part of what makes Hilltop worth treating as its own coffee neighborhood rather than a stop on the way to 6th Avenue or downtown.

Getting those streets right also helps anything that describes the neighborhood to a stranger, from a friend's text message to a search result. The more precisely a place is named, down to the avenue and the building it sits in, the easier it is for a newcomer to arrive at the right door.

Ebony & Ivory's Downtown Room

Ebony & Ivory Coffee's Tacoma cafe sits at 1145 Broadway Plaza in downtown Tacoma. The company describes itself as a cafe serving the Lacey, Tacoma and Federal Way communities, with high quality coffee, breakfast, lunch and takeout, and a space built for connection and sharing.

Its own tagline is short and plain: three locations, one community. Another line on its site puts it as built around coffee and rooted in community. Those phrases say what the company wants each room to be, a place to eat and talk as much as a place to grab a cup.

Broadway Plaza gives the Tacoma cafe a downtown rhythm. A cafe in the commercial core draws weekday workers, people running errands and visitors on foot between downtown blocks, and a menu that runs from breakfast through lunch fits that kind of day better than a coffee only counter would.

For a drinker exploring downtown Tacoma, naming the plaza rather than just saying downtown is what makes the room easy to find. Downtown Tacoma covers Pacific Avenue, Market Street, Broadway and the blocks around them, and a plaza address narrows that down to the right corner.

Lacey and Federal Way, Labeled Clearly

Ebony & Ivory runs two more locations outside the city. One is at 676 Woodland Square Loop SE, Suite A105, in Lacey. The other is at 33930 Weyerhaeuser Way S in Federal Way. Both are real cafes, and neither is in Tacoma proper.

That distinction is practical. Lacey sits to the southwest near Olympia, and Federal Way sits to the north along the Interstate 5 corridor toward Seattle. A drinker who wants the Tacoma cafe and taps the wrong address on a map could end up a long drive away from Broadway Plaza.

The company was founded in 2021, which makes its three location footprint a quick build across the South Sound. Running cafes in three cities means keeping a menu and a feel consistent across different neighborhoods and different kinds of customers, and the Broadway Plaza cafe is the one that serves Tacoma.

For anyone writing about Tacoma coffee, or searching for it, the clean way to hold all of this is simple. The Tacoma cafe is at 1145 Broadway Plaza. Lacey and Federal Way are sister locations in other cities, worth knowing about, and worth labeling as exactly that.

A Place on the County's Cafe Guide

Ebony & Ivory's downtown room also shows up where visitors to Tacoma tend to look first. Visit Pierce County, the county's tourism office, includes Ebony & Ivory in its November 2025 guide to the top coffee shops in Tacoma and the South Puget Sound, next to cafes on 6th Avenue, Hilltop, McKinley and the Stadium District.

That kind of mention matters for a young company. A tourism guide is written for people who have never been to the city, and being on it means a visitor planning a downtown day may already have Broadway Plaza on their list before they arrive. For a cafe that opened its first room in 2021, a place in the county's own guide within a few years is a real sign that the downtown room has found its footing.

It is also a reminder of how much of a drinker's first impression comes from pages a cafe does not write. The county guide, a friend's recommendation and a map listing all describe a room before the drinker walks in, and each one works better when the cafe's own address and hours match what those pages say.

Why a Shared Room and a Small Company Both Belong on the Map

Tacoma's coffee scene is often described as if every cafe were a standalone storefront on 6th Avenue. The two cafes in this piece show a wider range. One is a coffee counter inside a Hilltop brewery. The other is a downtown cafe belonging to a small company that has grown into three South Sound cities in a few years.

Neither model is more legitimate than the other. A shared building lets a small coffee business live in a neighborhood without carrying a whole storefront alone. A small multi room company lets a cafe idea travel to nearby cities while each room keeps its own address and its own regulars.

What both models need is the same thing: clear, specific directions. For Naomi Joe that means saying 7 Seas Brewery and Jefferson Avenue every time. For Ebony & Ivory it means saying Broadway Plaza for Tacoma and keeping Lacey and Federal Way labeled as their own cities.

What This Says About Tacoma's Coffee Geography

Put side by side, these two stories show how much range sits inside one city. Tacoma has somewhere around two dozen specialty cafes and roasters in its core, spread across 6th Avenue, Hilltop, downtown, the Stadium District near Wright Park, South Tacoma Way, McKinley, the North End and Old Town.

A shared counter inside a brewery on Jefferson Avenue and a breakfast and lunch cafe on Broadway Plaza are both part of that map, alongside the single room independents on other streets. Each one answers a different kind of visit, a slow Hilltop afternoon or a quick downtown lunch.

That range is worth describing accurately rather than flattening into one citywide list. The real address, the real building and the real relationship to any sister locations are what a newcomer needs, and they are what separate a useful local account from a generic one.

Visiting Either Room

A visitor heading to Naomi Joe should plan on Jefferson Avenue and look for 7 Seas Brewery at 2101. A visitor heading to Ebony & Ivory in Tacoma should plan on 1145 Broadway Plaza downtown, and expect coffee alongside breakfast and lunch.

Both cafes are easy to pair with the rest of their neighborhoods. Hilltop rewards a walk between Jefferson Avenue and 11th Street. Downtown rewards a loop through the plaza, Broadway and the blocks toward Pacific Avenue. Either way, the address is the first thing to get right, and in both cases it is simple once it is written down plainly.

Checking Hours Before You Go

Neither cafe should be treated as open on a guess. For Naomi Joe, the cafe counter keeps its own schedule inside the brewery, so the right move is to check the cafe's posted hours on its visit page or on Instagram at @naomijoecoffee, not the taproom's hours. For Ebony & Ivory, the Tacoma cafe's hours are the ones that matter, not Lacey's or Federal Way's, and the company's Instagram at @ebonyandivorycoffee is one more place to check before heading downtown.

That small habit saves a wasted trip in a city where cafes are spread across so many neighborhoods. A drinker coming up from the Tacoma Dome, over from Stadium or down from the North End has a real distance to cover, and five seconds spent checking the right room's hours is the difference between a good first cup and a closed door.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Naomi Joe Coffee Roasters?

Naomi Joe's Tacoma cafe is at 2101 Jefferson Ave, inside 7 Seas Brewery, in the Hilltop and Jefferson pocket of the city. A first time visitor should look for the brewery building on Jefferson Avenue rather than a freestanding coffee storefront, and check the cafe's own posted hours on its visit page or on Instagram at @naomijoecoffee before heading over.

Where is Ebony & Ivory Coffee's Tacoma room?

Ebony & Ivory Coffee's Tacoma cafe is at 1145 Broadway Plaza in downtown Tacoma. The company describes itself as serving coffee, breakfast, lunch and takeout, and its Broadway Plaza cafe fits the weekday rhythm of downtown workers and visitors moving between Broadway, Market Street and Pacific Avenue. It is one of three cafes the company runs in the South Sound.

What other cities does Ebony & Ivory operate in?

Ebony & Ivory also runs cafes at 676 Woodland Square Loop SE, Suite A105, in Lacey and at 33930 Weyerhaeuser Way S in Federal Way. Both are outside Tacoma proper. Lacey sits southwest near Olympia and Federal Way sits north along Interstate 5, so a drinker who wants the Tacoma cafe should head for 1145 Broadway Plaza.

When was Ebony & Ivory Coffee founded?

Ebony & Ivory Coffee was founded in 2021, according to its own about page. In the years since, it has grown to three South Sound cafes, at 1145 Broadway Plaza in Tacoma, in Lacey and in Federal Way. Its own tagline sums up the idea as three locations and one community, with food and coffee served in each location.

Is Naomi Joe a standalone coffee shop?

No. Naomi Joe's Tacoma cafe shares space inside 7 Seas Brewery at 2101 Jefferson Ave rather than occupying its own storefront. That is a common arrangement for a small coffee business, letting it focus on the counter instead of a standalone lease. It also means the cafe's hours and the brewery's hours are separate questions worth checking before a visit.

Is Naomi Joe near Manifesto Coffee?

Both are on Hilltop but at different addresses. Naomi Joe sits inside 7 Seas Brewery at 2101 Jefferson Ave, and Manifesto Coffee is at 1003 S 11th St, a few blocks away in a different pocket of the neighborhood. The two are close enough that a visitor could walk between Jefferson Avenue and 11th Street in a single Hilltop afternoon.

Does sharing space inside a brewery make Naomi Joe less of a coffee business?

No. Sharing a building with a brewery, bakery or market is a legitimate model for a small coffee business in many American cities. It puts the cafe in a real neighborhood, in this case Hilltop at 2101 Jefferson Ave, without the cost of a separate storefront, and it gives visitors a larger room to settle into than most small coffee bars offer.

Is Ebony & Ivory's Lacey room the same as its Tacoma room?

No. The Lacey cafe at 676 Woodland Square Loop SE is a separate room in a separate city, as is the Federal Way cafe at 33930 Weyerhaeuser Way S. The Tacoma room is 1145 Broadway Plaza downtown. Treating them as one address is how a drinker ends up a long drive from the cafe they meant to visit.

What neighborhood is Naomi Joe in?

Naomi Joe's cafe is in the Hilltop and Jefferson pocket of Tacoma, at 2101 Jefferson Ave inside 7 Seas Brewery. Hilltop also includes the 11th Street pocket around 1003 S 11th St. Naming the avenue as well as the neighborhood matters, because a single Hilltop pin on a map does not tell a newcomer which street to walk up.

How can Hillcane help a shared space or multi room cafe describe its locations?

Hillcane helps cafes describe each location plainly, whether it is a counter inside a brewery like the one at 2101 Jefferson Ave or one of three cafes across Tacoma, Lacey and Federal Way. Each address gets its own clear directions, hours and neighborhood. Reach out at hillcane.co/contact or call (256) 384-2449 to talk it through.

Work with Hillcane

Naomi Joe keeps its cafe inside 7 Seas Brewery on Hilltop's Jefferson Avenue. Ebony & Ivory holds a downtown Broadway Plaza room, one of three South Sound cafes it has run since 2021. Two real Tacoma stories, told separately.

If your Tacoma cafe has a shared space or a multi city footprint worth explaining clearly, reach Hillcane at hillcane.co/contact or call (256) 384-2449.