This place was simple and solid. I went when traveling through Seattle and it was easy to get to from the 5.
Here I started to see the major differences between brands from California and brands from other states. It led me to a greater belief that this product is really commoditized at this point. People love to wax nostalgic about genetics and how this strain is better than that strain, but really the main differences are about indoor, greenhouse, and outdoor, when it comes to flower. Everyone in the space knows that Indica and Sativa don’t really lead you toward the effects we grew up believing (and most products are actually hybrids now), but great flower is about well run grow operations producing healthy yields, different terpenes giving different notes, and potencies aren’t that important, as there is rampant potency inflation in the market. When you think about it, distillates are often over 85%+ THC but have few if any other cannabanoids, whereas flower that is 17% could send you to space relative to your own systems interaction with the minor cannabanoids and their entourage effect. And you still build up a tolerance when using cannabis that is 35%+ day over day.
I heard once the best grown flower often come from someones own home grow, and I think it is often the case. Time and attention lead to the best results. Obviously lights, nutrients, water, and keeping pests away also play critical roles in growing crazy colas, but the concept holds. I do like the idea of terroirs and regions differentiating products, but I am not snobby about California products being the end all be all, nor do I pretend like I recall the best smells or tastes or highs i’ve had at this stage in my life. I remember experiences which are often relative to the circumstances I was in at the time.
Regardless of that long aside, beautifully grown flower is just that, beautifully grown flower. And Washington makes some great products.
This chain is very straight forward. More like an Specs liquor chain than a heady CA chain. I appreciate the normalcy that comes from the WA market. It doesn’t make cannabis seem like such a big deal. It doesn’t have to be an apple store. It can just be amazon.
New Amsterdam Coffeeshop 
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