Located in the heart of downtown Seattle, one cafe is hoping to reduce cycles of poverty through its unique barista apprenticeship program for underserved youth.
Coffee TAB was founded in 2023 by owner Johnathan Tran. With its growing success and interest in expansion of its apprenticeship program, Coffee TAB is opening its second location in Pioneer Square on December 15.
Like many cafes across Seattle, Coffee TAB has become a third space where many community members seek to gather. However, when customers buy a cup of coffee, their efforts go directly towards employing and helping underserved youth.
The cafe has a barista training program that is 9 to 12 weeks long, where apprentices learn everything from customer service and food handling to the craft of coffee. Apprentices are referred to Coffee TAB by school counselors, social workers, parole officers, and affiliate non-profit organizations. Recently, the program hosted apprentices from the foster care organization TreeHouse, and the young adult shelter New Horizon, located right down the road from Coffee TAB.
“We really dive into the nitty-gritty craft of coffee and the science behind it,” Tran said. “We try to bridge the gap between people who want to provide for themselves, while also identifying a very practical, tangible skill to teach them.”
As someone who experienced homelessness in his own past, Tran says his background shaped and inspired him to build Coffee TAB.
“My parents were refugees from the Vietnam War and did the best with what they had,” Tran said, “but because of so much turbulence in their life, my mom kicked me out when I was around thirteen.”
Tran says he leaned heavily on the support system of social workers and mentors around him—many of whom he met over a cup of coffee. Cafes were a place for him to take refuge from the cold Minnesota air he grew up in and gave him the safety he needed.
When Tran visited Seattle in 2022, he recognized a need for similar safe spaces in the city.
“It gave me this nostalgia of, ‘Oh man, I’ve been there. I’ve done that: lived life on the streets,” Tran said, “Recognizing that put me in a headspace of needing to do something about it.”
In 2023, Coffee TAB began as a coffee cart that Tran would push all over town. Since then—with a successful storefront in Belltown and a second location opening—Tran says the Belltown community has been a huge source of support.
“We have a very strong regular customer clientele who get to really know the students we work with,” Tran said. “This is not just a coffee shop… we are curious and interested in who they are as humans and have developed a lot of great, positive relationships with our customers.”
Dulce Gonzalez-Rodriguez, a TreeHouse member and recent graduate of the apprenticeship program, said Coffee TAB helped gain confidence and new skills.
“My parents both immigrated from Mexico, and neither of them graduated high school, so when it came to life after high school, I was very clueless,” she said.
Gonzalez-Rodriquez felt very anxious and timid when she first started out as an apprentice.
“I’d heard these horror stories about work from my mom and sister,” she said, “but everyone here is so understanding. I didn’t know anything about coffee, and they took their time with me when I was still in the apprenticeship.”
Today, Gonzalez-Rodriquez works as an experienced barista at Coffee TAB and is looking forward to the new location opening.
“This is a golden community,” Gonzalez-Rodriquez said. “You’ll definitely be welcome here, whether it’s for the apprenticeship or just buying a cup of coffee.”
With more programs and youth interested in apprenticeship, Tran states that the second location will help fill in the gaps. According to Tran, more and more coffee-related employers are looking for staff that have experience, especially since training can be the most expensive component of any coffee shop or business.
“The majority of our team members have been coffee apprentices,” Tran said, “and once they finish, they kind of stay on part-time to the point where we have a waiting list for our program. This second location will help address the need of providing more positions for students as well.”
Looking into the future, Tran’s personal goal is to have Coffee TAB be fully self-sufficient in sales where he is able to give back to the team members who have been through the program.
“In theory, the team members that go through the program would retain as employees,” Tran said, “and I want to take it a step further and offer them proper benefits and a livable wage.”
If community members are interested in Coffee TAB’s mission or coffee, Tran encourages them to stop by and have a conversation with a team member.
Coffee TAB is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, and those who wish to support can make a donation on the cafe’s website. Coffee TAB’s second location will open in Pioneer Square on December 15, 2025, at 719 2nd Ave., Seattle, WA 98104.
