San Francisco Coffee

It's been a while since I've chatted about coffee in here, but if you know me well, you know that I like to explore cities via their coffee scene. This past time in SF, I hit up a few of the usual suspects, but also made it a point to check out new-to-me shops. Here are five relatively new shops that I enjoyed on my trip.



1) Snowbird Coffee
1352 9th Ave
San Francisco, CA 94122



2) Hearth
3985 17th St
San Francisco, CA 94114



3) Wrecking Ball
2271 Union St
San Francisco, CA 94123



4) Equator
986 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94117



5) Chapel Hill
670 Commercial Street
San Francisco, CA 94111

Happy caffeinating next time you're in SF!

Kalita Wave Series

After J broke our Hario V60 Range Server for the second time, he decided to look into other options for our morning coffee routine. Enter, the Kalita Wave series. Now, our new system is not exactly unbreakable, but it's nice to change it up once in a while. (See my post from a few months ago on the coffee gear I use every day.)



I've been enjoying working out the kinks of the new system. We started with the small dripper but realized it was a little too small for two people, especially on a groggy Monday morning. The nice thing about the little guy is that it really forces you to pulse your pours, instead of dumping a heap of water onto your grounds at once. We ended up getting the larger dripper, which suits us much better. The Kalita server is also quite pretty, I think. Overall, the system looks a bit more sleek and modern than the V60.



We've also recently been getting our beans from Papa Lin's. They offer some truly special beans (you might get sticker shock from some of them), and they genuinely care about their products. They roast to order and ship the next day, and then follow up with you to see how you liked the beans and roast.



P.S. A great video on the system at work. (Though I don't personally use such a high ratio of beans to water!)

The Queens Kickshaw

This place has been on my list for years, but laziness and inconvenience has prevented me from venturing out to Astoria for it. After a visit to the Noguchi Museum yesterday, we popped in to The Queens Kickshaw for some cortados. I am also a sucker for grilled cheese and tomato soup so how could I resist?

Overall a fine spot. I enjoyed the food more so than my cortado, which had a somewhat bitter aftertaste. I can't really judge the place based on one coffee drink, but I'd definitely go back for the space and grilled cheese alone.

Coffee talk

It's no secret that I'm passionate (read: a snob) about coffee and I enjoy spreading the passion when I can. I will tell you to dump out that extra-hot triple-shot vanilla soy latte from Starbucks and try a "real" cup of coffee. I get a handful of emails asking for recommendations on coffee gear and starter kits, so I thought I'd do a little post on what I personally use at home. Note, this is not comprehensive in any way and I won't go over actual techniques (there's plenty of professionals who have written about and youtubed that), but it's what works for me. It's a ritual I greatly look forward to.



My preferred method of home-brewing is the pour over. Specifically, I use the V60 ceramic dripper from Hario. But before I get ahead of myself, let's talk some other basics.

Scale: I use a .1g scale to weigh out my beans and measure the amount of water I end up using for the pour. Another, perhaps better, option is the scale from Hario because it has a built-in timer.

Grinder: The grinder I use is not the best for drip coffee and is intended more for espresso, but it gets the job done. During the power outage last year from the hurricane, we bought a Hario hand grinder so we could continue the morning ritual. It's much more wallet-friendly and it doesn't hurt that it sits prettily on the counter. For something in between, I have heard good things about the Baratza Virtuoso and the even cheaper Encore. I also try to clean my grinder every once in a while with Grindz.

Kettle: For pour over, you really need a gooseneck kettle. I have three (oops). But, what I really use now is the Bonavita electric kettle. It lets me set the temperature for the water and hold it there. For more traditional and "Instagrammable" versions, you can get the one from Hario or this particularly beautiful one that Blue Bottle sells.



Got all that? After that, all you really need are V60 filters and the optional range server.

And of course, now that you have your Porsche setup, you can't go putting any old engine oil into it (please excuse the horrible analogy); for beans, I regularly buy from Stumptown and Blue Bottle and always check the roast date. When I travel, I always try to bring back a bag of beans from a local roaster that I enjoyed.



Finally, you get to have fun with collecting mugs and saucers to hold your delicious cup of coffee. :)

P.S. I moved apartments. Again. More on that to come.

Drop Coffee | Stockholm

How lucky that the apartment I stayed in was just a short walk from Drop Coffee in Stockholm!
I mean, what's not to love about this space? For sure, it would feel right at home in Brooklyn or Manhattan. I had more than my fair share of croissants and cappuccinos here in the short time I had :).

Kaffismiðja íslands

How could I not devote a post to coffee in Iceland? An misty afternoon to ourselves in Reykjavik had me itching to check out Kaffismiðja íslands, a cafe recommended to me by Nicolas of Télescope in Paris. Four of us cozied up in a corner with the butteriest brioche, cappuccinos and lattes. It was a real treat to meet Rosa and Rich, the brains behind the beautiful Cereal Magazine. The talented Marte Marie Forsberg was also on this trip, and we bonded over love for ceramics and squealed and gasped over the landscapes and light changes through the trip. (See her post on this cafe here.) And for the coffee? It certainly passed my spoiled palate's judgment. :)

Ten Belles

Let's backtrack a bit. As I've been wading through my Iceland photos, I nearly forgot I still had Paris photos to edit and share. On that Sunday we were in Paris, we met up with Nico Alary, quite the multi-talented fellow, for a leisurely coffee break at Ten Belles. I can't remember when or how Nico and I first connected (a hunch tells me it was over something coffee-related), but I love how a few quick twitter exchanges allowed us to meet.

In short, Ten Belles is a charming, cozy cafe with excellent pastries and great coffee. Grab a table on the upper level and get a fun peek at the action from above.

For more coffee in Paris, see my extensive post from last June.

Glass Shop

I don't find myself in the Crown Heights area too often, but I was happy to be turned to this new-to-me coffee shop yesterday. I was at another shoot nearby and naturally, the topic of coffee came up and I mentioned enjoying Crosby Coffee. I was told Glass Shop was another neighborhood gem, so I popped on over. Glass Shop has been open for much longer (over three years) than Crosby Coffee, and has probably really seen the neighborhood change over those years. They serve La Colombe coffee as well as an enticing selection of pastries. And the interior, as you'll see, is just my cup of tea.

Pie for breakfast

One morning last week involved the fanciest coffee I've ever had ($25 for 150g! but so worth it!) and a slice of Four and Twenty Blackbirds Black Bottom Oatmeal Pie (no stranger to these parts). If only all days could start like this.

Crosby Coffee

Good morning! And hooray for a new cafe visit. I first heard of Crosby Coffee from Reed's awesome Instagram photo of it. I looked it up immediately and actually put it on my calendar for a Sunday visit. It was a bit of a schlep, especially as the F train was not behaving, but well worth it. It is quite a beautiful space, and I just love all the white with small pops of colors from miscellaneous tchotchkes and the many flowers around. Embarrassingly, I can't say anything about the coffee as I was sweltering and could only think of drinking an iced tea (which was great). J had a cortado but finished it before I could have a sip. Humph. They use Caffe Vita coffee, which I believe started roasting in Seattle. I would really love to have a space like this in the new neighborhood we're moving to.

On to the photos!

(This is a scheduled post as I'll be assisting on set today for a fashion lookbook shoot. Woot.)