Barista Magazine

OCT-NOV 2013

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CAFFEINE-CRAWLING THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO THE ONLY OTHER TIME I'd visited San Francisco was for a twohour dash through the Ferry Building, and the only coffee I snagged was a hurried cup from Blue Bottle. Given my brief introduction to San Francisco coffee culture, when Caffeine Crawl: SF rolled around, I was pumped and ready to go. The weather was crisp and clear, perfect for strolling through the streets and enjoying brisk walks between our 10 Caffeine Crawl stops. We divided the Crawl into two routes to cover more of San Francisco's killer coffee, tea, and chocolate culture. I naturally chose the chocolate-heavy route, which started out at Contraband Coffee Bar with owner Josh Magnani offering a three-part tasting of Guatemalan, Kenyan, and Balinese coffees. My Kansas City, Mo., feet complained, but the walk from Contraband to Blue Bottle's colorful Heath Ceramics location was worth the trek, ending with a single-origin iced coffee featuring St. Benoît's Farm's creamy milk and a polished presentation. Then it was off in the cool morning to Stanza Coffee, where we experienced a full-on cupping, with instructions in "slurp and spit" and discussions of proper temperatures for cupping. An added bonus: a great conversation about one of my favorite folks songs along with plenty of admiration of Stanza's Slayer machine and multiroaster offerings. Route One was definitely the best choice for the chocolate lover, since it delivered us to both Dandelion Chocolate and Christopher Elbow. I'd been anticipating my visits to both, and they didn't disappoint. At Dandelion, we got to taste a variety of origins, and my husband—a coffee Christopher Elbow Artisan Chocolates collaborated with two of San Francisco's most talked-about microroasters, Sightglass and Four Barrel, to create custom coffee ganache especially for the a endees of the Caffeine Crawl in San Francisco. roaster—was invited onto the production floor to check out the cocoa roaster and crunch on a warm Madagascar bean. In its finished form with its smoky tobacco and dark fruit, the Madagascar was my handsdown favorite. A few blocks away, Christopher Elbow had collaborated with two San Francisco coffee shops that weren't able to participate due to space restraints, and offered a custom coffee ganache with both Four Barrel and Sightglass (individually wrapped in signature white boxes with a rich brown ribbon). By this point I was ready to finish the day with a short FIND OUT ABOUT COFFEE EVENTS IN YOUR AREA NEW CAFE OPENINGS AND INDUSTRY UPDATES ON OUR FACEBOOK AND TWITTER! follow us on Facebook at Barista Magazine blog Updated daily with the most relevant and interesting coffee news and event coverage follow us on twitter! @BARISTAMAGAZINE www.baristamagazine.com/blog CHECK OUT TONS OF PHOTOS OF BARISTAS AND CAFÉS FROM AROUND THE WORLD AND SEND US PHOTOS AND NEWS FROM YOUR OWN CAFÉ! www.baristamagazine.com 23

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