Ding Tea+ & 36 Streets Vietnamese Coffee

The phin filter sits on top of your glass, dripping slowly, while the owner explains what is happening. Ding Tea+ in Kirkland's Juanita neighborhood pairs a boba franchise with 36 Streets, a Vietnamese coffee program built on beans roasted in Vietnam. The room is small. Low stools, tiny tables, a coloring corner, Vietnamese children's books and comics on the shelf, occasional Snoopy cup promotions when the run hits. People who like the place use the word cute. People who do not use the word cramped. One regular compared the seating to airplane rows, which is the kind of detail you take as a warning if you are a larger person or planning to stay a while. The drinks are the reason to come. Hanoi-style egg coffee, salt coffee, coconut coffee, ca phe sua da served via phin at the table for anyone who wants to watch the slow drip themselves. Pandan bubble waffle is the food order to make, and it gets ordered as often as any drink. On the Ding Tea side, the chocolate oolong milk tea is what regulars reach for. Vietnamese sandwiches handle the savory ask. The owner explains the phin process to first-time customers without being asked, which fits the whole approach of the place. The shop is teaching, not selling. There is no wifi mentioned, no real tables to spread out on, no premise that you will sit here and work. It is a grab-and-go shop with personality, and the personality is the reason to come back. If you are on the Eastside and you want Vietnamese coffee made the way it should be made, with someone behind the counter who cares about the phin, this is the shop. If you wanted a laptop morning or comfortable seating for an adult-sized adult, keep driving. The egg coffee is what to order. The pandan bubble waffle is what to order with it.