Potrero Hill is rapidly becoming the Olympus of the coffee world. From its august heights you can look down at some of the city’s best coffee and get there in a matter of minutes. It’s sort of like the Robert Duval story from Colors, why chase the hottest coffee places all over town when you sit on the hill and wander down to visit them all? Maybe that’s too forced, here’s another one, Potrero Hill is the donut of the coffee world, the hill stands in the middle surrounded by cafes. And there’s more to come.
My latest discovery fills in a hole. I happened upon Front last week and quickly hopped in assuming it was the latest in Third Wave coffee to fill a neighborhood gap but it’s already been there a year. Simple but shining white in the St. John aesthetic they serve the standard line up on a Marzocco but the twist is that they roast their own beans in a tiny space. Maintaining a stable temperature in the roaster must be an art given that the entire shop is open to the street.
They have German beer garden benches out front which host a rotating cast of creative conversations from all the people who work in the shared work space behind Front and seem to draw sundry other creative types who occupy all those strange office spaces in the neighborhood.
As for the coffee, the espresso is the more acidic style favored by Four Barrel and Sight Glass. Very good and perfectly prepared, just not to my taste. They feature a small line of pastries and just announced that they’re producing house made almond milk so I bet more things are on the horizon.
Stay tuned, Intelligentsia has been supposed to open just around the corner at 1125 Mariposa. Perhaps all these roasters can give Anchor Steam some competition on scent of the hill.
View Max’s Espresso Map in a larger map