Tacoma’s first cat cafe offers coffee and purrs
Cat cafes — businesses where patrons can enjoy a cappuccino while surrounded by adoptable cats — are a worldwide phenomenon. Now, Tacoma has one.
Catffeinated, on Sixth Avenue, opened Sunday. It features an enclosed cat lounge and a separate cafe area with barista and store.
Kristi Martin and Melanie Weaver are the owners. They met in 2011 in the MBA program at Pacific Lutheran University.
Website MeowAround lists 127 cat cafes across North America. Martin visited her first in Washington, D.C.
“I fell in love with the model,” she said.
Martin is a cat person.
“I’m not so much,” Weaver said.
But, she’s coming around.
“I’m actually loving the cats,” the former combat medic said. “It’s been a great turn around.”
The women, who both have full time jobs in the health care industry, were cool as cats when it came to developing their business plan and crunching the numbers, they said.
“Two cat cafes in Seattle are doing really well, so people were already familiar with the idea,” Martin said. “We are the first and only here in Tacoma.”
The concept allows patrons to either watch cats from behind windows or reserve time in the cat lounge where six to eight cats sleep and frolic. An online reservation system books hour-long sessions in the cat lounge for $10.
The cat lounge has a large, custom-built structure that gives the felines opportunities to rest or play on their own schedule. The cats are usually young and have lots of “kitten energy,” according to Martin and Weaver.
The two women exercised little restraint when it came to mixing the two themes of their business. In the cafe area, patrons can order capurrccinos, meowchiatos, hisspressos and other similarly named coffee and tea drinks.
Alcohol is available by the bottle or can. Beer, cider and the one drink that already has a cat themed name, White Claw, are for sale.
Adopt a cat
On Tuesday, six cats were climbing, chasing feathered wands and snoozing inside the cat lounge as human visitors watched and played with them.
The cats come from the Auburn Valley Humane Society, where they are screened for temperament.
“We do want the right personality for a cat to do well in this environment,” Martin said.
Each cat is neutered/spayed, microchipped, vaccinated, de-wormed and given a flea treatment before it leaves the shelter, said Julia Sauer, the Humane Society’s director of public services. Each adopted cat comes with a coupon for a free, full medical check-up by a local vet.
“We’re sending them easily adoptable cats that don’t have medical concerns,” Sauer said.
In the future, the Humane Society might offer some cats that have disabilities, such as a cat with a missing leg.
Sauer and other staff from the Humane Society inspected Catffeinated when it was under construction and have visited twice since then, she said.
This is the first time the shelter has worked with a cat cafe, Sauer said.
“We’re getting our feet wet with this as well,” she said.
Catffeinated’s hour-long sessions gives customers a chance to spend more time with a potential pet than a shelter usually offers.
“Typically, in a shelter, you’d get 15 minutes with your pet of choice,” Sauer said.
The cat lounge offers visitors a chance to see how a cat interacts with people and other felines.
A maximum of six people are allowed in the cat lounge at any one time. Visitors are not allowed to pick up the cats but can use various cat toys to play with them. Sofas and chairs make it easy for lap cats to exercise their lifestyle choice.
“You’re a guest in their house, so we need calm feet and soft hands,” Martin said.
On Tuesday, four cats in the initial group were pending adoption. Potential adopters apply and go through a screening process.
The business is a cafe, not a pet store. T-shirts emblazoned with “Meow” are for sale along with cat-themed candy and teas. You won’t find pet food or toys.
Molly’s of Seattle provides salads, sandwiches and other fresh items for humans.
The cats don’t go hungry. During business hours, a cat guardian sees to the cats’ needs and supervises visits with the public. Guardian Kendal Ramage calls it a dream job.
“I definitely lucked out,” Ramage said. “I like cats and I like coffee.”
On Sunday, Ramage was one of the first people to adopt a cat, a young calico named Dew.
There’s also a feline staffer: Fanta. The orange tabby is the only permanent resident of the cafe and acts as a cat concierge.
“She’s the lady of the house,” Martin said. “She’s got a stellar personality — she’s great with kids and other cats.”
Human visitors to the cat lounge don’t have to be in adoption mode, the Catffeinated owners said.
On Tuesday, three friends, including Gina Comfort of Federal Way and Carol Eckert of University Place, came to Catffeinated just to play with the cats. None were thinking of adopting.
“It’s a good way for the three of us to be together,” Eckert said.
Comfort had a cat for 20 years. She doesn’t want the emotional responsibility of having a cat again.
“You don’t adopt a cat, the cat adopts you,” she said.
“Once you make the act of adopting — that’s a commitment,” Comfort said. “You’ve got to be serious about it. The animal has to be safe.”
Eckert calls herself a cat lady. She says the right number of cats in a home is two to three.
“Five is too many,” Eckert said.
She predicted that her two cats will know she’s been to Catffeinated.
“They’ll smell me,” she said. “Then they’ll be on to me.”
Catffeinated
When: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday-Sunday
Where: 2515 Sixth Ave., Tacoma
Information: catffeinated.net, 253-572-4993
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 6:45 AM.
