The marketing whizzes at North Star Fine Coffees hope to open their first cafe in Columbia City in the next few weeks. More accurately, they are licensing the brand to the shop's owners, whom North Star founder Bryan-David Scott declined to name for now. He also declined to give an address, saying the paperwork should be finished next week. Sounders soccer luminaries are expected to attend the eventual grand opening, in part to promote a blend called "Kick Coffee" that the team co-brands with North Star.

Founded in 2006, North Star sells coffee direct to consumers, mostly through the company's web site. Scott plans to open several local cafes in the coming months, some run by North Star management and others by people licensing the name. He hopes to be in White Center and University Village by fall.

To help with growth, the former furniture broker appointed consultant Nate Silverman as CEO last month. Silverman's background is in business, including an MBA from the UW and credentials not often seen in the coffee world, like "Certified Hot 100 Business Advisor." Although he looks just fine, the "hot" is a reference to his relationship with the site Hot100Business.com. (Photo courtesy of Silverman.)

Scott talks about his decision to get into coffee in terms of markets and feasibility studies. When he realized the furniture market was headed south, he and his wife liked the idea of a coffee business -- a passion they share -- but didn't want to enter a saturated market. Feasibility studies determined it's not saturated, and they entered the high-end coffee market.

North Star's green coffee is hand-checked before being shipped to the U.S., which Scott says is one of the measures his company takes that are rare in the coffee industry. When I asked if he's comparing his methods to specialty roasters in Seattle or big companies like Folgers, he recommended checking the competition's stock for broken beans and other flaws to see the difference.

North Star's beans are roasted in Stanwood, and Scott said he's on track to sell 2.6 million pounds of roasted coffee this year. The company recently came out with "Kick Coffee," which is co-branded with the Sounders, and expects to release a Seahawks blend closer to football season.