Fremont Coffee in Seattle bubbles with ideas for soda and more

Customers at Fremont Coffee think of Chris Webb as their local mad scientist.

He hangs out in the coffee shop's basement, racing up in a white lab coat when he wants to taste-test a new flavor of soda pop.

"He comes up almost every day," said George Soto, a regular since Fremont Coffee opened five years ago. "My girlfriend loves the root beer."

Webb owns the shop with his daughter, Anya Mushen. He also owns the century-old house where it is located between the center of Fremont and the statue of Lenin on North 36th Street.

When Mushen said she wanted to open a coffee shop there five years ago, he gave her two years to make a profit.

Fremont Coffee was profitable within six months. Annual sales are below $1 million.

The father-daughter team leases the space above the shop to massage therapists, and Webb uses the basement as a laboratory. Near the basement door is a table saw left over from his 30 years as a furniture maker.

There are giant refrigerators and other components of a commercial kitchen Webb wants to turn into a training area for baristas.

A tiny room in back is filled with flavorings, jars of ginseng and other potions. Some are vestiges of the years when he ran a tonic herb bar where the coffee shop is now. Others come from his passion for flavorings, which he got into through an earlier business relationship with Real Soda in California.

"I want to go back to the roots of some of these things, the ingredients," he said. "When people try to mass-produce things, they go down the tubes."

Webb is all about local and homemade products. He makes Fremont Coffee's quiches and about half of its pastries in a tiny kitchen behind the coffee shop.

The brown bottles without labels in its cooler are ginger brew — or ginger ale — that he makes in the basement. They sell about 3,000 bottles a year at $1.75 a bottle. Webb also makes chocolate syrup for the mocha drinks and, when he has time, chocolate truffles with herbs.

He recently bought a coffee-bean roaster and wants to try his hand at that, although he's not sure his beans will be as good as the coffee the shop buys from Lighthouse Roasters of Seattle.

For now, Webb is concentrating mostly on developing new root beers. He wants a sweet and a less-sweet base to flavor with things like licorice, vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom and spruce berries.

Webb samples customers regularly and gives or sells bottles to people who are interested.

David Schomer, who owns Espresso Vivace with his wife, is a big fan of Webb's root beer.

"My son, Andre, and I tried one, and it is fantastic," Schomer said.

— Melissa Allison

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Retail Report appears Fridays. Melissa Allison covers the food and beverage industry. She can be reached at 206-464-3312 or mallison@seattletimes.com. Amy Martinez covers goods, services and online retail. She can be reached at 206-464-2923 or amartinez@seattletimes.com.