Ugly Mug Café was around ‘the Ave’ since 1995. Sharing nearly two decades of history with the University of Washington and the community around it, Ugly Mug Café was embroidered in the spirit of the U-district with its fair share of students, professors/faculties, residents of young and old people alike. We were a part of the community from way back. Over the years, there has been a few changes in ownership - slight touches here and there - however, one thing remained the same: atmosphere! The atmosphere, the warmth and the coziness that the place holds; there was something magical about it! Ugly Mug Café felt like a second home, at least to me it was. 

My wife (back then she was my girlfriend) and I used to work part-time at Ugly Mug when we were both students. From the beginning, I fell in love with the little café that was hidden in the corner seemingly away from everybody. The people who I worked with were so great and the customers were more like friends who I get to see on a daily basis. I realized the magic and the joy of serving people who also appreciated what we were doing. I loved the experience and wanted to improve in every area that I could. The café, itself, had so much charm and potential. Unfortunately, I was not the owner of the store at the time; I had no power and the owner was reluctant at best.

My friends and I started to brainstorm, because we wanted to start some kind of business together to make some money. And that is when we talked to the owner of the Ugly Mug. Fortunately enough, the timing was ever so right that the owner also wanted to sell the store and move on. Thus, on September 2010 we have bought the business of our dreams.

First things first, we wanted to do everything right. We wanted to improve on quality, service, and speed. We started to do some research for the ways to improve our products: sandwich, soups and coffee. So we started to study deep into it, and that is when we fell in love with coffee. Ever since then, we delved more and more into coffee to the point where we started roasting coffee beans at home for pure joy and passion.  

Our passion drives us more into the world of coffee. We replaced our equipment, started training our employees, and renovated our store from top to bottom to provide more space and efficiency for our baristas to make better coffee. Now, we are professionally roasting, brewing and serving coffee.

Further down the road, we will seek out to the corners around the world serving and sharing the goodness that coffee can bring to the people. From farmers to customers, we will serve and share the goodness by making the best cup of Joe.