Coffee Shop Review- Temple Coffee, Sacramento
Temple Coffee is one of the newer coffee roasters and cafes in the Sacramento area, but they have already had quite an impact on the region's coffee scene. They were recently included in a CNN profile of the nations best small coffee roasters, and they have multiple 90+ beans on Coffee Review. If you are a fan of the term "third wave" then you can easily apply that label to this roaster and coffee bar.
Temple has two locations: one in midtown Sacramento and one brand new location in downtown Sacramento. The midtown location is cozier and has a nice patio, whereas the downtown location is big, modern, and sunny. Roasting is done at the midtown location. I usually go to the midtown location but the new downtown shop has a pourover bar so I might make the extra effort to head downtown more often.
The coffee is fantastic, it is easily the best in Sacramento and it is approaching the quality of what the best Bay Area bars are producing. I'm a big fan of the Dharma espresso blend, pulled at home or in the coffee shop. Their single origins prepared as espresso have been more hit or miss for me, but interesting to try nonetheless. The baristas know their craft and provide friendly service. Temple is easily my favorite roaster/cafe in the region and the first place I recommend to people looking for good coffee in Sacramento.
I do have two complaints, but they aren't dealbreakers.
First: If you pay by credit or debit, you are asked to add a tip up front, before receiving your drink. I've never had a drink or service that would warrant not giving a tip, but it bugs me a bit anyway. I've depended on tips at previous jobs so I understand how important tips can be, but, I just don't like the idea of tipping before getting service.
Second: No menu at the midtown location. I think this might be the result of a talk that Kyle Glanville gave. One of the concepts that Kyle presented was avoiding a menu to encourage more communication between the barista and customer. It is a nice concept, but I'd still like to see prices beforehand.
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