Sightglass Coffee, and Ma'velous

This past weekend I got a chance to visit a few coffee shops in San Fransico. I really appreciated my visit as it got me to compare my coffee to what I got there, it is a little hard since they are using different blends than what I am normally using: I had actually planned on going to a few more than the three that I went to, and the third one that pushed me over the edge was not really a planned one and I didn't even get a photo of it.

So without further ado, I went to Sightglass Coffee, Ma'velous and this little place called Little Griddle. The last one is more of a breakfest lunch place, but I saw they were serving Zoka Coffee and I couldn't resist. However, let me start with Sightglass Coffee.

Sightglass is an interesting place, it's coffee bar/roaster that has slowly built a pretty big following over the past 4 years or so in San Fransico. The shop was opened by two brothers Jerad and Justin Morrison who both themselves have ties to other roasters in the city. If you have the time or inclination there is a nice little write up on them here.

My visit to their shop was really nice. The coffee bar is located in the middle of a rather large space in a sort of U, with the coffee brewing going on each side. It's nice because it really encourages you to talk with the Barista. So I got to talk a little bit about coffee while waiting for her to brew my espresso and cappa. There was a lot of care taken in pulling the espresso shot, she told me that she wanted to dial it in a little bit before serving it, which was nice. The first shot she tasted, she spit out, but drank the second and served me the third. The coffee was good they are deffinately more brightfruit forward coffee.

The space itself is large, with wooden bars and stools located all around. A good place to meet with people and talk, or write a paper. However, there is no wifi and would like that if it was my local shop. Here a few pics:

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From there I made my way over to Ma'velous. There they do not serve their own roasted coffee, but instead Stumptown coffee. It had been such a long time since I had Stumptown that I was really excited.This bar is much more like a bar and to be fair it's a coffee/wine bar. The decor is more of the bar type. Dark walls, and a few flashy colors. They also have an amazing custom espresso machine with glass panels.

/files/u13866/Ma_velous_0.jpg" align="left" width="360" height="500" />Over all this was probably my favorite coffee of the three places I visited. Stumptown Hairbender was in between Sightglass and Zoka that I had right after this. A bit of bite of fruit in the front with nice milk chocolate finish. Really good as both a cappa and espresso. I am probably a little partial to Stumptown though since I use to live just a five minute walk from one of their loactions in Portland.

What cut my journey a little short is that we were headed to get some lunch, but right next door was this little place that served Zoka Coffee. Zoka is a roaster that I had heard a lot of people liked, and well since I was there and couldn't resist...

Zoka is all chocolate from the espresso and cappa I got. The cappa was steamed pretty poorly as the foam and steamed milk was not incorporated like the other places that I went to, but the espresso was good. I can see why people like them, all candy. One of those coffees, that is probably what I imagine Starbucks use to taste like.

From there i was pretty tuckered out from drinking coffee for the day. six shots of espresso in under an hour. I didn't feel bad but I could tell much more and I would be sick. So while I wanted to get to another two or three shops I had to call it quits.

However, it being San Fransico, you see coffee all over the place and on a little walk saw the sign from the old Hills Brothers Coffee building and then of course Blue Bottle in the ferry building. Overall great visit./files/u13866/sf_coffee.jpg" align="bottom" width="500" height="192" />