2003年12月13日凌晨3:45，全世界都在昏睡之时，单簧管演奏家James Freeman got up, he, like Kobe, saw the star at 4 o'clock in the morning.Of course, he did not intend to practice ball, not even to practice piano.
This day was his first time setting up a stall at a San Francisco farmer's market. He had to arrive at the Ferry Building at 6:30 in the morning before he could open to welcome customers at 8:00.before thatHe has to go to Oakland to install equipment and buy ice cubes.
However, the weather is very bad and there are not many guests.But when he took the first cup of hand-made slow brewed black coffeeHanded it to the customer, the customer said that your cup is very different.He laughed.
Since then, Freeman has come to set up stalls every Saturday, and two years later it has become the most popular coffee stall in the farmers’ market.The coffee shop on Crane’s trailerHe opened his first brick-and-mortar store in the Hayes Valley after selling coffee for three and a half years.This is the beginning of Blue Bottle.
Blue Bottle @ Hayes Valley
Blue Bottle relies onSingle-source coffee beans,Cups and cups hand dripping slowly和Never sell baking for more than 48 hoursThe coffee gained a firm foothold in San Francisco, and returned to the Ferry Building to open a third physical store in 2009. More than ten years have passed, and there are still frequent queues.
Until today, Blue Bottle has been opened globallyHundreds of stores, first received an investment of 1.5 million US dollars in batches, in 2017NestleHe spent another 5 million US dollars to buy 68% of his shares. The leader of the first coffee wave has integrated into the giant of the third coffee wave. It must be said that it is an epoch-making cooperation.
When the quality of Blue Bottle enters retail stores along Nestle's channels, they canned coffee beans by injecting inert gas,Be slow when opening, Otherwise it will explode like a shaken Coke can.
So, where is the charm of the blue bottle?This has to be said from the development process of coffee.
Coffee has experienced three waves:
1,Fast food(1940-1960).The standardized instant coffee led by Nescafe requires the addition of sugar and creamer to neutralize the bitterness of the coffee.
2,Exquisite(1966-2000).Take Starbucks as a representative.PickWith heavy roasting of Arabica beans, people can drink good quality coffee even without adding sugar and creamer, and add the influence of emotion and environment on drinking coffee.
3,Aesthetics(2003 to present).Making coffee with the spirit of winemaking, pursuing the ultimate experience, and advocating light roasting to appreciate the original taste of coffee.
Blue Bottle has never stopped in the pursuit of exquisiteness. It has become more and more exquisite from the quality and method of coffee, and it is one of the few coffee shops that has siphon coffee.
(The siphon pot uses the principle of thermal expansion and cold contraction for extraction, using air pressure to extract the essence of the coffee powder, coupled with the high water temperature, so the coffee tastes strong.)
And Blue Bottle is not satisfied with just making coffee. In 2009, they entered the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Freeman's wife Caitlin Freeman has been devoted to researching pastries and designed 27 art pastries based on the collection of artworks, which can be called classics.Although the cooperation with MOMA ended in the end, fortunately, these pastries were included in Caitlin's recipe "Modern Art Desserts" to be circulated.
Cake inspirationChecked drawing from Pete Mondrian
Now the Blue Bottle got"Coffee apple"Reputation, Freeman is also known as the coffee industry"Jobs".
Freeman in the early days of Blue Bottle
The Blue Bottle model has been copied by several independent cafes. They traveled all over the world to screen coffee farms for cooperation. The origin, altitude and even the name of the grower were all marked on the outer packaging of the coffee, making people more intuitive."From farm to cup"Experience. In this wave, several cafes that are comparable to Blue Bottle have emerged.
Philz Coffee
(Since 2003)
Philz is also a household name in the Bay Area. He is different from all cafes.No espresso machine, That is, no latte, no cappuccino, no mocha... Only hand-made coffee, to be precise, his hand-made is more like dumping, holding a large plastic bucket with hot water over the head, rushing down, and then stirring Once, repeated several times, simple and crude American impact.
Most people think that the hand punch should be a blue bottle, and the water is long and does not stir. But Philz's style has won the love of many hippies.
Today, when single-origin beans are prevalent, Philz insists on blending, with more than 2 kinds of coffee in 7-XNUMX forms.
Founder Phil ran it before opening the cafe25Grocery store, during this period he went to countless cafes to try thousands of coffees, and finally developed more than XNUMX recipes.So the biggest difference between Philz and other cafes is that he is not the taste of traditional coffee, but the flavor, like chocolate, butter, nuts, fruit and even caramel. It tastes very smooth and coffee is divided according to the intensity of the taste. Three categories,Intensity + flavorYou can choose all of them, so that customers can easily choose their favorite coffee.
Philz upholds "One Cup at a Time"(One cup at a time) principle. When ordering coffee, the barista will listen carefully to the customer's needs, adjust the ratio of milk, sugar, etc. accordingly, and chat with the customer while brewing by hand, for about four or five minutes. It’s done afterwards. This slowness has attracted a lot of people, especially the bigwigs in Silicon Valley. Philz is Facebook.zuckerberg's favorite, and even contracted the coffee at Zuckerberg's wedding.
Now Philz has opened 69 stores.The most popular drink is ice mint mojito. Every time I go to Philz, I want to try something else, but I still ordered a mojito in the end!
Address:
https://www.philzcoffee.com/locations
Ritual Coffee
(Since 2005)
In 2005, when Blue Bottle opened its first store, Ritual Coffee also opened. So in the early days, Ritual often compared it with Blue Bottle. It can be seenMillennium secondTemperament.
However, Ritual is not a vegetarian. Although it is far inferior to Blue Bottle in terms of expansion, he has a large number of diehard hippies and yuppies in San Francisco. The logo resembles the flag of the former Soviet Union. This eye-catching red color reflects 2005. The sense of revolution in the coffee world.
The coffee that Meimei drinks is actually very simple, just drink latte, you can drink latte wherever you go, you can drink the difference, Ritual's latte is the most Italian style, the most mellow coffee.
Now Ritual has 6 branches in San Francisco and Napa. I also like his Nitro Cold Brew coffee, which has a beer feel.
(Nitrogen cold brew coffee is nitrogen infused into cold brew coffee, which is somewhat similar to beer in appearance and taste, and can taste dense sweetness without adding sugar.)
In addition, Ritual aggressively entered the supermarket shelves and cooperated with a number of beer brands to sell coffee and beer.With 10% alcoholThe coffee is said to taste good.
Under the competition of Blue Bottle, Ritual is trying many different ways. His approach based on the local market has also been appreciated by many people. On the contrary, Blue Bottle’s vigorous expansion has caused some resentment, accusing it of alreadyForget the original intention.But no matter what, for us who drink coffee, the taste is the first. The blue bottle is noisy nowadays, and the barista's level is different is also the reason for its slight decline in reputation.
Another great thing about Ritual is that he has cultivated the founders of two other famous cafes, which will be mentioned later.
Address:
https://www.ritualroasters.com/#locations
Verve Coffee Roasters
(Since 2007)
Blue bottleStationed in Japan, So that the entire Northeast Asia has set off a wave of literary youth. It seems that if you win Japan, you have the potential to win Asia. Unlike Blue Bottle’s active attack, VerveCoffee is JapanesePlease goFor the 2020 Olympics, Tokyo built a shopping mall NEWoMan at the New South Exit of JR Shinjuku Station. The shopping mall came to the United States to inspect and secretly visit a number of cafes and finally selected Verve to enter the store.
In 2016, Verve opened on the second floor of the mall, and Blue Bottle happened to be on the first floor! Verve is the opponent who dared to face Blue Bottle.
Verve inSanta CruzIt started, and it was founded by two university classmates Ryan O'Donovan and Colby BarrSanta. They researched baking to find a manor on their own, and formed"Farmlevel To Streetlevel"This kind of coffee spirit loyal to the original flavor.
In Verve, you can choose the brewing method you want and let the barista make: V60, French pressure, Philharmonic pressure, Chemex, espresso... The barista is also happy to discuss everything about coffee with you.
Verve only settled in San Francisco a year after opening a store in Japan. Some people speculate that the coffee market in San Francisco is too saturated and the competition is too fierce. However, the arrival of Verve has given San Francisco a bright spot. In addition to delicious coffee, they also have Los Gatos.Three-Michelin-starred restaurant ManresaThe second brand of Manresa Bread’s bread and snacks, in this way, people can finally enjoy Mi San’s croissants with Verve’s coffee.
Now Verve has a total of 15 stores around the world, all the coffee beans are distributed in a unified manner. The rich mocha has always been my favorite. I recommend you to try it.
Address:
https://www.vervecoffee.com/pages/locations
Four Barrel Coffee
(Since 2008)
Speaking of Four Barrel, I have to bring Ritual, because Four Barrel’s CEO Jeremy Tooker is alsoOne of the founders of Ritual, And Four Barrel experienced a sexual harassment storm in January 2018. Jeremy Tooker was accused of sexual harassment of several former employees, and finally resigned and left Four Barrels of Coffee.But the quality of the four barrels of coffee itself has not been affected.
To be precise, Four Barrel is aCoffee roasterLike all new wave cafes, they find sourcing beans, roast, wholesale and retail coffee beans, and operate cafes.
Half of the four-barrel coffee Valencia store is a roasting area. Interested diners can sit next to watch the roasted beans. The whole store is full of fragrance, and the fragrance of coffee on the body will last for a long time after drinking coffee.
Although you can see someone using a laptop on the picture, this shop is actuallyNo Wi-FiProvided, even this shop is full of customers all the year round, showing the quality of coffee.
The latte is very fragrant, and there are many choices for hand brewing. The coffee beans come from Latin America, Indonesia and East Africa. The traditionalHand baking, No computer control.
Address:
https://www.fourbarrelcoffee.com/pages/about-us
Sightglass Coffee
(Since 2009)
If the blue bottle represents the first stage of coffee aestheticization, then the representative of the second stage must be Sightglass.
Sightglass in my heart isNO.1, I recommend the Sightglass SOMA store (Address: 270 7th Street, San Francisco) for all my friends who come to San Francisco looking for a cafe, because this is the best way to look like a cafe in my mind.
There are too many people in Blue Bottle, Philz is too noisy, Ritual is not big enough, Four Barral seats are really not many and there is no internet... Only Sightglass, there is a baking site, a tall and big two-story Loft, there are always vacancies, and there are too many people. But it’s never crowded, the hand sanitizer in the sink is my favoriteAesop...Women, your life is the details.
Where's his coffee?In fact, at this point, I can say responsibly: the coffee in every cafe in this article is very delicious, but there are subtle differences in acidity, bitterness, and flavor. Sightglass isBitterBut I prefer to describe it as "sweet". Coffee is basically bitter. The key is that some are bitter and some are slightly sweet.So if you like strong coffee, come to Sightglass.
Sightglass also has a special area that is not open at ordinary times, but there will be cup tests on a regular basis, and the public canFree to participateIn fact, cupping and coffee courses are basically available in the cafes introduced today, but there are not many coffee research and development areas that have been dedicated to a small area like Sightglass.
In addition, the SoMA store also has an independent Affogato (espresso + ice cream) Bar, using Portland’s famous Salt & Straw ice cream to make Affogato, you can taste aViolence after the collision of sweet and bitter.
The founders of Sightglass are two brothers. They used to work in Blue bottle, and then they went out on their own. Although there are only 3 stores in San Francisco, they still have a great influence in the entire Bay Area. I often see them in other independent cafes. Their beans and bags of Sightglass coffee are all placed on the counter, which is a guarantee of quality.
PS: His dim sumFamous French dessert shop from San FranciscoB. PastryIt is definitely a pleasure to go there for coffee and add a croissant.
Address:
https://sightglasscoffee.com/visit
Saint Frank
(Since 2013)
Saint Frank is a benchmark in my heart, markingThe start of the fourth coffee wave(My personal definition), their design philosophy and business philosophy areFor the purpose of communication.The design of the built-in coffee machine was amazing at the time. There is no longer a wall-like coffee machine between the barista and the guest, making the communication between the two more smooth.
Kevin Bohlin, the founder of Saint Frank, used to be a middle school art teacher, and later went toRitual coffee work, 在Won sixth in the National Barista Competition, And got an invitation from Facebook to replace Blue Bottle in the headquarters buildingMPK20 has made this an experimental base, achieving a combination of technology and coffee.
Saint Frank attaches great importance to connection. The connection between farmers and operators of South American coffee farms, the connection between baristas and customers, the connection between cafes and society, etc., make coffee shops not only a place to sell coffee, but also to connect various relationships. Place.Their attempts made me think about whether the fourth wave of coffee has arrived?
Address:
https://www.saintfrankcoffee.com/pages/our-locations
Thoughts on the fourth coffee wave
Many media are predicting that the fourth coffee wave is about to start or has already begun, but what he is is still being defined. I feel that the fourth coffee wave will have several characteristics:
1. Interaction and community
Almost all boutique cafes have begun to emphasize the interaction between baristas and customers, and some have begun to make cafes into community centers.
For example, a family in Castro Valley in the Bay Area is calledCafe4The cafe is located in a church, with a huge shop hall like an airport, high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling glass and comfortable sofas...none of them show the café’s desire to keep you sitting here, but in general All of the cafes have minimized seating and reduced area to speed up the mobility of guests, which also reflects from the side the strong strength of this cafe relying on the church.
Cafe4 has different activities almost every day. Some are related to the church and some are not related to religion. People of different ages can get what they want.
There is also a special warm corner in the cafe, you can buy a cup of coffee for a stranger, write down the type of person you donate to, such as: someone with a final exam, a tired teacher, a heartbroken person... as long as you have these Anyone who meets the conditions can take down the card to enjoy a free coffee.
It must be mentioned that the ice cubes in Cafe4’s ice coffee areCoffee madeThe huge cubes will not dilute the coffee flavor when placed in iced coffee. The iced latte is super delicious.Such a cafe must be very popular, and its business purpose should not be to make money, but to connect people together.But how long this form can last without the support of the church is a question mark.
Address: 20600 John Dr, Castro Valley, CA 94546
2. E-commerce
Coffee has long entered the homes of ordinary people, but most of the coffee made at home is based on capsules, filter hanging or instant, almostAll boutique cafes can buy coffee beans online, and even boutique instant and filter hangers appear. Maybe whoever sells the most online will be the winner in the future.
3. The advent of the post-appreciation era
Coffee tasters are now very common. Sometimes they are cafe owners and sometimes baristas. They carefully select coffee beans and introduce them to customers. They even take on the responsibility of spreading coffee knowledge and cultivate a batch of Like wine lovers and consumers who taste coffee and sample coffee, these people will find their favorite beans, grind and brew them by themselves, and there are more and more home-style coffee machines.Independent Coffee AppreciatorOrPersonal Appreciation EraWill come.
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Taken together, the entire coffee industry isDiversified developmentThe new ones are appearing, and the old ones are not stage fright. People who go to Starbucks must have noticed it too. The terms such as hand punch, slow and Fair Trade also appeared in Starbucks. As the initiator of the second coffee wave, Starbucks did not Stopped by the second coffee wave that was declining, Starbucks Reserve was created completely based on the prototype of the new wave cafe, and the Shanghai store is the world's largest flagship store.
And the contemporary Peet's coffee acquisition of "Intelligents" (Intelligentsia) and "Stumptown" (Stumptown), the representatives of the third coffee wave, are exactly the same as Nestlé's acquisition of Blue Bottle. They are all countermeasures that old coffee companies need to make industrial upgrades. .
So what will the future of the coffee industry look like?
Will there be more powerful new coffee ideas in SF?
Let us wait and see.
Text | Meimei
Pictures | Some pictures from the Internet
Copyright belongs to the photographer
