Just when you think Seattle is filled to the brim with coffee (there are 230-plus Espresso listings in the yellow pages), another shop opens up. One of the newest, Caffe Appassionato in the Magnolia district, gives customers a close-up look at coffee roasting as well as a chance to sample various brews.

The show opens as 125 pounds of unroasted coffee beans cascade down a clear tube into a funnel or "hopper" at the top of the roaster. Then, with the flip of a lever, master roaster Dan Donahue drops the beans from the hopper into the drum of an antique roaster. The beans are slow-roasted over indirect gas-fired heat; then, at the exact moment of doneness, they are released into the cooling tray. Moments later they are blown up a tube and conveyed to the production room in back.

You can sample the results at the complimentary tasting bar, which serves six different coffees a day.

Named after Beethoven's Piano Sonata op. …