How Common Cart and its hot cups of coffee and yaupon became Capitol Hill Station’s first vendor

There is a person with a tricycle now selling coffee and more amid the hustle and bustle in the entrance to Capitol Hill Station.

Back when the buildings above the station were first being planned, people envisioned a European-style market hall as a busy, human core to the development of new housing, commercial space, and the busy light rail facility. We got the new apartments and we got the grocery store but some of that humanity got left out of the plans.

Zaquiri and a Common Cart can be found serving up hot cups of coffee or yaupon, the tea brewed from yaupon holly, the only* plant containing caffeine indigenous to North America, as part of new, small steps toward changing the mood around Capitol Hill Station.

“My goal is to take them out of that hustle and bustle,” Zaquiri says. “Give them a special moment. ‘Do I want to stop for a moment and maybe try this?’”

“I deeply enjoy that moment.”

Sound Transit tells CHS it is in the very earliest of stages on allowing vendors at Capitol Hill Station and its growing network of light rail stops. The agreement with Common Cart is currently one of a kind.

“We do not have a vendor program, but are exploring various projects to bring more benefits to our riders, including the Capitol Hill coffee cart, plans to bring a farmers market to Lynnwood, and more,” the Sound Transit spokesperson said.

“The program is still in it’s very early days — we have a six month pilot planned for the coffee cart which will teach us more about how things go — and we’ll go from there.”

No pressure, Zaquiri. Talking with the coffee and yaupon entrepreneur, they seem mostly relaxed about the opportunity. The deal basically fell into their lap making a transgender entrepreneur new to Seattle the first person to secure a vendor permit for one of Sound Transit’s light rail stations.

Zaquiri says another entrepreneur did a lot of the heavy lifting and was working on a project to bring coffee to the light rail station when they decided to focus on other efforts. Zaquiri who had been in touch searching for local sources of yaupon during preparations to start a business after moving to Seattle said the other business owner offered up the vendor contract.

“I lucked into this interaction. I met the right person at the right time,” Zaquiri says.

Zaquiri and Common Cart are now in place mostly regularly on Tuesday through Saturday mornings. Shaping the schedule is a work in progress as are a lot of things about operating in the entrances of Capitol Hill Station. Sound Transit’s bureaucracy is one thing to navigate. Sorting out limitations and restrictions with the health department comes at an even higher level of restrictions and occasional disappointments.

Still, when CHS spoke with Zaquiri, there were plans for growth with meetings to find a baked goods provider for the cart coming up and experiments to continue developing yaupon as a satisfying coffee alternative. There are also plans for a grand opening on Friday, March 20th.

Zaquiri, still new to the city, is also getting a feel for things and how this start for Common Cart will fit in. Through a farming teaching program, an opportunity for land outside the city has also come up and could be a direction for the business to focus on instead of light rail commuters. Zaquiri knows that food and community are at the center of Common Cart’s future. The rest is questions to be answered.

“How do I get more involved in the city and trying to build a better food network?,” Zaquiri asks.

For now, the largest challenge Common Cart is facing on a day to day basis is something much smaller: marketing.

“My biggest ‘issue’ is people don’t know about me,” Zaquiri says. “I’m slowly building up regulars, knowing their names.”

Common Cart is currently serving Tuesday through Saturdays at Capitol Hill Station. Hours are typically 6 AM to 10 AM. Follow @a.common.cart for updates.

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