Top Dead Center is a family-owned coffee shop on Seattle’s infamous Aurora Avenue near Green Lake. We love motorcycles, good food, and places that make people feel genuinely welcome. We built this space to share things we believe in — quality coffee, honest food, and real hospitality — with the motorcycling community and anyone curious enough to walk through the door.

Housed in a building long associated with imported motorcycles and café racers, Top Dead Center draws on the legacy of European motorsports and DIY racing culture without the attitude. The room is friendly, unpretentious, and designed for people to settle in. We believe service is part of the experience, not an add-on — tables get cleared, questions get answered, and no one is treated like they’re interrupting.

You might find collectible daily-driver bikes inside, a Formula 1 or MotoGP race on, or a conversation you didn’t expect to have. Coffee includes Stumptown espresso and a Vietnamese drip by Nguyen. The food follows the same philosophy: staples done well, informed by travel and tradition. Premium sandwiches, Pastéis de Nata, Argentinian empanadas, beer, and road-trip snacks — good food that’s not fussy or performative.

Whether you ride, want to learn, or just need a place that feels human, Top Dead Center is here to raise the bar while lowering the barriers. No attitude, no exclusivity — just a place where hospitality still means something.