Coffee/bakery/coffee
SHORTS:
Four Barrel Coffee
in an alley behind 375 Valencia, SF
Italian French Bakery
1501 Grant at Union, SF
Graffeo Coffee Company
735 Columbus near washingtown square, north beach, SF
The newest, hottest coffee place in SF isn't open yet. Four Barrel Coffee Roasters cafe will open on Valencia between 14th and 15th street sometime soon. Meanwhile, they're selling coffee out the back door in the alley behind the place! You go ring a bell and they come out from their carpentry work and make espresso drinks. Supposedly this place is the new home to one of the founder's of SF favorite, Ritual Coffee. Has Ritual gone downhill because he left or did he leave because it went downhill? Anyway, hopefully this place will be at least as good as Ritual used to be. Meanwhile before he roasts his own beans he's using Stumptown's Hairbender Blend which is about the best thing of all time. So I got an Americano and it was good.
I wandered into Italian French Bakery in North Beach today. They had a ton of different kinds of biscotti. I tried the anise version. Not bad. I felt like it was 1980.
In an attempt to get into the old school SF coffee scene, I finally made it to Graffeo. This place has been doing it since 1935. They only sell coffee beans - no drinks available. You have to make them yourself at your home or your restaurant. They make one single blend and that's it. It's available in dark roast, light roast, half and half dark/light, and decaf. I got half a pound of half and half. I got home and put it in the french press. That stuff is nuts! It foamed to high heaven. It almost bloomed out of the press pot! I've never seen anything like it. It's strong as hell and pretty crazy. I'm going to try it again in different proportions. I enjoyed it, though it wasn't exactly the smoothest cup I've had in a while. Maybe there was a chemical reaction in my mouth with the anise biscotti thing mixing with Graffeo coffee.
Four Barrel Coffee
in an alley behind 375 Valencia, SF
Italian French Bakery
1501 Grant at Union, SF
Graffeo Coffee Company
735 Columbus near washingtown square, north beach, SF
The newest, hottest coffee place in SF isn't open yet. Four Barrel Coffee Roasters cafe will open on Valencia between 14th and 15th street sometime soon. Meanwhile, they're selling coffee out the back door in the alley behind the place! You go ring a bell and they come out from their carpentry work and make espresso drinks. Supposedly this place is the new home to one of the founder's of SF favorite, Ritual Coffee. Has Ritual gone downhill because he left or did he leave because it went downhill? Anyway, hopefully this place will be at least as good as Ritual used to be. Meanwhile before he roasts his own beans he's using Stumptown's Hairbender Blend which is about the best thing of all time. So I got an Americano and it was good.
I wandered into Italian French Bakery in North Beach today. They had a ton of different kinds of biscotti. I tried the anise version. Not bad. I felt like it was 1980.
In an attempt to get into the old school SF coffee scene, I finally made it to Graffeo. This place has been doing it since 1935. They only sell coffee beans - no drinks available. You have to make them yourself at your home or your restaurant. They make one single blend and that's it. It's available in dark roast, light roast, half and half dark/light, and decaf. I got half a pound of half and half. I got home and put it in the french press. That stuff is nuts! It foamed to high heaven. It almost bloomed out of the press pot! I've never seen anything like it. It's strong as hell and pretty crazy. I'm going to try it again in different proportions. I enjoyed it, though it wasn't exactly the smoothest cup I've had in a while. Maybe there was a chemical reaction in my mouth with the anise biscotti thing mixing with Graffeo coffee.