The Return of the Summer Coffee Adventure

You might wonder if I stopped drinking coffee since last summer's effort to find the best cafe, on foot in the City of San Francisco. Last year's attempt at a blog had several faults, but the most glaring was the lack of timely posts. Most of my entries were transposed from handwritten journal entries about the 23 cafes that I sat in and drank their coffee in 21 days around the city, including three cafes in Humboldt, an independent coffee house in Buena Park, that would pass, as well as a review of a Pete's Coffee at San Francisco International Airport.

Coffee drinking has never been better, except for the fact that my cafe buddies at my old digs are always wondering where I've been, if I'm sick or something, or if I lost my job. None of the above. I am simply at one of the 20 cafes that I can walk to in about 15 minutes around my neighborhood, the Haight Ashbury of Sixties fame. For sometime, it was obvious that my part of town was more enamored with Pot Dispensaries (there are a lot of medical conditions in my neighborhood) as well as the paraphernalia shops that somehow crowded out any opportunities for a great cafe to make a decent cup of coffee on the Haight. Besides the pot business, tattoo laboratories, about 10 shoe stores, at least a dozen vintage and evening wear boutiques, I always had this fantasy that a coffee place would be here, but until this Spring one had not existed for at least six years, since Casey's Coffee, Tea, and Spice closed its doors.

Instead of just taking this blog to a local favorite after last summer's treasure hunt, which yielded such places as Bean There, Matching Half, and Central Coffee, Tea, and Spice (no relation to Casey's), I decided it was time for a long walk to Valencia around 20th. This part of Valencia, in the Mission District, the coolest part of town for artists and hipsters has a slew of flagship cafes within eight blocks of each other. After a 40 minute walk on a brisk, sunny morning, I had my heart set on Ritual Cafe. As I approached the temple of hipper than thou Cappuccino, I started to faulter, remembering that there were in fact other places that can sling espresso along with the best of them that I have never been to. Thus, I arrived at Javalencia.

Jvia (for short) is a narrow and unassuming store front with odd matching chairs and tables, hand made railings and stenciled Azteca artwork facing a wall of large framed posters, lit by two strips of spot lights and light shades. The staff speaks Spanish openly with the customers, who often respond in English, with the occasional phrase from High School or a response from a fluent speaker who shifts gears from English.

The cafe wasn't busy on this Thursday morning. A couple of tables were occupied, the music played softly in the background, as the barrista and main counter person, took orders. My macchiato was prepared as soon as I ordered it, then my bagel was handed off to the second employee for its toasting and butter. The bagel, made by New York Bagels, was the best bagel I ever had, advertised as the "Best boiled Bagel." No doubt. The macchiato likewise was excellent. An hour later, the last of it still maintained its flavor even at room temperature. I would come here again for a low key coffee experience, to read, to have a quiet conversation with a friend, or even to write my next post to this blog.

Atmosphere - 10; Food - 10; Coffee - 10.

Location:Javalencia Café