The Pacific Northwest is Where the Wild Bikini Baristas Roast

Coffee Culture’s Drive-Thru Dress Code is Street Legal Sexy.

From Seattle Washington’s Starbucks to Grants Pass Oregon’s Dutch Brothers, the I-5 corridor has changed the way Americans think about coffee. Drive-thru java stands are everywhere, all with clever names, many with inspired beverage and bakery menus. An ever-growing number of them are staffed by baristas of the fairer sex who wear opaque bikinis, lingerie sets, crop tops, hotpants, and the like. The heavily female job of “bikini barista” is increasingly popular within the region. This means they are also increasingly controversial with neighborhood groups and scrutinized by local governments.

Shortly after the passing of the “Stripper’s Bill of Rights” in Washington state, the City of Everett, WA revisited its guidelines for allowable bikini barista work attire. Previously restricted to tank tops and shorts, employees can now wear anything that does not run afoul of the city’s Lewd Conduct Dress Requirement standards. Owners are responsible for assuring that employees comply. But, as long as they’re wearing at least a teeny-weeny bikini, the baristas are within the law. At risk of coffee splashes, but not at risk of being illegally lewd.

This is a long way from the first sexy coffee stand, opened by Mary Keller Wynn in 1999. The baristas at Natte Latte in Bremerton, WA wore white tank tops and bright pink leather shorts. Tukwila, WA saw its first equivalent in 2003 when Cowgirls Express opened its first location there. It was during a hot summer that owner Lori Bowden agreed with her employees that a “Bikini Wednesday” promo would provide novelty and relief from the heat. It also produced an increase in sales. Naturally, this led to more opportunities to dress down, more sales, and the spread of a new coffee concept.

Although not as common, there has been at least one stand in Washington state that hired only men, as was the case in 2019 with the opening of Dreamboyz Espresso. Since closed for unknown reasons, its male baristas brewed up their caffeinated concoctions while not wearing shirts.

Considering the changing weather conditions in the Pacific NW, it’s not every day that the average coffee fiend catches a glimpse of anyone who’s minimally attired, let alone anyone minimally attired who also knows how to brew a good travel mug of coffee, has good customer service skills, and can work a cash register. Nonetheless, several states, chief among them coffee capitals Washington and Oregon, have managed to find employees with exactly that combination of skills and abilities. According to ZipRecruiter, these baristas’ hourly wages trend above minimum wage with impressive tip potential.

While the money is good, the work can be fun, and direct physical customer contact is minimal, there are not many opportunities for advancement. Depending upon what state and city a would-be bikini barista lives in, available jobs may be few or many. Those who want to relocate and remain in the same position have the potential for higher wages depending on their destination drive-thru. But what can they do when it’s time to leave the coffee biz and move on to something else?

There is no comprehensive study on where “sexpresso” professionals worked prior to their participation in the caffeine skin trade nor where they go afterward, so all we can go on currently are self-reported personal anecdotes. According to My Northwest, one former Seattle bikini barista worked as a stripper before she quit that job to hand cups of Joe through a kiosk window to customers who usually, but not always, behave themselves. Although she found that her earnings as a dancer were higher, club fees made turning a profit difficult. As a “bareista,” by comparison, she was able to make $80,000 one year in combined wages and tips while working two or three days a week.

Although Portland, OR has a much more relaxed attitude toward clubs, dancers, and saucy coffee kiosks, the chance to move into jobs with the same income potential, schedule flexibility, and opportunity to be sexy without revealing it all is minimal. Seattle-based former barista Grace Morris, now 22, told The Sun that she gained popularity in person and online thanks to her engaging nature in person and the TikTok clips she uploaded about the realities of her job.

In the article, Morris recounts how the number of her female customers increased after she released her TikTok videos, and frequent male customers often brought her gifts of food, flowers, and lingerie. Once, she says, a man gave her a $350 tip after she mentioned she was saving up for a car, while others have paid her rent and bought her groceries. With 338,500 TikTok followers and 136,000 more on Instagram, the former Starbucks employee turned underwear barista who considered becoming a bartender has brand deals with clothing companies including Dolls Kill and Pretty Little Things.

As she explained to Business Insider, “I worked at a regular drive-thru coffee shop for a while and hate it. It was always overcrowded, the dress code was strict, and the customers were grouchy. So, I decided to give bikini barista-ing a shot.” What she found was women owned or managed businesses in search of bubbly, confident, impeccably coiffed and prettified staff comfortable wearing sexy, sometimes themed, outfits at work. As Morris sees it, “a lot of the customers are just lonely and want someone to talk to. We’re great conversationalists, and it keeps customers coming back because they genuinely enjoy us as people.”

For content providers including Morris, these skills transfer nicely to online platforms. Instead of a window frame and tiny counter, an entire internet connection keeps them and their fans at a safe distance. Simultaneously, instead of a seat in their car waiting for a cup of coffee, visitors can see their favorite ex-espresso jockeys in just as little clothing as before but in an assortment of attractive locations.

No longer confined inside a cozy cart, models can, at the very least, share their poolside swimsuit poses, festive-themed holiday party pix, shopping snapshots, formal portraits, and sporty activity captures. From there, depending on model goals and fan interest, more explicit platforms are available to be explored, including but not limited to Chaturbate and OnlyFans.

Whether one is an enthusiastic bikini barista coffee consumer or an attractive young cappuccino beaniac happy to dress up in their fancy next-to-nothings, the Bikini-Baristas guide is available for online reference. Listing all such businesses in Seattle, Everette, Tacoma, Vancouver, Portland, and elsewhere, the site lists nearly 60 businesses in 145 locations.