The Mill

Finally, this past Wednesday, The Mill opened its doors, merging the combination of Four Barrel Coffee Roasters and one Josie Baker. Four Barrel, the up-and-coming San Francisco roaster, that has perfected the medium roast formula, met up with Josie on Divis last summer and started slinging espresso out of a tented off area out of the front of this large space as the rest of the space was being developed. Josie and her crew mill their own grains and bake their bread in the back, in this open air service area coupled with the coffee service area that sits in the front.
The space, in the Four Barrel fashion, is long and spacious. Starting from the back, along the service area that takes up about half the length of the store, a set of 5 tables are built in to the wall with two moveable chairs each. The front of the cafe hold 7 double seated tables along the opposite corner, with a long wooden table that seats about 12 That parallels the opposite wall and the entrance. There are two bay seats in each window. The palatial seating allows each patron to breathe and sip their coffee in peace while being serenaded to the distant whir of espresso machines and the buzz of the bakery.
Unlike the main store on Valencia, a double cassette has been installed, but the record collection and turntable are missing. Perhaps mix tapes are better, but the same fidelity fades on old cassettes as they are repeated played (thanks to the properties of magnetic tape and metal play heads).
The coffee and the bread are both excellent. I sat with a cappuccino and toasted rye with cream cheese. The coffee follows the same specs as the original store's exceptional quality. The black rye slice that I had was so sweetly strong, that I can still taste its flavor through my last sips of my coffee.
Highly recommended. Maybe there is still a reason to walk across town to the original flagship, but only to listen to some old vinyl spinning in the morning sun.
Like all early risers, this cafe's space and quiet was slowly replaced by an abundance of people waiting out the door. It would seem that all of the other amazing cafés closed up and down the street in NOPA, which is overly populated with late 20 and early 30 somethings, many of which gather a paycheck from newly minted downtown office jobs. Unfortunately, this lot does have a tendency to stare at full tables in a crowded castle, not planning ahead for an early filled seat on a Monday holiday. The go getter attitude of this age group is maybe the one feature of NOPA that makes this part of the city feel like Manhattan, but without the artists of the Mission, who at least read and write in the cafés across town.

Location:The Mill, 736 Divisedero, between Fulton and Grove, San Francisco

Black Oak Coffee Roasters, Ukiah

This space, once inhabited by the Coffee Critic until the summer of 2012, has been a great place to stop on my way from San Francisco to California's northwest coastline for some time, on a long weekend trip to visit some friends or taste some wine in Mendocino or Sonoma. Recently, my wife and I swung by en route, and on our return from Arcata.

The most important shift from the Critic is that the coffee is served to spec, where a macchiato is no longer a cappuccino, but instead served with the equivalent of two table spoons of foamed milk. The macchiato passed the slow sipping test, where the last sip, fifteen minutes later was as flavorful as the first. My wife's soy latte was exceptional, and the coffee that we took to go was an exceptional dark roast that lasted in the car after dinner on the continued drive to Humboldt.

Gone is the black and white checkered tile that always reminded me of an old ice cream parlor. Gone is the emphasis on lunch service. Gone are the heavy cast iron chairs and tables that filled the entire dining area.

A coffee roaster now sits prominently displayed behind glass at the entrance, that runs along the western wall. The interior has been transformed to a dark oak or walnut finished floor and ceiling. Smaller two and four seated tables now line part of the dining area, complemented by three couches and coffee tables. I do not recall, but I think the front windows now had a small window bar with bar seats facing the parking lot.

When we entered on Friday around 4 pm, a string trio with a small vocal PA was pleasantly serenading the five or six other patrons with folk and country ballads. This was not possible at the Coffee Critic, but to be fair, a single pass once every year or so is no measure of the local performance calendar that I chanced upon this past Friday.

On my way to friendly abodes on California's western corner, I will surely pass this way again. We bought a pound of dark roast as well, and will soon grind it this week before work to savor some of the flavor of this exceptional roastery.

Blue Fig Cafe, 990 Valencia at 21st St.

Day Light savings time creates the great shift for early morning risers. For about one month, all of the sudden, the sun comes up around 6:30, thus my morning walk is alight with an early dawn glow even when I start my walk at 6:00 am. Of course, as winter approaches, the sun will avoid sunrise until later and later, until around my birthday, December 23, when the days will start to get longer.

This morning I woke up fairly early, around 5:30, adjusting for the new time change. Biologically, that is 6:30, sleeping in by my weekday standards. I had planned a walk to the Mission District for coffee, and proceeded to make it to Ritual before it got too busy. On my way there along Valencia, I walked by several coffee houses that I have reviewed in the past - Javalencia, Borderlands, Tartine, Four Barrel.

Just a block north of Ritual - I saw its iconic hammer and sickle morphed coffee cup silhouette on a red background - I saw Blue Fig Cafe. I walked by this smaller store front before. It has a parklet out front and a patio in the back. I ordered a cappuccino and sat indoors. The set list that pumped through the stereo was entirely Zero 7, a late 2000s breakout jazz fusion band (big fan, I own all of their albums).

About half way through my cap, I decided to move out back. The patio is of the high walled variety, surrounded by the four story victorian flats that line most of San Francisco. Assuming the day will be in the high seventies, a scorcher by SF standards, I assumed that the patio would be just right for the t-shirt I was wearing - it is still a slight chill out of the sun. The cap was exceptional - dark roast, with chocolate overtones. I strongly suggest this location, as long as it is not raining, for the patio and parklet options.

Progressive Grounds, Cortland Ave., Bernal Heights, San Francisco

Early morning before I work the Bernal Heights Street Fair for CTA today, found Janine and me looking for a cup of coffee (writing in the passive voice makes it sound like I am not taking any responsibility for my actions - a victim of circumstances - yes). Two places were bakeries, that maybe had good coffee. But the neighborhood traditional establishment was Progressive Grounds.
The espresso drinks - a double small cap and my wife's Soy Latte - were great. The traditional brewed coffee refill I had was also exceptional. All drinks used a dark roast with berry, chocolate, and minty after tones. The back room was hosting a meeting of sorts, but the room resembled a living room with several chairs. If I make it back to this cafe again, I will have to sit back there. Not only that, but this seemingly former home also has a split level backyard patio with tables to enjoy a cup of coffee on a sunny day.

My wife and I sat in the front room. The cafe not only serves the usual bagels and muffins for breakfast, but also serves a range of lavash wraps, regular sandwiches and salads. They even serve several flavors of ice cream.
The neighborhood clientele is full of middle aged homeowners, in this traditionally working class part of town. No tourists stop here, but there must be a few artists that live here. I am sure they will be at the fair today when I ask them to stop Prop. 32 and support 30. The election is just two weeks away. When it is done, I will sleep better. Until then, more coffee, please.

Stanza Cafe, Haight east of Cole, San Francisco

There are a couple of cafés on the upper Haight that focus just on coffee. A short walk from home to Cole at Haight offers three choices in less than 50 yards from one another. I have never been to Cantata Coffee, that faces south at Cole. Cafe Cole, makes excellent coffee and breakfast bagels and sandwiches. Both of these cafés offer outside patio chair style seating. Stanza, which is owned by the same operator as Cafe Cole has the best indoor atmosphere. But more importantly, Stanza unmistakeable makes the best espresso drinks in the upper Haight, with Flywheel coming in second.

The cappuccino that I am drinking, and the soy mocha that my wife is drinking are served to spec. The coffee is a slightly sharp minty chocolate flavor with a smokey aftertaste. My wife's mocha uses the best chocolate I have tasted in a mocha, although it has been a while since I have had a mocha. All of their coffee is supplied by Auggie's Roasters from Redlands, Ca.

My only complaint with the space has to do with the barrel top tables. The table tops seem to be made from wood barrel ends. The problem with this is that the top lip of the barrel is a narrow metal edge. On top of that, and maybe this was intended, but it is impossible to use a laptop on these tables, or to write in a notebook. But I guess the table tops protect against spills. There is a coffee bar area in back, where the stereo seems to be focused.

The best cappuccino this side of town... But lose the table tops. I'll be back.

Elite Coffee Bar, Folsom at 5th St., SF

Put a new espresso machine in an old garage space, get a Blue Bottle contract, a good stereo system down the street from Moscone Center - will it work.
The urban feel is unmistakeable, just a block from a major freeway on ramp, this place might be exactly what can be afforded for a forever up-and-coming redevelopment area surrounded by new condo structures that are reminiscent of lower profile construction that is going on in every major redeveloped city that is booming with the idea that young professionals need a 900 square foot condo a ten minute walk from the downtown corporate towers that print their paychecks and pay off their student loans.
It is a brave new world in most downtowns. I even saw similar urban renewal in parts of Istanbul this summer, with designs for condo, and multi use six to eight story buildings replacing the older Ottoman tenements that seemed so common a hundred years ago. This part of San Francisco is no different, having been a hub for small workshops - glass, furniture, car repair, and a hefty number of welfare hotels that in recent years have mysteriously burned down. I end up in downtown Los Angeles about four times a year, and the scene is no different. The skid row of old is replete with 10-20 story condos - either converted apartments or newly built condos. The plan is simple - get rid of the older, 100 or so year old buildings in the low rent district and build something that seems to work for most people the first ten years of their professional life, fulfilling their dream to live in a bustling civic center, until they decide to family down. Welcome to south of Market.
The Blue Bottle Macchiatto was great. Gotta go. The constant, rhythmic hum of major traffic never ceased. A great stop if I wanted to escape Moscone for a convention day off for a quick cup of Blue Bottle.

Mojo - Bicycle Shop & Cafe, 639 Divisidero south of Grove, SF

I resist coming to cafés that have a competing business shared in the same space to read or write. The restrictive space typically causes the cafe ambience to be compromised by a smaller service area, or a lack of space for customers to either line up or to wait for their orders to be delivered. I have been here in the early morning during the week and weekend in the past, and like most cafés, the early morning still allows enough air in a smaller space to enjoy a cup of coffee while waking up before the cafe starts to buzz with customers. But once a cafe like Mojo gets rolling with lines out the door and people standing waiting for tables on the adjoining parklet that is bordered by a tight sidewalk mirrored by two relatively noisy lanes of traffic in each direction on Divisidero, the energy of the cafe seems cramped. I almost feel that strange NewYork feeling (sorry to my cousins on Long Island) where customers seem to vie for each available chair, hovering in the narrow path through the shop between the row of tables on the opposite wall which dually serves as the main path to the bicycle store at the rear of the store front, having to dodge the occasional bike shop customer's repaired bicycle.

The light breakfast fair is top notch and the espresso drinks made with Ritual Coffee suffice, made with medium roast from Central America. The service staff is very friendly and immediately responsive. I would come here to eat and drink a cup of coffee if I had a half an hour before getting on a bus or bicycle to go to work during the early morning work week. Otherwise, I would choose to go to another space for that sunny morning ambience of a cafe to wake up with a quiet cup of coffee during the weekend.