My wife and I recently travelled to San Francisco for a conference. We stayed at the Holiday Inn on Van Ness near California Street. Fortunately, I did my homework before we left home, and a search of the forums on Coffeegeek revealed that Blue Bottle and Ritual were some of the best shops in town.

We never did make it to Ritual, but we found the Blue Bottle cafe just south of Market Street near the old Federal Mint building. It's a very unassuming location tucked on a side street away from all the hustle and bustle of Market Street. Other than a small sign on the street with a picture of a blue bottle, you might not even notice that there's a shop there. However, once we went inside, there was a line all the way to the door.



The place was hopping, and for good reason. They were serving some really excellent drinks from their La Marzocco machine. I had both a cappuccino and an espresso, which was served as a ristretto. My wife wanted a single cap, but they don't really do those so they served her a ristretto shot in her cap instead. Both drinks were delicious.




The espresso was sweet and carmelly, with a hint of fruit. Sorry my palate isn't sophisticated enough to describe it better. The cappuccino had a nice carmel and chocolate richness to it, with just the right amount of perfect microfoam. Most excellent. We ended up walking half an hour each way to get to the cafe, but it was so good we made the trip several times during our three-day stay. Highly recommended.

I was there twice a day for four days this summer during a conference at The Marriott down the street from Mint and The Blue Bottle.

It is the reason that I purchased my first espresso equipment when I returned home. Their SO Ethiopia Idido Misty Valley ristretto served from their lever machine after 10 AM was orgasmic

The service and baristas were great in talking about coffee, espresso and technique. I did find a distinct difference between the quality of the espresso from the two guys pulling shots compared with the gal (pictured) who works there.

Highly recommended cafe.

I noticed that they had a two group lever machine as well as the LM machine, but I never saw them use it. I wanted to try a shot from the lever machine, but the place was so busy that I didn't want to get back in line just to get another shot.

My only complaint is that the cafe is very noisy because of the high ceilings and lack of any soft surfaces to break up the echoes. With the large number of people inside, it's hard to even carry on a conversation. But the coffee was so good I didn't really care.

Great writeup, Eli. Steve "Mr. LMWDP" has been ordering coffee from them lately and raves about it. Thanks to your reminder, I'll piggyback on his next order.

A nice bump to this. My girlfriend and I stayed in Union Square and went here twice. I was fortunate enough to get a couple regular shots (very, very good indeed!) and 2 single origin shots (Sidamo, winey and delicious). My girlfriend had their siphon pot and regular drip, both of which she quite enjoyed. Look forward to going back there next year.

Coffee in SF is definitely improving.
Next time try to get to 4 Barrel and to Ritual as well. Everyone in SF has a personal favorite from these three - I myself would rank them in the order 4 Barrel, Ritual, Blue Bottle. And then there is Bar Bambino (serving Ecco Caffe) and some of the other more obscure spots.

I paid a visit to BB's new cafe inside the Ferry Building (just opened last week). It's a very slick setup, with a 3-group Kees van der Westen lever machine and a La Marzocco, and at least one Mazzer Royal (or Robur?) w/ electronic dosing, plus pastries, bags of beans, and coffee gear for sale. When it's not a weekend mob scene, it may be possible to sit on barstools. The blends they used: Retrofit on the levers, Hayes Valley on the LM.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a Silvia and a Ponte Vecchio Lusso for sale there; prices were on the high side, but still -- how often do you see such machines on display anywhere? BTW, they're keeping the outdoor kiosks for the Farmers Market -- I did not notice any drop-off in business. Good for them!

I've been to all the places Malachi mentions (except Bar Bambino although I have consumed shot from Ecco Caffe's coffee at home and in cafes on many occasions).

On my last visit the best straight espresso shot I had was at Blue Bottle but on any given day one can expect to find the same quality of drink at Blue Bottle, Ritual or Four Barrel - different at all but in the same class.

My observation at Blue Bottle - which perhaps has been changed since my last visit there in October 2008 - was that there's an overall lack of direction provided to people on the customer side of the counter. Perhaps folks who are regulars there know the system but the lack of signage and lack of verbal direction from staff resulted in a cluster of people not knowing where to stand to order and worse - not knowing where to stand to wait for the finished drinks. Some sort of rudimentary queuing system or signage would be immensely helpful.

I'm glad to hear Blue Bottle's still doing well, and even expanding despite the bad economy. I need to get back there again soon, but it's a long drive from Fresno to SF so I don't do it very often. I'd like to try Four Barrel and Ritual next time I'm there, too.

My wife and I are going to the Ventura area next weekend. Anyone know of any good shops in that region? Right now, I'm planning to just bring some gear and beans and make my own, unless there's a good cafe in the area.

I've been to BB (near the mint) a few times now, and, on my second visit, after talking to the barista, I found out that they only use the lever machine during certain hours (a bit of a bummer since i wanted SO from it), but, my drinks were excellent from the LM nonetheless. they didn't seem to have signs for when they use it, but I seem to remember that they stop after 4 or 5 pm. a quick call would clear it up for anyone planning a visit.

highly recommended....though i suppose that's the theme of this thread at this point

The lever is used at BB for their single origin espresso offerings.

They only offer these at slower times of day so it begins at 10 AM and runs (I think) until afternoon and before the late day rush. The baristas seem to like it when you order a SO espresso as they take their time setting up the grinder and drinking and passing around the "test shots" among themselves. By the time you've got your drink they probably sampled three shots themselves I don't think its a very popular offering as I believe that I was the only one asking in the four days I sampled their coffee.

Beezer wrote:I'm glad to hear Blue Bottle's still doing well, and even expanding despite the bad economy. I need to get back there again soon, but it's a long drive from Fresno to SF so I don't do it very often. I'd like to try Four Barrel and Ritual next time I'm there, too.

My wife and I are going to the Ventura area next weekend. Anyone know of any good shops in that region? Right now, I'm planning to just bring some gear and beans and make my own, unless there's a good cafe in the area.

Hey Eli,

A little off-topic... we are fairly new to CA (less than a year). We live just south of Fresno in Hanford. I haven't found a good cafe around here yet. Can you recommend one in Fresno? We usually try to get that way a couple times/month for a "date". May even make it tomorrow. BTW, any roasters/green coffee supply in Fresno?

Thanks for the info and we'll definitely look up the Blue Bottle (plus the others) when we find our way to SF.

The Linden St BB is my fave. Not a lot of cafe-style ambience, but there is something to be said about the back-alley score feeling!

A little off-topic... we are fairly new to CA (less than a year). We live just south of Fresno in Hanford. I haven't found a good cafe around here yet. Can you recommend one in Fresno? We usually try to get that way a couple times/month for a "date". May even make it tomorrow. BTW, any roasters/green coffee supply in Fresno?

Hi Danny. I'm afraid I don't know of any good cafes in the Fresno area. Kern Street Coffee in downtown Fresno used to be decent, but unfortunately the original owner sold the business a couple of years ago and now the coffee isn't fit to give to my dog. If you happen to stumble across any good shops, let me know. I'd be delighted to patronize anything decent in the area, but so far I haven't had any luck.

There are a few local roasters, but none that I'd particularly recommend. I usually order my coffee online from either Klatch or Barefoot.

GC7 wrote:The lever is used at BB for their single origin espresso offerings.

They only offer these at slower times of day so it begins at 10 AM and runs (I think) until afternoon and before the late day rush.

I always wondered if they did this. I have never been around when they offered SOs. I would love to try.

Blue Bottle just got in a new single origin, Aleta Wondo. I picked it up on the first day they had it, Monday, not expecting too much but thought, what the heck. And oh, man. I have had three days of great coffee from this one bag. I previously thought their Fazenda Jacaranda was my fav this year, but this first bag outdoes that. Hate to give away my little secret in case there is then a mad rush for Wondo, but I had to tell whoever is reading this. That bean rules.

I think Blue Bottle roasting has been more inconsistent since this past summer, sometimes delivering beans that are too toasty for espresso. But, when they are on, damn they are right on. This last bag has me hoping they have a long run with the Wondo, and I really hope they keep the roast at whatever I got on Monday. Cheers to the roasters for the latest. And as always, the baristas at Blue Bottle on Linden are so much fun to hang with....a big cheers to them too.

GC7 wrote:The lever is used at BB for their single origin espresso offerings.

They only offer these at slower times of day so it begins at 10 AM and runs (I think) until afternoon and before the late day rush. The baristas seem to like it when you order a SO espresso as they take their time setting up the grinder and drinking and passing around the "test shots" among themselves. By the time you've got your drink they probably sampled three shots themselves I don't think its a very popular offering as I believe that I was the only one asking in the four days I sampled their coffee.

This wasn't my experience, as I had 2 single origin shots at 8:30am with a line out the door. Just an FYI.

Interesting about your SO experience. Maybe they don't like New Yorkers there

They were VERY specific about the times with me. I was very enthusiastc about trying since Ethiopia Misty Valley, one of my al time favorites, was the offering at that time. Lucky that my conference down the street at the Mariott allowed be to get to Mint St at leat a couple of times a day.