verve

barefoot coffee and roy’s station

phil November 28, 2010

During a little South Bay mini vacation we stopped by some coffee places. _1030229dmbarefoot coffee roasters in santa clara.  Is their sign in comic sans? (for the record, I’m ok with comic sans.  Looking at this pictures also reminds me of this hilarious t-shirt.)  I also appreciate the Freedom Burrito and House of Bagels next door, but for different reasons._1030230dm

Anyways, here’s the espresso.   I had their rule of thirds blend, described by barefoot as

“a bright, complex espresso.  Aromas of apricot and pineapple upside down cake.  Butterscotch and brown sugar in the body, with a lemon bar-like acidity and a clean finish.”

I don’t think I tasted all of that – I don’t think I ever taste all of that.   but I did taste a light to medium bodied, quite bright espresso.  I liked it.  Jesse got a pourover of the $8 Hawaiian Ka’u Typica.  Really smooth taste.

_1030273dm We also stopped by former Mobil gas station Roy’s Station in San Jose’s Japantown at the recommendation of a friend.  I had an espresso with beans from Verve coffee roasters.  It was fine, though not quite amazing.  Shots pulled on what looks like a La Marzocco FB/80.

I’ll add these places to the coffee map.  Finally, some south bay representation!

list of bay area coffee shops – with a bay area coffee map

phil October 23, 2010

here’s my subjective ranking of the best espresso/coffee in the san francisco bay area, complete with a google map.

[googlemap width=”640″ height=”480″ src=”http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=112896448665808697633.00048fe8838715e9e8af6&ll=37.823616,-122.306671&spn=0.2689835,0.371824&z=11&output=embed”]

key: more crema = better.  empty cup =  not so good.  Sorry about the funky anti-aliasing.

excellent:

enjoyable:

not bad:

drinkable but not pleasant:

  • farley’s (san francisco/oakland/emervyille, farley’s blend from sunshine? in san leandro)  Recently had a not good one from the 65th st emeryville location.  doh.
  • peerless (oakland, peerless)
  • woody’s cafe (oakland, ?)
  • crepevine (oakland/berkeley, ?)
  • riva (berkeley, ?)
  • starbucks (starbucks)
  • peets (peets)
  • uncommon grounds cafe (berkeley, uncommon grounds)

not drinkable:

  • none yet.  Maybe I have a high tolerance?

credit for working the google maps/wordpress hack: http://digwp.com/2010/01/google-maps-shortcode/ if you want to try this, don’t forget to add the &embed at the end of your link.

bica coffeehouse, oakland, ca

phil August 19, 2010

Bica Coffehouse (5701 College Ave, Oakland)  just opened today across the street from Rockridge BART.  It replaces Cafe Lyon, which closed last May.  I had an espresso made with coffee from De La Paz’s 14th St. Espresso blend.  It was nice and brewed well on their La Marzocco Linea.  A bit bright, citrusy and a little sweet.

(Pardon the less-nice iphone photos)

de la paz 14th st espresso via bica coffeehouse

They plan on rotating their coffees between Flying Goat, Ritual, De La Paz, Verve and Barefoot about every 2 weeks.  In addition to coffee, they also offer teas and a few different types of pastries from Bisbane Bakery.

saw this on the way home:

I heart zombies

“I heart zombies”