Alley coffee

I came across a new coffee spot while in San Francisco. There was a wooden sandwich board on the corner of 15th and Caledonia in the Mission — Caledonia being one of S.F.'s mini-streets, more an alley than a real road — and on the sandwich board was scrawled "4B" and a picture of a coffee cup and an arrow that pointed north. I followed it, past a lady in a plaid miniskirt smoking a cigarette and past a hipster sprawled out on the sidewalk with a ceramic coffee cup and saucer in hand. He looked as if he had settled into that spot for the afternoon.

The alley was lined with paintings that led to a small kiosk, a sneak peek at Four Barrel, the cafe from Jeremy Tooker (of Ritual Coffee Roasters) that's set to open any day now. (The main entrance is on Valencia Street.) Bags of coffee beans were stacked next to a barista and his La Marzocco Mistral. I stepped up and ordered a macchiato.   

Thus far the alleyway Four Barrel reminds me of Blue Bottle on Linden Street in Hayes Valley, the garage-front predecessor to Blue Bottle Cafe (where you'll find the $20,000 Japanese siphon bar that seems to be one of the fetishistic symbols of coffee's Third Wave). But the Four Barrel spot is even funkier, for now, with a plastic tarp in the background and the sound of hammering and drilling emanating from behind it. Actually not a bad spot to enjoy an afternoon macchiato.

Four Barrel, 375 Valencia St., San Francisco (find coffee on Caledonia Street, off 15th Street).

— Betty Hallock

Photos by Betty Hallock

Comments

[Betty Hallock]

Thanks for the link! It's good to hear that at least the baristas know what they're doing.

[Greg]

Alley coffee has unfortunately become something of a norm in SF. It seems that some coffeeshops are so intent on being the opposite of Starbucks that they've cut off their noses to spite their faces. See Cento, which opened in another alleyway in SF last month:

http://theshot.coffeeratings.com/2008/06/cento/

Amenities and standards for coffee consumers have taken major regressive steps towards the Dark Ages as a result. We are now expected to drink the stuff standing up outside in an exposed alleyway where a body was found the night before. It's a rather cynical joke on customers, really.