The goal of any survey is ultimately to develop a taxonomy, a classification, of the different items surveyed based on specific functions or characteristics using a standardized set of criteria. That definition comes to me from my ninth grade biology teacher, Frank Arena, who was the first teacher I ever had that lectured in class four days a week, with one lab a week. I took pride in the notes that I took, that I still have my biology notebook to this day. When I took biology in college as part of my general Ed in college, I used this same notebook to earn an A.
Coffee is an animal that has been in my life before I ever drank it, being the drink of productive Americans, including my mom who left for work as a nurse every morning at 7 am. She taught me how to make coffee probably by the time I was 12, but I never really liked it until I had a cappuccino at Rutabegorz the summer after my freshman year in high school at the age of 15. It was that summer that I realized that coffee could be a different animal than the brown bitter water my mom scooped out of a can of Yuban.
Thirty three years later, I must have consumed a few thousand gallons of coffee by now, from dark roasted regular coffee to a good amount of steamed milk and espresso.
Before I decided to find as many good cafés in my neighborhood and beyond last summer, I had settled for a relatively mundane existence of two or three cafés, all within three or four blocks of each other. I almost never veered off course, meeting good friends, many of which that I met at the very same cafés for years. Some coffee houses came and went, but from one year to the next I went to the same cafés until one closed and I moved on to the one down the street. But last year, I decided to walk east from my apartment instead of west, walking to the warmer part of the city, where fog does not regularly frequent.
After the past year and a half then, here is my best of list of cafés that I would go to for specific purposes, while still flitting around to new cafés in search of the next great espresso or cool environment for my next review. I will qualify, that unless I mention it, all of the cafés below make excellent to awesome espresso and coffee drinks.
Best 15 minute morning walk with a seat in the sun (also best place for an afternoon $2 pot of loose tea):
Bean There Cafe, Waller at Steiner. With at least 16 seats on a a wide sidewalk, not to mention the long corner walls with full sized windows facing East, this cafe is the best place to enjoy a lingering coffee experience on a weekend morning. The music plays low in the background and the staff is very friendly and serves a quality cup and a few bagels and egg sandwiches to go along with my second cup of coffee after a cappuccino served to spec.
Best early morning, opens at 6 am, place to wake up to in the cold morning:
Coffee, Tea and Spice on Central and Hayes. Besides great coffee, the mostly college aged staff here has played a number of differ new bands that I have wondered, "what is that soothing sound that I am half consciously now aware of?" as I still sit there half asleep at 6:30 writing in my journal. I have also gotten to know a couple of the regulars of the place, as well as a few clients that speak really loudly in the morning, who I think they must speak loudly to either be heard or to try to wake each other up. The other great advantage of this location is that it is the best coffee I can find two blocks away from my house.
Best place to sit in the afternoon sun if I get home early enough, when I want to take a fifteen minute walk: Matching Half Cafe at Baker and McAllister. This corner cafe is smaller than Bean There, but situated on a corner with its long windowed wall faces West. The espresso here is served to spec and the coffee is slow drip. The small menu is also excellent for a light meal. The music here is also well played, the staff, likewise being mostly college aged. Like Coffee, Tea and Spice, the music helps me calm down from a busy day and ground myself as I write in my journal.
Best place for a 15 minute walk if I want to go shopping for food afterwards: Flywheel Coffee on Stanyan south of Page. The espresso is served to spec, while the coffee is slow dripped. But on a warmer day, this roaster/cafe also makes a cold drip iced coffee that is extracted out of a truly incredible chemical sculpture of glass that is worth investigating. Being a newer cafe, it still has a couple of nuances, especially fickle wifi, but I have seen constant improvements as this owner operated cafe continues to grow into its large space. It is next to Whole Foods on Stanyan, which I never go to, since I prefer Gus and Georgia's Haight Street Market near Ashbury which is closer to my house.
Best Overall cafe space (still): Cafe Trieste, on Grant in a North Beach. Old timer coffee Brahmins, hipsters, tourists, people going to work, neighbors, sidewalk seating, sunny morning window seats, dark area in back for computer users as well as a place to see a small band play at night.
Best Espresso (this month): Four Barrel on Valencia and 15th Street.
Friendliest staff: Four Barrel.
Most annoying clientele because they think they are so cool for drinking the coffee there: Ritual on Valencia near 22nd St. It is not everybody there, just a few. The coffee is excellent, and if the hipsters who think they were artists would disappear, then the space would not so much strange energy as you were waiting in the long line for your precious ounces of espresso while the hipsters stared you down for wearing jeans and a t-shirt to a coffee house in the morning.
Best Cafe east of Folsom in the Mission: Atlas Cafe on Florida at 20th.
Best Cafés in other neighborhoods not mentioned: working on it.
What is missing from my list that is hard to find...
A late night cafe open till ten pm: since I cannot drink coffee that late anymore (I wish I could) I might try to find one, but I won't go there much unless I needed a place to grade papers.
A cafe that turns into a wine bar at night. I will review Vinyl on the corner of Divisidero and Oak soon.
A cafe that hosts a poetry reading, book club, or writers group, just like the good old days. I'll get back to you.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Four Barrel Coffee, Valencia at 15th, SF - Second review
(Read my first review from the beginning of the month here: Four Barrel, Sept. 3)
It is time for round two of the Four Barrel's main store. The last time I sat here, I came by myself, early on Labor Day, which hosted longer lines, dogs on leashes and neighbors chatting it up, that otherwise would be at work. I enjoyed the medium roast and the record player. But the last time I came here, I showed up with my wife after the half hour walk at about 10:30 to a packed hipster mob scene - every table was taken, the seats in the parklet were filled and the line was out the door on a Saturday morning.
With an up and coming cafe, the latest new roaster that is opening up actual stores elsewhere or at least getting more distribution across town, as it gets better press, it is only natural that its main flagship store would be a mob scene. So, this morning, I decided to get here by 8 am, before the crowds and the must be seen types show up around 9:30 or so. In fact, I came here to watch the morning transformation and report on that very phenomena, since the atmosphere of a cafe is as important to this blogger as amazing coffee - it is the combination that makes it a cafe worth drinking at. As I have reported in the past, the lack of wifi should create a different flavor of clientele, but if that forces the cafe to turn into a place with a rock and roll after tone, in contrast to a laptop morgue, then is this is place to come and read the invisible or even digital newspaper or book?
As part of my preview of a cafe that is at least a half hour walk, I usually follow a macchiato up with a cup of black coffee so I can taste the average mix of coffee drinks that most people might get here - an espresso with some milk and a straight cup of coffee. The last time I was here, I had the straight cup of $2 brewed coffee (which was very smooth and exceptional), but this time I decided that the stand alone coffee bar, that has a cash register was worth a visit, although the specialty beans here run around $3.50 - $5 a cup.
I spoke with the coffee bar specialist here for some time, where most people went straight to the main service area, I had a great one-on-one, ten minute conversation with Bradley. He ran through the coffees, told me about what he is drinking from the selection these days, and was able to discuss a couple of the growers' backgrounds to help me make my selection. We spoke about the new store opening up closer to my house, on Divisidero, and the bakery that is part of the operation with its own grain mill. We spoke of other cafés and roasters, and how this cafe offers a great space. Every single person that has helped me the two times I have been here have been extremely personable and friendly. Bradley is no exception.
If I could join the coffee club here, I might. It seems that the staff who works here have a real enthusiasm about serving the best cup of coffee to customers, in a neighborhood with wall-to-wall, hip coffee hangouts.
I have to say, I am still entranced by their record selection. As I have gotten older, instead of clinging to the music that I heard in my high school and early college days as so many Americans fall victim to, I have broadened my musical tastes considerably, buying old-timey country, blues, 1950s country standards and R&B, as well as a few dollars spent on music from Africa and India, not to mention being able to preview all of the amazing Middle East and Central Asian music that my wife has collected over the years as part of her dancing career.
The most important distinction that listening to records has with the modern age of digital mixing, is that one side of a record is about 22 minutes long or so, of music from one band in a moment in time when the order of the songs was carefully formulated to keep the record playing all the way through to the end. In the days of the automatic record player, which is not used here, and was never considered high fidelity, I would stack up four or five records on the spindle, and each side would play, 22 minutes each, then the next record would drop down by the next artist. Contrast that today with the digital equivalent of a three-and-a-half minute song, then flipping to another totally random song by an artist has removed the idea from many listeners and artists that a 22 minute stretch of six or seven songs actually make up a composition, a collection, that should be arranged and listened to in its entirety. Gone are the days. Right now I am listening to the first side of a Greatest Hits Album by Fleetwood Mac, an album by the band that I actually never owned until I had an iPod. Except for listening to Fleetwood Mac on KMET in Los Angeles in the late Seventies, I have never heard an entire side of Fleetwood Mac, ever, of which my iPhone will not distinguish, unless I decided to set it to play the entire album of Rumors in order. Maybe there is something to listening to the entire album. There must be a way to capture that record listening format that is lost on the shuffle button and a half crafted set list in iTunes.
So, I come back to my original purpose of observing the long stay at Four Barrel, but before I start, I must say that a good cafe sets the mood to enjoy coffee. Since the record player has taken me back, and allowed me to lose myself in a time many years ago, I am a fan of the atmosphere at 9:15 in the morning. The line has edged out the door and the main service bar is in full swing, while only one to two customers are engaged by Bradley's magic at the coffee bar. A good half of the clientele are ordering coffee to go, and many do not appear to be the hipper than thou cafe goers that congregate at several of the cafés down the street.
On the coffee itself - incredible. I ordered a cappuccino, which made to spec is what is often mistakenly served at most cafés as a macchiato, was exceptional. Compared to the last time I was here,the roast was darker, more to my liking for espresso drinks. It had a minty after taste and a berry flavor that met my tongue for the entire 45 minutes that I nursed it. The drip coffee, which I drank black, which was from Ethiopia had an exceptional flavor from the first sip through the most recent about a half hour after the first sip hit my lips. That is truly the test of good coffee, that its flavor does not die after it cools down. I learned this many years ago with a large cup of good dark roast of Peet's Coffee that could literally be nursed from morning until lunch with just enough cream to maintain that rich chocolate flavor as I ushered my students off to lunch, a reward for the finish line of having made it through two thirds of the day. Four Barrel passes the long cup of coffee test.
As 9:30 approaches, more families with children stand in line and more cell phones are now out by the lone coffee drinkers which is countered by that magic of coffee houses in the pre-laptop, pre-cell phone days, real life conversation. From the friendly service by employees that is engaging, to the random friends and couples that are waking up, the place is buzzing with conversation. This is not a place where the middling types would be afraid to inhabit, who seem to frequent the line and tables, sitting alongside folks like myself who are in awe of an up and coming cafe, enjoying a true expression of crafting fine coffee (notice I will not use the word artisanal, which has been co-opted by a Jack-the-Box commercial, and in my opinion should not used to discuss food, unless there is a reason to be pretentious about the type of cheese or bread you want to spend extra money on).
Well, the line breathes denser now, and the cafe is in full swing. I am full of two coffee drinks and definitely awake. It is time to hit the bathroom and make the half hour trek home as a very satisfied customer. Next stop, soon, Four Barrel on Divisidero.
It is time for round two of the Four Barrel's main store. The last time I sat here, I came by myself, early on Labor Day, which hosted longer lines, dogs on leashes and neighbors chatting it up, that otherwise would be at work. I enjoyed the medium roast and the record player. But the last time I came here, I showed up with my wife after the half hour walk at about 10:30 to a packed hipster mob scene - every table was taken, the seats in the parklet were filled and the line was out the door on a Saturday morning.
With an up and coming cafe, the latest new roaster that is opening up actual stores elsewhere or at least getting more distribution across town, as it gets better press, it is only natural that its main flagship store would be a mob scene. So, this morning, I decided to get here by 8 am, before the crowds and the must be seen types show up around 9:30 or so. In fact, I came here to watch the morning transformation and report on that very phenomena, since the atmosphere of a cafe is as important to this blogger as amazing coffee - it is the combination that makes it a cafe worth drinking at. As I have reported in the past, the lack of wifi should create a different flavor of clientele, but if that forces the cafe to turn into a place with a rock and roll after tone, in contrast to a laptop morgue, then is this is place to come and read the invisible or even digital newspaper or book?
As part of my preview of a cafe that is at least a half hour walk, I usually follow a macchiato up with a cup of black coffee so I can taste the average mix of coffee drinks that most people might get here - an espresso with some milk and a straight cup of coffee. The last time I was here, I had the straight cup of $2 brewed coffee (which was very smooth and exceptional), but this time I decided that the stand alone coffee bar, that has a cash register was worth a visit, although the specialty beans here run around $3.50 - $5 a cup.
I spoke with the coffee bar specialist here for some time, where most people went straight to the main service area, I had a great one-on-one, ten minute conversation with Bradley. He ran through the coffees, told me about what he is drinking from the selection these days, and was able to discuss a couple of the growers' backgrounds to help me make my selection. We spoke about the new store opening up closer to my house, on Divisidero, and the bakery that is part of the operation with its own grain mill. We spoke of other cafés and roasters, and how this cafe offers a great space. Every single person that has helped me the two times I have been here have been extremely personable and friendly. Bradley is no exception.
If I could join the coffee club here, I might. It seems that the staff who works here have a real enthusiasm about serving the best cup of coffee to customers, in a neighborhood with wall-to-wall, hip coffee hangouts.
I have to say, I am still entranced by their record selection. As I have gotten older, instead of clinging to the music that I heard in my high school and early college days as so many Americans fall victim to, I have broadened my musical tastes considerably, buying old-timey country, blues, 1950s country standards and R&B, as well as a few dollars spent on music from Africa and India, not to mention being able to preview all of the amazing Middle East and Central Asian music that my wife has collected over the years as part of her dancing career.
The most important distinction that listening to records has with the modern age of digital mixing, is that one side of a record is about 22 minutes long or so, of music from one band in a moment in time when the order of the songs was carefully formulated to keep the record playing all the way through to the end. In the days of the automatic record player, which is not used here, and was never considered high fidelity, I would stack up four or five records on the spindle, and each side would play, 22 minutes each, then the next record would drop down by the next artist. Contrast that today with the digital equivalent of a three-and-a-half minute song, then flipping to another totally random song by an artist has removed the idea from many listeners and artists that a 22 minute stretch of six or seven songs actually make up a composition, a collection, that should be arranged and listened to in its entirety. Gone are the days. Right now I am listening to the first side of a Greatest Hits Album by Fleetwood Mac, an album by the band that I actually never owned until I had an iPod. Except for listening to Fleetwood Mac on KMET in Los Angeles in the late Seventies, I have never heard an entire side of Fleetwood Mac, ever, of which my iPhone will not distinguish, unless I decided to set it to play the entire album of Rumors in order. Maybe there is something to listening to the entire album. There must be a way to capture that record listening format that is lost on the shuffle button and a half crafted set list in iTunes.
So, I come back to my original purpose of observing the long stay at Four Barrel, but before I start, I must say that a good cafe sets the mood to enjoy coffee. Since the record player has taken me back, and allowed me to lose myself in a time many years ago, I am a fan of the atmosphere at 9:15 in the morning. The line has edged out the door and the main service bar is in full swing, while only one to two customers are engaged by Bradley's magic at the coffee bar. A good half of the clientele are ordering coffee to go, and many do not appear to be the hipper than thou cafe goers that congregate at several of the cafés down the street.
On the coffee itself - incredible. I ordered a cappuccino, which made to spec is what is often mistakenly served at most cafés as a macchiato, was exceptional. Compared to the last time I was here,the roast was darker, more to my liking for espresso drinks. It had a minty after taste and a berry flavor that met my tongue for the entire 45 minutes that I nursed it. The drip coffee, which I drank black, which was from Ethiopia had an exceptional flavor from the first sip through the most recent about a half hour after the first sip hit my lips. That is truly the test of good coffee, that its flavor does not die after it cools down. I learned this many years ago with a large cup of good dark roast of Peet's Coffee that could literally be nursed from morning until lunch with just enough cream to maintain that rich chocolate flavor as I ushered my students off to lunch, a reward for the finish line of having made it through two thirds of the day. Four Barrel passes the long cup of coffee test.
As 9:30 approaches, more families with children stand in line and more cell phones are now out by the lone coffee drinkers which is countered by that magic of coffee houses in the pre-laptop, pre-cell phone days, real life conversation. From the friendly service by employees that is engaging, to the random friends and couples that are waking up, the place is buzzing with conversation. This is not a place where the middling types would be afraid to inhabit, who seem to frequent the line and tables, sitting alongside folks like myself who are in awe of an up and coming cafe, enjoying a true expression of crafting fine coffee (notice I will not use the word artisanal, which has been co-opted by a Jack-the-Box commercial, and in my opinion should not used to discuss food, unless there is a reason to be pretentious about the type of cheese or bread you want to spend extra money on).
Well, the line breathes denser now, and the cafe is in full swing. I am full of two coffee drinks and definitely awake. It is time to hit the bathroom and make the half hour trek home as a very satisfied customer. Next stop, soon, Four Barrel on Divisidero.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Aroma Cafe, Santa Rosa
I felt yesterday's coffee experience deserved a more valiant effort to find a real independent coffee house in a part of Santa Rosa that had not undergone a major bulldozer job of its history. Thus, the old main train station area of Santa Rosa is the host to Aroma Cafe. This large cafe is situated in the luggage claim area, with an adjoining ice cream shop also run by the cafe as well. The main cafe room is probably 50 feet long by 25 feet wide, with ample counter space along the walls and 60 chairs. A industrial size roaster sits in the corner nearest the service area. Ceiling fans, and bright lights hang from the open rafters. Coffee is the focus, but breakfast and lunch items are available as well. The store front is lined with a long row of outside tables facing a huge parking lot.
This is a great space. Besides being a great place to read a book, several patrons came her to talk over a coffee drink. The report from the counter regarding wifi is that it really works best in the ice cream room. So, here again, as in my recent visits to Trouble and Four Barrel Cafés, is that wifi and setting up a laptop morgue is not the focus here.
As is the case in much of the North Coast, starting in Sonoma, the sixties never really died here, they just moved away from the Bay Area. Crosby, Stills and Nash played over the speakers, softly lilting through the room in the background, not overpowering the continual chatter of friends engaged in conversation. I think I could fall in love in a cafe where people spoke to each other across the room, at every table. The other thing that makes the North Coast distinct from the Bay Area, is a generally low level of image consciousness - people in Sonoma County are much more mellow and low key than their Bay Area cousins. The crowd here is in fact a number of college aged students, a couple of young family types and a few others, like myself in their forties or so.
The coffee here is adequate on first sip. But as it cooled, the coffee flavor grew on me as I finished my macchiatto. Maybe as I listened to the hum of conversation, my coffee started to taste better. I may have to stop here again in a couple of months when I return for my next regional teachers union meeting in Santa Rosa.
This is a great space. Besides being a great place to read a book, several patrons came her to talk over a coffee drink. The report from the counter regarding wifi is that it really works best in the ice cream room. So, here again, as in my recent visits to Trouble and Four Barrel Cafés, is that wifi and setting up a laptop morgue is not the focus here.
As is the case in much of the North Coast, starting in Sonoma, the sixties never really died here, they just moved away from the Bay Area. Crosby, Stills and Nash played over the speakers, softly lilting through the room in the background, not overpowering the continual chatter of friends engaged in conversation. I think I could fall in love in a cafe where people spoke to each other across the room, at every table. The other thing that makes the North Coast distinct from the Bay Area, is a generally low level of image consciousness - people in Sonoma County are much more mellow and low key than their Bay Area cousins. The crowd here is in fact a number of college aged students, a couple of young family types and a few others, like myself in their forties or so.
The coffee here is adequate on first sip. But as it cooled, the coffee flavor grew on me as I finished my macchiatto. Maybe as I listened to the hum of conversation, my coffee started to taste better. I may have to stop here again in a couple of months when I return for my next regional teachers union meeting in Santa Rosa.
Location:Wilson St,Santa Rosa,United States
Friday, September 14, 2012
The battle at the old town mall - Pete's Coffee, Fourth and D, Santa Rosa, Calif.
We have been in that strange place, out of our element, in a place we have driven by a hundred times on a highway, and maybe stopped for a dinner with some local friends, carefully following their directions. But this time, I have driven through the town myself, in need of a coffee stop, with limited time, on the way to a meeting at a local office. I have to deposit a couple of checks at my mega-bank's local branch, and with the help of a gps unit, I land in Downtown Santa Rosa.
Many years ago, this beautiful town's downtown added a freeway and a mall with its own off ramp. I ended up here, in the completely redeveloped downtown area in which some number of older family operations were probably forced to close while the larger corporate restaurants and other retail establishments have attempted to settle in to this region that has been hit hard by the banking collapse of 2008, much of the new house owners underwater in debt. These economic cycles wreak havoc on the smaller businesses, pushing them out as leases come up, allowing the corporate restaurants, bars, and coffee chains to move in with their economic muscle.
At this very corner, sit three coffee houses... sort of. Arrigoni's sits on the NE corner, but has been in the business of breakfast and lunch for many years, with its checkered tablecloths, and large eating area filled with round tables for four. Pete's Coffee, a SF Bay area original, has been here for at least 12 years, probably much longer, before it became a publicly traded company, and a much larger corporate entity than its original roots ever were laid.
The last cafe, is actually a Starbucks, in a Barnes and Noble Bookstore, that at one time was a real independent bookstore before the rise of Amazon and the old, brick-and-mortar mega store, Borders, dominated the market, pushing smaller independents into oblivion. The other mega store, Barnes and Noble, with it's former emphasis on best sellers, bargains, pulp fiction and coffee table gift books, is what Santa Rosa was stuck with. Perhaps Barnes has changed since it is the only brick and mortar chain left standing. My half brother, Daniel Rodgers, 27, actually worked in more than a couple of bookstore cafés on Cape Cod and in Los Angeles, slinging Starbucks espresso at a B&N a few years back. It was a job. Pleasant, clean, do they offer insurance? But Starbucks Coffee has become the post Modern equivalent of Winchell's donuts or McDonalds for the coffee industry, one step up from the one pound can of coffee that my parents drank from for years.
If I had to choose one of these places, I ended up at Pete's pleading brand loyalty from an earlier day when Pete's was that proud small chain of 10-15 Bay Area stores that made deep rich, chocolate flavored dark roast that kept you up all day on just 12 ounces. I ordered a macchiato, and I must report that their espresso drinks are always better than Starbucks, and even stand up well to a number of cafés that I have explored in my neighborhood in the City. The problem with Pete's and another chain out of Seattle, Tully's, is that they have been forced by their shareholders to compete with Starbucks by creating a homogenized cafe experience that makes each of their interiors indistinguishable (more on this issue later - and why I absolutely have come to deplore Starbuck's culture marketing in so many ways). The saving grace, at least, is the coffee at Pete's is far superior.
Many years ago, this beautiful town's downtown added a freeway and a mall with its own off ramp. I ended up here, in the completely redeveloped downtown area in which some number of older family operations were probably forced to close while the larger corporate restaurants and other retail establishments have attempted to settle in to this region that has been hit hard by the banking collapse of 2008, much of the new house owners underwater in debt. These economic cycles wreak havoc on the smaller businesses, pushing them out as leases come up, allowing the corporate restaurants, bars, and coffee chains to move in with their economic muscle.
At this very corner, sit three coffee houses... sort of. Arrigoni's sits on the NE corner, but has been in the business of breakfast and lunch for many years, with its checkered tablecloths, and large eating area filled with round tables for four. Pete's Coffee, a SF Bay area original, has been here for at least 12 years, probably much longer, before it became a publicly traded company, and a much larger corporate entity than its original roots ever were laid.
The last cafe, is actually a Starbucks, in a Barnes and Noble Bookstore, that at one time was a real independent bookstore before the rise of Amazon and the old, brick-and-mortar mega store, Borders, dominated the market, pushing smaller independents into oblivion. The other mega store, Barnes and Noble, with it's former emphasis on best sellers, bargains, pulp fiction and coffee table gift books, is what Santa Rosa was stuck with. Perhaps Barnes has changed since it is the only brick and mortar chain left standing. My half brother, Daniel Rodgers, 27, actually worked in more than a couple of bookstore cafés on Cape Cod and in Los Angeles, slinging Starbucks espresso at a B&N a few years back. It was a job. Pleasant, clean, do they offer insurance? But Starbucks Coffee has become the post Modern equivalent of Winchell's donuts or McDonalds for the coffee industry, one step up from the one pound can of coffee that my parents drank from for years.
If I had to choose one of these places, I ended up at Pete's pleading brand loyalty from an earlier day when Pete's was that proud small chain of 10-15 Bay Area stores that made deep rich, chocolate flavored dark roast that kept you up all day on just 12 ounces. I ordered a macchiato, and I must report that their espresso drinks are always better than Starbucks, and even stand up well to a number of cafés that I have explored in my neighborhood in the City. The problem with Pete's and another chain out of Seattle, Tully's, is that they have been forced by their shareholders to compete with Starbucks by creating a homogenized cafe experience that makes each of their interiors indistinguishable (more on this issue later - and why I absolutely have come to deplore Starbuck's culture marketing in so many ways). The saving grace, at least, is the coffee at Pete's is far superior.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Sugarlump Cafe - 24th bet. Florida and Bryant
Usually when I do a review of a café, I enter by myself and leave by myself, drinking my coffee and writing in absolute solitude at my table... I enjoy the morning ritual and quietude of being at a cafe after it has just opened its doors, the music reverberating off of the high ceilings and art hanging from the walls; the sunlight diffused through the morning clouds follows my slow rise of consciousness as the caffeine hits my frontal lobes.
Recently a friend read my blog and offered to join me sometime for coffee in the Mission. She arrived at the idea of Sugarlump Cafe, a place I had never heard of before. I met her after work at a table near the back. I ordered a cappuccino and sat down to discuss drama exercises, writing activities, archetypes and story telling and her newest interest, personal coaching. We talked for quite sometime. I showed her my archetype list in my journal that I was working on, and she broke out her current art journal. We talked about work a bit, she being one of the resident artists for our districts art grant.
We had a lot to talk about. I had to feed my parking meter again, and she took a phone call and a couple of texts as we talked on. It was a good time. After about 90 minutes she had to go for an appointment.
Then I sipped the last third of my cap. It was great. Even after 90 minutes, the coffee flavor was an aromatic dark roast, with a rich chocolate middle. But I have to say, the conversation was so good, that I realized that I wasn't paying attention to the cafe, or even my coffee. There was plenty of space in this warm, slightly dim long store front. The stereo belted out 1950s R&B, but my friend tells me that the music varies every time she has been here. A few people had laptops, but others read. I would recommend he space and its exceptional coffee.
I wonder if I can come here again by myself and write a better review. Perhaps this is the best review that can be written, since I actually met a friend at a cafe. The coffee was great. The space was relaxed and woodsy. I would come her again.
Recently a friend read my blog and offered to join me sometime for coffee in the Mission. She arrived at the idea of Sugarlump Cafe, a place I had never heard of before. I met her after work at a table near the back. I ordered a cappuccino and sat down to discuss drama exercises, writing activities, archetypes and story telling and her newest interest, personal coaching. We talked for quite sometime. I showed her my archetype list in my journal that I was working on, and she broke out her current art journal. We talked about work a bit, she being one of the resident artists for our districts art grant.
We had a lot to talk about. I had to feed my parking meter again, and she took a phone call and a couple of texts as we talked on. It was a good time. After about 90 minutes she had to go for an appointment.
Then I sipped the last third of my cap. It was great. Even after 90 minutes, the coffee flavor was an aromatic dark roast, with a rich chocolate middle. But I have to say, the conversation was so good, that I realized that I wasn't paying attention to the cafe, or even my coffee. There was plenty of space in this warm, slightly dim long store front. The stereo belted out 1950s R&B, but my friend tells me that the music varies every time she has been here. A few people had laptops, but others read. I would recommend he space and its exceptional coffee.
I wonder if I can come here again by myself and write a better review. Perhaps this is the best review that can be written, since I actually met a friend at a cafe. The coffee was great. The space was relaxed and woodsy. I would come her again.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Trouble Cafe
Since my last time here over a year ago, the "parklet" that have expanded in one or two parking spots on sidewalks near cafés and restaurants across the City have really taken off. When I was here in the summer of 2011, Trouble Cafe had a weather worn wooden bench on this wind swept beach avenue, and a small bench that still exists around the sidewalk tree in front of the business. But since then, a beautiful log lies two thirds of the length of the two car long parklet that serves well as a beautiful outside bench. On a sunny day like today, it is well worth the seat.
Trouble Cafe makes coffee, but everyone will tell you it is all about a huge slab of cinnamon toast which tastes almost like cake. Add a coconut milk and meat shavings served in a shell and the four basic food groups are pretty much covered on a sunny day. Of course they serve coffee as well. About half of the small store front's length is covered by the coffee service area, which has a customer bar that runs along towards the back of the store. The front half has raw wood finished bar height counters and stools that are about ten inches deep. It is a pleasure to see that the focus here is on drinking coffee, and not on pounding a laptop keyboard, since they do not offer wifi, nor the counter space to really spread out.
The logo, the distressed wood, coupled by what sounds like an am radio size stereo punching out the distorted guitar tracks, give this place a real punk rock feel. The 20-30 somethings that are enjoying their coffee and visiting really add a flare to the neighborhood feel.
The macchiato used a dark roast blend with a taste that grew on me as I sipped away in the custom, handmade Japanese style tea cup - a spec sized macchiato. And the toast was practically a dreamy piece of cinnamon toast, that ends diets with plenty of butter and sugar. When I have time for this out of the way cafe for me, I'll be back.
- Posted by Mr. Rodgers
Trouble Cafe makes coffee, but everyone will tell you it is all about a huge slab of cinnamon toast which tastes almost like cake. Add a coconut milk and meat shavings served in a shell and the four basic food groups are pretty much covered on a sunny day. Of course they serve coffee as well. About half of the small store front's length is covered by the coffee service area, which has a customer bar that runs along towards the back of the store. The front half has raw wood finished bar height counters and stools that are about ten inches deep. It is a pleasure to see that the focus here is on drinking coffee, and not on pounding a laptop keyboard, since they do not offer wifi, nor the counter space to really spread out.
The logo, the distressed wood, coupled by what sounds like an am radio size stereo punching out the distorted guitar tracks, give this place a real punk rock feel. The 20-30 somethings that are enjoying their coffee and visiting really add a flare to the neighborhood feel.
The macchiato used a dark roast blend with a taste that grew on me as I sipped away in the custom, handmade Japanese style tea cup - a spec sized macchiato. And the toast was practically a dreamy piece of cinnamon toast, that ends diets with plenty of butter and sugar. When I have time for this out of the way cafe for me, I'll be back.
- Posted by Mr. Rodgers
Location:Judah near 45th Ave, SF
Monday, September 3, 2012
Four Barrel - Valencia at 15th, SF
There is always something beautiful about an empty cafe in the early morning. The bakery delivery has just arrived, the new beans are in the industrial sized roaster and the sound of records (yes, good old vinyl) fills the space as the upbeat, smiling cashier wishes you a happy morning as you leave a tip. I have heard of such places in the City, and some combination of these features exist in some cafés, but rarely in the same universe that I inhabit. Of course several of my favorite cafés have that one distinguishable feature that makes it grand or tolerable depending on my mood or often my available time.
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).
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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