barefoot coffee roasters
Well, I mentioned seeking out good coffee during our trip to the bay area (we're home, by the way! Hooray!), but I didn't go into any great detail. Of course, we had to check out the Stumptown joint in San Francisco- Four Barrel. (soon to be roasting their own beans) Four Barrel is a new shop that started as a back-alley secret, serving shots of espresso onto the curb before their shop was completely built. It's always nice to get Stumptown away from home, and the feel of the shop was very similar to the cafes up here. But that's kind of an obvious go-to, and we were in the mood for something new.
Staying in San Jose leaves our options kind of limited- it's a very spread out place. Jason usually just sucks it up and gets iced americanos at the Starbucks around the corner from his folks' house, or else we drive to San Francisco or Santa Cruz (not just for coffee, obviously, but we'll wait 'til we get there to buy any). But this time, before our trip, he heard a little bit about a place right in San Jose called Barefoot Coffee Roasters. Located in an unassuming strip mall, sandwiched between a joint called "Freedom Burrito" and a bagel shop, this place was a breath of fresh air compared to most of the crappy drive-through "expresso" kiosks you see here and there, and certainly miles above Starbucks.
Jason got a double shot and chatted up the guy on the bar, the owner- I think? It came up that we were visiting from Portland and Jason mentioned working for Stumptown and they talked coffee for awhile, but I was too busy chasing my son around to keep up with the conversation. What I did gather from hanging out in the shop and talking to Jason was that, much like Stumptown, they're a craft roaster who does small batches by hand of great beans from awesome farms all around the world. That will pretty much always sell me, but it's all a pile of gimmicky crap if the shots don't live up to the expectations. But, luckily, we weren't disappointed. Jason got a double shot that was delicious (I dipped a finger in it) and I had an iced americano because I'm a sipper. The espresso was rich, chocolate-y, without a hint of bitterness at all. Sorry, I'm not good at giving the fancy shmancy "notes of fresh fig, plum, yadda yadda," stuff. It was a beautifully pulled shot and I'll leave it at that.
We picked up a couple of pounds to bring home for the dudes at the shop, and now we have a regular coffee place to hit up whenever we're visiting the in-laws. Sweet! So once again, for anyone in San Jose (and judging from the comments on my other post, I guess that's a pretty good handful of people), here's another destination. Delicious coffee from nice people, in a cute little shop. That is basically what my life revolves around, if you can believe it.
Staying in San Jose leaves our options kind of limited- it's a very spread out place. Jason usually just sucks it up and gets iced americanos at the Starbucks around the corner from his folks' house, or else we drive to San Francisco or Santa Cruz (not just for coffee, obviously, but we'll wait 'til we get there to buy any). But this time, before our trip, he heard a little bit about a place right in San Jose called Barefoot Coffee Roasters. Located in an unassuming strip mall, sandwiched between a joint called "Freedom Burrito" and a bagel shop, this place was a breath of fresh air compared to most of the crappy drive-through "expresso" kiosks you see here and there, and certainly miles above Starbucks.
Jason got a double shot and chatted up the guy on the bar, the owner- I think? It came up that we were visiting from Portland and Jason mentioned working for Stumptown and they talked coffee for awhile, but I was too busy chasing my son around to keep up with the conversation. What I did gather from hanging out in the shop and talking to Jason was that, much like Stumptown, they're a craft roaster who does small batches by hand of great beans from awesome farms all around the world. That will pretty much always sell me, but it's all a pile of gimmicky crap if the shots don't live up to the expectations. But, luckily, we weren't disappointed. Jason got a double shot that was delicious (I dipped a finger in it) and I had an iced americano because I'm a sipper. The espresso was rich, chocolate-y, without a hint of bitterness at all. Sorry, I'm not good at giving the fancy shmancy "notes of fresh fig, plum, yadda yadda," stuff. It was a beautifully pulled shot and I'll leave it at that.
We picked up a couple of pounds to bring home for the dudes at the shop, and now we have a regular coffee place to hit up whenever we're visiting the in-laws. Sweet! So once again, for anyone in San Jose (and judging from the comments on my other post, I guess that's a pretty good handful of people), here's another destination. Delicious coffee from nice people, in a cute little shop. That is basically what my life revolves around, if you can believe it.
Comments
Post a Comment