Sunday, July 18, 2010

The Art of Coffee (and hot chocolate): Four Barrel Coffee


I recently went to Four Barrel Coffee in San Francisco, a fine coffeehouse that roasts their own beans and truly honors coffee with several preparations: a single cup-at-time drip or espresso with a wide selection of beans including single origin. Their blog is quite informative on the process including the single drip equipment and specific grinders.

Now, I, unlike Justin, don't drink coffee. It's too bitter for me. Why should someone who doesn't drink coffee go to Four Barrel?

For the beautiful hot chocolate ( shown above) that I had instead. I loved this hot chocolate because it was:

1. not overly sweet
2. beautifully made- apparently the barista has won awards for his coffee art
3. didn't have a pile of whipped cream on it that would have shamed me as a non-coffee drinker at this fine establishment. Instead it looked like I was having an artful cappuccino.

Note, other delicious things Four Barrel serves:

1. Dynamo donuts- we had chocolate rosemary almond and orange ginger
2. An affogato made with beer ice cream from Humphry Slocombe

Four Barrel coffee does not serve tea- at all. And I say good for them!

We actually went to Dynamo and Humphry Slocombe about 20 minutes before and Dynamo was out of donuts and H-S didn't have the beer ice cream. Apparently Four Barrel is the intersection of this wonderful foodie trio of purveyors. It's definitely worth a trip into SF.