Of course the folks at Caffe Vita are no strangers to fine pizza — Vita owner Michael McConnell also owns Capitol Hill establishment (and Seattle’s very best pizza) Via Tribunali. And yet it’s still a wonderful surprise to discover that a much-anticipated NYC pizza restaurant will be serving Caffe Vita coffee when it opens next month. I had no idea it was the sort of coffee that could make that leap.

This marks the third time I’ve been surprised to see a Capitol Hill export pop up outside of Seattle. The Sound’s most famous exports might still be Nirvana, Microsoft, Boeing and Starbucks, but it seems like a raft of newer brands and products are also making headway. Top Pot donuts (also founded in Capitol Hill) have achieved nationwide distribution on the back of their recent Starbucks deal. Then there’s Savage Love, a column I’d been enjoying for years, unaware of its provenance until I moved — purely by coincidence — to the very same block of Capitol Hill that The Stranger calls home.

So if Seattle has a cultural center, it certainly feels like it’s up here on Capitol Hill, proud home of Seattle’s most decadent donuts, most buzz-inducing coffee, and gayest advice columnists.