San Francisco Redux.

A weekend of coffee in San Francisco

For Christmas my parents got us all tickets to San Francisco, which we put into use last weekend.  We drove down to Seattle and flew out from there, but not without seeing the new Vivace first.

The first thing I thought when we walked in was how familiar the place looked.  Well, that’s due to the fact that it is.  They moved as much things from the one they closed over to this one.  “Anything they could salvage” according to the barista.  I really liked the old shop though, so it was nice to see.  Of course, the layout is different and there are some new things to see as well.

Yellows, milk chocolate browns, reds and blacks make up most of the cafe.

And does Vivace not have the greatest carbonated water ever?  I don’t even think they charge for it, either.

It’s on 532 Broadway Ave East, if you’re looking for it.

We flew out early the next morning and landed in SFO midday.  The bart (metro) took us to our hotel downtown, which I happily found out was only a few blocks away from the infamous Blue Bottle.  (For those who don’t know, I’ve been to San Francisco twice in the last year and both times Blue Bottle was either closed, or we couldn’t find it, or a combination of both.)

History did not repeat itself.

This is their sign.

It’s literally just a blue bottle on a building.  There is a little stand on the sidewalk that says ‘blue bottle coffee co’ as well.  But when you throw into the mix that it is hidden away and out of sight from any main street, you have to wonder how the average person finds it.

We ended up coming here three times, and here’s the lowdown.

They roast their own coffee.

If you order a ‘coffee’, you’re going to get whatever the coffee of the day is made on a pour over.  You can expect to wait a minute or two, because that’s just how it is.  There’s no urns or giant coffee pots waiting for the masses.  This doesn’t seem to be turning many people off though, as each time we went the place was packed, with a line, or one moments away from forming.  Individual cups, fresh for you.

There is a long(ish) communal table in the middle with stools around it, and seating around the walls in front of giant windows.  Talking with others is encouraged, almost as if it’s a social bar in a way.  While we were there my dad started talking to a guy beside us about the place and then where some good places to eat are.  He recommended a place he worked at, which is where we ended up going that night.  If anyone reading this goes down to San Francisco, you need to go to Bar Bambino.  It’s perfect.  Ask if Josh is working and mention this.

Hi Josh.

Okay, back to Blue Bottle.

They sport an osco lever machine on which you can choose through a small selection of single origin espressos.  This is available only during a certain time frame in the day.  The shot I had will go on my list as the sweetest and most full of jasmine and floral espresso I’ve ever had.  It was also probably only 3 quarters of an ounce too. Ultra-ristretto.

Of course, you can always get the usual espresso offerings as well, from a standard pump machine.

What Blue Bottle is probably most famous for in the coffee community is that they rock a full Syphon Bar, complete with 5 syphons heated by a Hallogen Burners.

Just like the lever machine, these are in operation during certain times of the day, as they require at least one person solely dedicated to working it.  (I think it was from 10am until 2 or 3pm…)  They have seats right up in front of the bar, and you can choose from a couple coffee offereings (at least when we went) on what you’d like to have.

When the halogen burners are turned on, you can’t help but stare at the giant bowl of eye candy laid out in front of you.

Apparently the set up costs something around $20,000, and so naturally they’ve received quite a lot of press about it, even in mainstream news.  None of us had ever actually had coffee from it so we were pretty excited.

They even have 2 iced coffee syphons.  They weren’t in operation when we went, so perhaps it’s saved for the sunnier times, I’m not too sure.

They happen to sell syphons too, so we bought one – a Hario, 3 cup.  They throw in a really nice butane burner instead of the alcohol burner it normally comes with, as well as a bamboo stirrer and a half pound of coffee.

After sitting down with Mike LaRoy back at crema this week and failing spectacularly a few times in front of a crowd of customers, here we are a few days later and we’ve got the basics down.

We had a Colombian Reserve (Huile La Plata) a few days agoand it was one of the best cups I’ve had in recent memory – but anyway, not to stray off the main topic I’ll save the rest of the Syphon talk for another post.

There is more I could say about Blue Bottle, but I won’t – you’ll just need to go sometime.  Here’s their site – their writing style on their how-to methods and coffee descriptions are pretty easy going and funny too.  Worth a read.

Ritual was up next, and it was just how I remembered.

Busy, loud instrumental hip hop, dark lighting, and great coffee.

They also have a Synesso now, which I don’t remember being there before.

We picked up a half pound of an El Salvador cup of excellence called La Libertad.

It’s full of lime and citrus acidity, and has really been a winner on the press and the siphon.  I’d offer a cup to anyone who wants to come in and try it but we’ve pretty much finished it off.

After Ritual, Chris, John, my dad and I did the 6 or whatever block walk down to Four Barrel, stopping at all the little indie shops along the way.  During this, I also spotted one of the biggest coffee sins I’ve ever bared witness too.

This was taken through the outside window of a little restaurant that I guess also makes coffee…

I get a little nauseous just looking at it.

When I went to Four Barrel in August, it had only been open for a week, and they were using Stumptown.

Fast forward to the present and they are now roasting all their coffee in house and the place was hopping the whole time we were there.  Old records were blaring through while we waited, including some Michael Jackson.

Jeremy, (former co-founder of Ritual and founder of Four Barrel) made our drinks.  While we were waiting I asked him what he recommended to pick up for the press.  He said the Colombian Esperenza they have right now is so wild and good that it’s controversial.

I don’t really even know what that means, but I was sold.

After having had it at crema this week on the press, he was right.  It is really good.

There isn’t much else to say, so with that I will end with an unofficial and unauthorized ‘macchiato how-to montage’ featuring Jeremy.