I knew that there just had to be local shops still in business. Corporations couldn't have pushed all of them off the streets. I was listening to the local Twitter, and tweet displayed for a blog describing local shops in this neighborhood. I opened the blog and read about two places that interested me: The Blue Bottle Cafe and Samovar Tea Lounge. He did a great job describing the location of The Blue Bottle, because it was off of the main streets and tucked away behind a major building. Energized, I took to the streets to discover this treasure. Jessie Street is broken by major buildings, so I had to stay on Mission to get to 5th Street. I found Jessie St and walked through the plaza, searching for the Blue Bottle. As I came to the end of the plaza and looked around, I saw it. A subtle Blue Bottle sign on the corner of a building.
Once inside, I could see that it was "authentic" and looked for signs of "chain". There were none. No cloned products. Just coffee stuff. And a barista. I put in my order and looked around.
This was an industry strength machine, and I had no idea what was going on. A lot of glass tubs and drips and burners.
I saw a "home version" of the device sitting on one of the shelves, so I am going to use this to figure out this coffee making technique. The typed sign on the box says that this is a "siphon kit" with siphon top and bottom, bamboo paddle, filters, charming siphon primer, half a pound of single origin coffee, and a bunsen burner, all for just $140. Such a deal.
The mission was an extreme success. The double latte was beautiful and tasted incredible. Success! See Shannon Clark's blog about the area at http://tinyurl.com/dfc39a.
Additional Note: The Blue Bottle Coffee Company has an interesting story and a smallness that makes it big in my book.
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