hello I have a friend of mine in Saratoga CA, I would like to get some suggestion of good place to buy espresso beans in the area. better in downtown area.

Thanks

I don't have any Saratoga specific recommendations, but I can talk to nearby cities.

Chromatic Coffee has a roaster in San Jose but a closer cafe where they sell bags of their coffee in Santa Clara. I have no problems recommending them, and they're not too far from Saratoga.

There's a cafe nearby in Santa Clara, Bellano Coffee, that serves good coffee and I believe that they'd sell whole bean coffee from different bay area roasters. Last time I was there they were serving Sightglass and Verve Coffee roasters.

Barefoot Coffee roasts in San Jose, there's a Barefoot Coffee franchised or licensed coffee shop closer to Saratoga in Los Altos. I haven't been to this shop, but used to frequent the Barefoot Coffee location in Santa Clara that turned into a separate roaster Chromatic Coffee mentioned above.

There's also a coffee shop, Red Berry Coffee Bar, that was a multi-roaster in San Jose. They're completing their build-out in Los Altos and I hope to see them re-open soon. They've always served good coffee and should have coffee available for sale too.

Red Rock cafe in Mountain View serves and sells Four Barrel coffee, so if you like Four Barrel, this might be a convenient place to pick it up. Unfortunately, I was served a real sour espresso this morning when I ordered a straight shot. I don't come here often enough to know if this was an anomaly or not, it was a long line during the morning rush and not too many people were ordering straight shots.

Over the hill from Saratoga, Verve in Santa Cruz is also a good place to get coffee.

Finally, your friend can try the Whole Foods stores to look for local roasters including roasters from Santa Cruz and San Francisco without having to drive there. You have to carefully check the roast dates, though.

I hope this helps.

Thanks, I will try to look into it.