Coffee Dreams

I’ve been frequenting a lot of coffee shops in San Francisco lately.  I get cabin fever easily, and I feel the incessant urge to leave my house each day.  Generally, I try to save money by making coffee at home (San Francisco coffee is expensive!), but I sometimes give in to my inner demons and splurge on a latte or cappuccino somewhere.

My go-to location for a working cafe is Cafe Sophie in the Castro.  It’s bright, has art on the walls and serves good coffee and teas, and it is easy to get to from my house.  Oh, and did I mention free wifi?  In a nutshell: ideal.  But the ants-in-my-pants antsy me– I occasionally wander off to explore other cafes nearby.

A couple of weeks ago, my wanderings brought me to Four Barrel coffee in San Francisco’s Mission. I wrote off Four Barrel years ago when I was in graduate school. Its coffees are ridiculously expensive.  Okay, I exaggerate.  Sort of.  At US$ 6 for some single origin coffees, I felt too poor while in school to afford such bourgeoisie coffee. 

Actually, I’m still too poor.

It also didn’t help that when I went, there was a line of people out the door waiting for coffee!  No coffee, I thought, could be that good.  No way.  But, years after I’ve graduated, it was time to give it another shot.

Verdict?  It’s pretty good coffee. 

I still go for the “only” US$ 4 espresso drink, but, despite their expensive prices, Four Barrel’s concept is cool.  They roast their own coffee in the back of the cafe, which is open and lets you watch. They also have a coffee bar where you can try different single origin coffees.

I even got to see them unloading giant bags of beans to be roasted that day.  See?

I’ll be back.