TheMuffinMan01 wrote:Is there a particular SO that is really noteworthy right now to recommend?

Coffee to look for right now in SF:

Ritual: Kenya Karatina AA
Four Barrel: Kenya Kagumoini Mugaga, Kenya Tekangu Ngunguru, Ethiopia Wollega woke lato
Sightglass: Kenya Kiandu

Stumptown: Injerto Bourbon and Kenya Tegu

Probably the best out there

Perhaps not "third wave" ( if that really matters to you ) but there is an amazing coffee shop that has expanded to 5 or 6 very busy locations here in SF and now in Palo Alto, called Philz Coffee. The guy has absolutely amazing coffee and shouldn't be missed. He only has 2, maybe 3 SO beans that he offers. The rest are blends that aren't specified.

In shop, they do only pour over coffee, with a bit of flourish. And their traditional way of making the coffee if your don't specify otherwise, is to add manufacturer's cream and brown sugar, and agitate it up to a frothy cup. I've had most of their blends black and they are quite delicious.

When other businesses were closing down due to the downturn of the economy, he couldn't open up new locations fast enough, if that tells you anything about the blending skill he has.

PS, not all their blends are on the menu board. But: Red Sea is by far one of my favorites. Interestingly enough, very similar to Red Bird Espresso.

http://www.philzcoffee.com/

chang00 wrote:I can only state my observation for the Walnut Creek Whole Foods. I don't believe they have roasting on site.
Nowadays I just go there to buy beans from various local roasters. It saves me driving and shipping. To cross the Bay Bridge alone is now between $4-6, not to mention the traffic.

Yeah they have an air roaster on site.

Good idea on the Whole Foods, however I have found that at all Whole Foods locations they can carry some pretty stale coffee from local roasters.

What type of coffee does the o/p like? Ritual roasts really bright coffees.

The only thing that I do not like about Philz is that I have no idea when their coffee is roasted when I buy it.

You might want to check this out to give you an idea of the different coffee houses in SF: http://www.coffeeratings.com/

If you go to the East Bay, as someone has already mentioned, Local 123 is good.

Also, down several miles on the same road (going North), you can find Catahoula Coffee, which is also good (but not excellent).

http://www.catahoulacoffee.com/

the_trystero wrote:Actually, after removing a few more quakers last night and making a cold brew with the rest of my Four Barrel Darra Bonko I'm going to continue to revisit them. This cold brew is like pineapple sweetened lemonade.

You know, for an Ethiopian coffee, quakers aren't uncommon.. Or even bad. Hard to describe in words what " A Lot" is to you and to I, but for my own roasts and coffee I buy, I don't both to remove quakers from Ethiopians or Yemens. Kinda part of the cup flavor. Just a thought, not trying to tell you how to enjoy your coffee.

Blue Bottle, in my opinion, is not as reliable as they were back when they were small-batch roasting five years ago. I've had too much batch-to-batch variance in their blends of late and I think they are mainly hype these days. As much as we love the baristas and staff we have gotten to know over the years, I think it is time to move on.

I had some wonderful single-origin shots at Four Barrel (mentioned above) today and wouldn't mind any of them at home.

Ritual is, well, "unique" in their style. Not quite my cup. Sightglass holds a lot of hope for me, but I don't have enough experience to say yay or nay to their current offerings.