At ASA, fall flavors move effortlessly from coffee cup to cocktail glass.
Behind the bar, Coffee Program Creative Director Hannah Hutchinson is experimenting with pears, cardamom, rosemary and unexpected savory notes. By evening, Lead Bartender Tyler Stansfield is reaching for bourbon, amaro, bitters and spice. Somewhere in between, their two worlds collide—with house-made shrubs, syrups and infusions moving freely from latte to cocktail.
It’s all part of what makes drinking at ASA feel less like placing an order and more like joining a conversation.
From Morning to Night
For Hannah, inspiration can begin almost anywhere: a meal, a piece of music, a work of art or simply a flavor she can’t stop thinking about.
“I love pairing unconventional ingredients,” she says. “My goal is to create drinks that allow someone to explore, have that ‘I can’t quite put my finger on that one flavor’ moment, and spark a conversation.”
Fall gives her an especially rich palette.
Beyond the expected pumpkin and cinnamon, Hannah gravitates toward ingredients such as star anise, cardamom and tarragon—and combinations that blur the line between sweet and savory.
One of her more adventurous creations is a syrup cheekily named It’s Giving Savory, made with fresh rosemary, sage, thyme, fennel and a touch of lemon.
The ingredients might sound more at home in Thanksgiving stuffing than a coffee cup, but Hannah says the resulting latte has been described as “a hug in a cup wrapped in a cozy sweater.”
And that same syrup can make its way behind the cocktail bar and into an Old Fashioned.
That crossover is intentional.
“We love to pull inspiration from both the day and nighttime programs and swap syrups and ingredients between the café and bar,” Tyler says.
A Little Sweet, A Little Tart
Another staple of Hannah’s creative arsenal is the shrub.
Sometimes called a sipping vinegar, a shrub combines vinegar with fruit, sugar, herbs or spices to create a bright, concentrated flavor that can be used in both spirit-free drinks and cocktails.
This fall, Hannah is making a Rosemary Cardamom Pear Shrub, layering pear with toasted green cardamom, fresh rosemary, turbinado sugar and Champagne vinegar.
During the day, it can be served simply with sparkling water for a sophisticated, non-caffeinated and spirit-free drink. At cocktail hour, add gin, vodka or tequila and the same shrub becomes the foundation for a Collins-style cocktail or margarita.
That versatility is exactly the point.
Hannah makes ASA’s syrups, shrubs and spice blends from whole ingredients whenever possible, then finds ways to use them across espresso drinks, teas, sparkling lemonades and cocktails.
“When you value craft in every aspect of the drink, you have creative control over what ingredients you want to highlight,” she says.
Making everything in-house also creates something less tangible: conversation. Hannah finds that guests begin talking about cooking, gardening, foraging and travel when they discover what went into their drink.
When fall evening arrives, ASA’s bar changes gears.
“The transition from summer to fall feels like a coming-of-age moment for beverages,” Tyler says, moving from summer’s “carefree and fun” drinks toward cocktails that are more refined and spirit-forward.
Dark spirits come to the forefront—bourbon, Scotch and cognac—alongside amaros, bitters and warming spices.
But don’t expect ASA to simply add pumpkin spice and call it autumn.
Tyler and the bar team look to less obvious ingredients such as five-spice and fennel, as well as flavor memories: hot chocolate by the fire, seasoned roasts and favorite holiday dishes.
“We try to capture the essence in the drink,” he says.
For Tyler, creating a cocktail typically begins with the spirit. From there he considers what is seasonally fresh, adds complementary liqueurs and then looks for an unconventional spice or flavor to complete the idea.
Hannah approaches the process from the opposite direction.
“I lean into the desired flavor impact and work backwards to create the beverage,” she says.
Different starting points. Same willingness to get a little weird.
That spirit of experimentation may be the clearest throughline connecting ASA’s coffee and cocktail programs.
The team has created everything from scratch-made vermouth to bacon fat-washed bourbon. Tyler recently developed a kimchi-and-seaweed-infused gin. Hannah has experimented with lemongrass, basil, black peppercorns, rosé reduction and Champagne vinegar in a single shrub.
They’re also playing with miso citrus caramel and ingredients such as pear and quince for fall and winter.
“We both lean into the weird, funky, fresh drinks,” Hannah says.
The experiments aren’t complicated simply for the sake of being complicated. In fact, when asked how he creates complexity without overwhelming a cocktail, Tyler’s philosophy is remarkably simple:
“Less is more.”
One standout is The Reserve, a cocktail created collaboratively by the bar team featuring bourbon, nutty Pedro Ximénez sherry and poppy seed amaro. The cocktail is smoked to balance its sweeter notes, then presented tableside from a box beneath a veil of smoke.
It is part drink, part theater—and very ASA.
For all the technique happening behind the scenes, perhaps the best way to experience ASA is to forget the menu altogether.
The bar’s bestselling cocktail is Dealer’s Choice.
The bartender starts by asking about a guest’s usual drink and flavor preferences, then creates something specifically for them—often incorporating one of Hannah’s syrups or shrubs.
The morning equivalent is Hannah’s Barista’s Choice.
“I start the conversation with your usual go-to and, together, we go from there,” she says. “I love to help people expand their comfort zone through thoughtful recommendations and variations on drinks they already know and love.”
For Hannah, the quintessential Mercer Island fall drink would be a hot Spiced Apple Chaider with citrus caramel—warm and recognizable, but with an unexpected twist.
“Familiar and warm with some intrigue fits Mercer Island,” she says.
And if you arrive on a crisp October evening looking for something stronger, Tyler recommends exploring ASA’s private-barrel whiskeys, including the team-selected Elijah Craig Bourbon, perhaps served in an Old Fashioned.
Chances are, something Hannah created that morning may find its way into Tyler’s shaker that night.
And that might be the best expression of the art of the drink at ASA: coffee and cocktails aren’t two separate programs. They are one ongoing creative conversation—built around seasons, ingredients, curiosity and the people sitting on the other side of the bar.
ASA Gathering is so much more than a coffee shop or bar. It’s the space where our Mercer Island community calls home and new friends feel like regulars. - Hannah Hutchinson, Coffee Program Creative Director