Can you guess this city? Lots of walking here today: To the Embarcadero, to Fisherman’s Wharf, then lunch in Ghirardelli Square. (Really, that’s a lot of walking!) Staying in the old Chancellor Hotel in Union Square, just down the street from the St. Francis, is like being in a movie. The morning was gray, blustery and cold. Low 50s with wind. A perfect backdrop for just the right coffee mood. These two reporters on assignment stumbled on mood-matching coffee in the Ferry Building, of all places. Dark drip with just enough oat milk to let the caffeine through. Served with bread from a real bakery (Acme Bread).
Can you guess the city yet? Here is another hint: Chinatown, where we ate macaroons from an establishment that’s celebrating 100 years there. Some innovative coffee drinks in Chinatown included a Brown Sugar Ginger Latte, an Osmanthus Latte, a Black Sesame Cream Latte, and an Ube Cream Latte.
So we ordered Matcha Red Bean Lattes with Boba in Chinese. Yikes! The Chinatown specialty coffees reported above are certainly unusual, and interesting because of their use of plants (and their use of things we never heard of). Not much food on the street there anymore. But a mellow mood. Some tourists; a surprising number of families with kids, all enjoying the clean Streets of … Got it? Think MIchael Douglas –Trolley Cars – Jefferson Airplane – Sourdough Bread!
Don’t leave your heart there….
After leaving Chinatown, and still following our coffee research quest, things got a little sillier. We stopped at a place called “Home Coffee Roasters”. Home has several stores around the city. All are modern looking, with beige, white, and black modern techno interiors. To fit in, you’ll need a laptop, earbuds, and look like you’re in your 30s, even if you’re not. Their offerings should be called Crazy Coffees. Examples include “Hangover (Sparkling Americano)”, about ten different lattes such as Rose, Lavender, Chocolate Mint, Holy Cow (holy milk), Coke-Tastic (espresso, coke, ice cream), another one with Nutella, and finally a Cookie Monster Birthday Cake (the Red Velvet Latte). Don ordered one and asked for a fork for his coffee! Our own Coffee Row has fewer choices, thankfully. We moved on.
San Francisco has surpassed Seattle as the west coast coffee capital. Some neighborhoods have as many as 1400 local coffee dens. Needless to say, it’s not difficult to get good coffee. As we’re walking back toward Union Square, a vision looms out of the fog. Almost in the shadow of the Bay Bridge, a 4-storey brick building appears. We can begin to see the patterned brickwork, the arched doorways and windows, the bronze grillwork doors, the courtyard in the middle. On the roof, there’s a sign in big letters that says, “Hills Bros Coffee”. It’s with a kind of reverence that we view this monument to the coffee industry. Built in 1929, the building is San Francisco’s Landmark #157. Thank you, coffee bros.
So, what’s new in the coffee world besides the superfluity of adjectives to describe the array of coffees on our planet? Our readers may remember our article mentioning George Caswell and his innovative approach to packaging and marketing coffee back in the 30s. Turns out one of George’s descendants, Mike Caswell, has taken the coffee business one step further. Stepping out of his position in senior management at corporate Starbucks (something about Profits Improvement), Mike opened The Roasting Plant. He and his team invented a process for roasting green coffee beans right there in the store (using a machine with a pneumatic tube with heated air on a ceramic floor – they call their machine “Javabot”) and brews coffee drinks to order – in under a minute. The freshness is the key, they say. So, young Mike’s Roasting Plant has jumped out there, prompting a report from Forbes about Roasting Plant Coffee expanding from New York to London. Twelve stores in the US, and five in London. One in SF. We couldn’t find it, but we’ll keep it in mind. What a great coffee experience this has been, but we are really glad to be back in our towns. Hope you enjoyed the Kids Cup article last issue. More to follow.
Contact us at The CUP at news@sonorannews.com
