I have heard about Four Barrel from several people since I started my search for the perfect café since last year. I have searched long and far, and perhaps I have found El Dorado - or maybe I am stuck on the island of the lotus eaters (see Odyssey) and have not quite become fully conscious as I sip my cappuccino and nibble at the exquisite croissant. Maybe I am so delighted that my expectations are exceeded by the reality of this place. Let's work on that basis, and maybe I can come back to reality before I order a regular coffee here.
The sidewalk in front of the store is a parklet with a huge bicycle rack and outside wood tables that resemble the three seat wide 4 inch thick by 15 inch deep table bars that seat six, closer to the front of the store, followed by smaller tables of similar construction that line the wall across from the service area all the way to the elaborate roastery area.
Cut to the line, almost out the door at 8:25 am. There are four patrons waiting in line to order with midsized dogs on leashes (is there a dog park around here somewhere - I think I am in it). There apparently is a flyer somewhere around here where the patrons sit outside that bans annoying hipster talk. Coupled with no wifi offering here, the magic of the days of yore when people that drank coffee actually engaged in conversation... Folks, listen carefully. They are not talking to their dogs, but to each other. This large cavern of delight I described above is also a real neighborhood place, where the patrons are engaged with each other as they wait to order coffee. This not a silent laptop morge that has transformed so many cafés into the home office with a cup of coffee. No. Maybe it is the slightly distorted warmth of analog music. Maybe it is the magic of the drip coffee bar near the front of the store, separate from the main count and service area, that is manned by an alchemist with a long, lovely blonde beard (this is not some hipster beard, this is the Whitman style beard of inner harmony and transcendence).
Did I mention the coffee yet? Wait, until the Eric Clapton solo is over. I have not listened to a record in quite sometime. I know that an mp3 recording is rather compressed, but until I walked in here this morning , I was used to the difference. It is a question of fidelity. The mid range is meatier and the bass is fuzzier. Maybe the highs dissipate a bit after a record has been played a few times, but there is something about the sound of real hi-fi pre-digital era. Between Mark Obermeyer and his endless record collection and Tim Magg and his collectible tube amp collection, I should know better, but I bought an iPhone and I have settled for ear buds for some time.
Coffee. I was at Tartine (see post - on Guerrero at 18th) a bit over a month ago, where Four Barrel is served. Here too, I was served what tasted like medium roast blend for my cappuccino. To be sure, they serve their espresso, macchiato, and cappuccino drinks in the regular size Nouva Point porcelain for each of these drinks. I asked for less milk in the cap, so in essence I received the equivalent of a wet macchiato served at many other establishments that I frequent (maybe they know what I really want, whereas some actually make a milky cap and call it a macchiato). The flavor was smooth, with a subtle oak taste, tinged with a minty after taste. I followed this up with a cup of coffee, that runs for two dollars for a regular mug, which also was a medium roast and very smooth. I must say that I like a darker roast or at least a medium with a wider bouquet (as found at Blue Bottle).
The question is, after a 35 minute walk would I come here again? Based on the coffee alone, no. But I would come here on a drive home to listen to records and drink a mellow cup of afternoon coffee. And maybe, just like an mp3 recording, the subtleties of a medium roast are a question of fidelity in a dark roasted world. Most cafés cater to the darker palette, satisfying with rich berry or chocolate flavors that follow an apricot bias, or some combination of brightness that makes the compression of electronic music so appealing in a pair of earbuds plugged into an iPhone. Just as the analog record spinning in the background reminds me of my youth sitting in front of a stack of records in the corner of my bedroom, the needle skipping over that scratch my best friend added to my favorite Brian Eno record at the last party we had, I may be in need of a re-education of what a cup of coffee is. I am still in love with the chocolate aftertaste of a Mr. Espresso roasted cup; maybe I need to learn to understand the medium roast.
Ultimately, I am destined to return to this high fidelity analog paradise of coffee to face a deeper mid range and a fuzzier bass, slightly distorting as I sip a medium roast blend, that reminds me of the fidelity of youth, and sit next to a patron that I may strike up a conversation with, as in the days of the pre laptop cafe, where neighbors mattered, and people read these things called books and newspapers (as I finish typing this on my iPad).
Location:Valencia St,San Francisco,United States
Please read a second review of Four Barrel, Sept. 29.
Please read a second review of Four Barrel, Sept. 29.
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