Search Results
Found: 48 product(s) for All (1-13 of 48)
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100% Yemen
We’ve been passing on lots of Yemeni coffee for the last couple of years, so it gives us all a little shiver to say that we’ve found something exceptional. This is an intoxicating coffee that produces a huge aroma, and, at this roast level, it is one of the few single-origin coffees that makes an excellent shot of espresso. Also terrific as a pourover or presspot, coffee from Yemen is still farmed much the same way as it was, oh, 1200 years ago: harvested by hand from ancient, often wild, non-hybridized cultivars, dried on local patios, and processed locally before being shipped. While not certified organic, Yemens are considered pesticide-free owing to the strong farming traditions which predate pesticide use. One more thing: you might not like it. Lovers of clean, snappy Costa Ricans, or Colombians might consider drinking a cup of Yemen uncomfortably similar to being picked up by the lapels, shaken, then tossed into a grimy Manhattan snow bank. But for some of us, this is the most complex and desirable cup in town. Location: regional lots near San’ana Altitude: 1200 -1600 meters Cultivar: heirloom Yemen seedstock Processing Method: natural dry-processed PRICE: $23.75 
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17 ft Ceiling
We developed this espresso blend for our café on Mint Plaza in downtown San Francisco. This is a pleasant, consistent espresso – enjoyable without being demanding - plump with unremarkable complexity. What is remarkable, however,is the sweet simplicity owing to the fact that we reverse-engineered a blue collar Italian espresso blend (yes … robusta!) and substituted higher-end organic coffees. Our goal was a robust, crema-heavy unpretentious coffee. If the Hayes Valley espresso can be like consuming a volume of In Search of Lost Time in liquid form, then the 17 ft ceiling is like flipping through the New Yorker -edifying without being taxing. The baristas at the café updose massively, set the PID two or three degrees hotter than the Hayes Valley espresso (typically 204f on the GB5), and pull leisurely, avuncular 37 second shots, often skipping the first few drops. Served with a water back, of course. PRICE: $17.75
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Bella Donovan
The Bella is the wool sweater of our blends - warm, comforting, familiar. Wild and citrusy organic Ethiopian paired with earthy organic Sumatrian makes for a vivid and fairly complex Mokka/Java blend. It seems to weather the rigors of the automatic drip machine as well...this is, perhaps, why it's our most popular blend. It is also on the darker side: nice and thick without being inelegant. Bella stands up to milk or cream well, and is easily enjoyed black. PRICE: $18.75
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Chiapas
This organic Mexican coffee from the Chiapas region comes from a co-op of small, mainly indigenous landholders. It is carefully milled and processed near the growing region and beautifully sorted for export. At a single roast level this coffee is pleasant but dainty, with sweetness but not much complexity. However, roasted at different levels and then blended together (called melange roasting in the coffee biz - a practice sadly out of fashion these days) it really comes alive: hints of sage and leather, a touch of wood smoke - a John Ford western in a cup. More important than any implausible grasping for adjectives, is that this is an excellent food coffee - a bacon and eggs coffee. Big bowls of chilaquiles, stacks of pancakes, buttered brioche: the Chiapas is a lovely companion to almost all conceivable breakfast foods. It takes milk well; stalwart black. PRICE: $17.75
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Decaf Noir
A Swiss water process decaf that is vivid and packed with flavor, Decaf Noir is made from 100% organic Swiss water processed decafinated beans from East Timor, Sumatra and New Guinea. If you drink it strong, store it carefully and use it up quickly (buy a smaller amount and try to use if up in a week), you will be rewarded with very big flavors. PRICE: $18.75
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Espresso Temescal
If we were to commission a sonnet for one of our blends, the Espresso Temescal would be the hands-down choice for this honor. It is complex, poetic, finicky - if you make coffee in your garrett, loft studio, Pied-a-terre, atelier...this is your blend. A medium roast that is a fairly intricate blend of coffees from Sumatra, Costa Rica, Mexico and Ethiopia, the Espresso Temescal reigns supreme in the Mokka pot. It also pulls a fascinating shot on a lot of espresso machines. PRICE: $17.75
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Ethiopian Yirgacheffee
The Yirg is the most delicate of all Ethiopian coffees: the mint-julep-sipping younger sister to the burly, assertive Harrar, or the conniving Sidamo. At this roast-level (which we are calling medium-plus), much of the oven-cleanery aftertaste is eliminated, and what we are left with is a mild cocoa powder and vanilla bean flavor, with reasonably good body, and low but interesting acid. As it cools, hints of jasmine float delightfully to the surface. This is a coffee on the demure side: this organic Yirgacheffe is to hearty robust fudginess as Rickie Lee Jones is to impeccable diction. In spite of the above, it takes milk or cream reasonably well, and is best as a filter or French press. PRICE: $19.75
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Giant Steps
A blend of Sumatran and Ugandan organic coffees that is quite dark and chocolaty. Maybe a bit more one-dimensional than the Bella Donovan, but it is a good dimension. Giant Steps is delightfully fudgy and thick in a French press or drip pot, and stands up to cream quite well. If it were any heavier-bodied, you could pour it on pancakes. PRICE: $17.75
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Hayes Valley Espresso
This espresso is quite a departure for us here at the BBCC, but it's working out quite spectacularly on the majestic La Marzocco at our Kiosk on Linden Street. As opposed to the other espressi we offer, this is more of an - American-style - espresso - darker, lower-toned, no brightness, plenty of chocolate - thick and rich at 192 degrees at the portafilter - with an engaging complexity as a straight shot. The shots are gorgeous: achingly heavy with voluptuous red-brown crema, and the silky, somewhat dangerous-looking viscosity of a power-steering stop-leak product cone used on our coffee roaster's (now departed) heroically battered 1983 Peugeot. In milk, it tastes like chocolate ovaltine, and holds its own from the daintiest 3oz Macciato to our towering 12oz caffee latte. PRICE: $17.75
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New Orleans
New Orleans-style iced coffee and chicory- There's been a certain amount of clamoring, yes clamoring, for a way to make our new orleans-style iced coffee at home. here we are: a kit! we'll set you up with a pound of the coffee we use for our refreshing new orleans-style iced coffee, an envelope of pre-measured roasted french chicory, and a copy of the recipe we use scaled for one pound of coffee. You will need to add milk,a little sugar, and ice. 10% of all sales will go to the New Orleans Edible Schoolyard project (find out more here - www.esynola.org). PRICE: $22.50
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Papua New Guinea Tribal Aromas
Finished snickering about the name? OK: The Tribal Aromas is probably Blue Bottle’s most swashbuckling offering. The coffee is grown in Chimbu province, an area of the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea so remote that the coffee must be airlifted out and the phrase “first white man seen” is still current. Transport is dicey: Once, when it fell through, Our Man in PNG (Iggy) floated the idea of lashing huge sacks of beans onto the backs of local men and marching them to market. We declined. Another year, Iggy called from his office (which he shares with his chickens) to report he was undercut by a fellow exporter in some shady port dealings. This year, the Gods of Coffee Import Intrigue smiled, Iggy prevailed, and we got our Tribal Aromas. Our reward is this plump, round, thick coffee. It has the body of other “island coffees,” like Sumatra or Flores, but is wet-processed, leaving it clean, moderately floral, and Juicy-Fruit/pawpaw sweet. Not really bright so much as juicy. Works well as a drip or in a French press. As a shot, molasses become the dominant note, with just a hint of grapefruit. Location: Chimbu province, Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea Altitude: 2000 meters Varietal: Catimor and Typica Processing Method: Washed Certifications: Organic, shade-grown PRICE: $17.75
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Retrofit Espresso
Named after the upcoming terrorist-proofing of the bay Bridge Bart tube, this espresso is a sweet and simple delight. Not particularly demanding of the barista, the retrofit is a balanced and mild espresso: the most Italian tasting of any we currently serve. We serve this coffee every Tuesday and Saturday in our little kiosk at the west side of the Ferry Building. Generally, we serve on day four or five, up-dose moderately, and pull one ounce doubles at a leisurely 30 seconds. This is not an espresso for big milk drinks. Lovers of tall milky drinks might scratch their heads in disappointed confusion wondering where their coffee is. But if you know that a macchiato does not have carmel in it, this could be your espresso. PRICE: $17.75
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Roman Espresso
A bit of a hothouse flower, the Roman Espresso can turn on you in an instant if one of a dozen or so brewing parameters are not to its liking. Generally, it likes lower brewing temperatures (approximately 184 at the portafilter), and slower extraction times. In the right machine, it is a crema bomb, pouring oceans of the red/brown frothy stuff into your unsuspecting demitasse. When all is well, the result is a sweet, carmelly, fruity medium-bodied espresso that takes modest amounts of milk in the most delightful way. As pleasant as it is, after a couple of years of tweaking and fine-tuning, it doesn't much resemble the espresso enjoyed in Rome any more, but we're not about to shell out another twelve bucks for a new rubber stamp when we have a perfectly good one right here. PRICE: $18.75
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