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Cafes
Upscale Coffee Culture Hits the Valencia Corridor
If enough people took their lead from Eileen Hassi and Jeremy Tooker, the world would be a better place -- well, at least, the coffee would be better. When Starbucks bought Torrefazione Italia, the gourmet coffee roaster where Hassi worked, she took drastic action. Loath to don a green apron and serve mediocre coffee -- never mind gingerbread crème Frappucinos -- she decided to open her own coffeehouse. She called up Tooker, whom she had met when they were both Torrefazione employees (she in Seattle and he in Portland). By May of last year, Ritual Coffee Roasters wa More
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Cafes
Where Old is New Again
To believe in anything requires a leap of faith. At Modern Tea, a new restaurant and tea shop owned by Alice Cravens, a former tea purveyor to Chez Panisse and Zuni Cafe, the belief seems to be that tea can drive a full-service restaurant. To take the leap means overcoming the fact that many of the teas are too fragile to stand up to the food, namely the desserts. More
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Cafes
Another Solid Anchor for the New Mint Plaza
Tucked away on a corner of the newly-renovated Mint Plaza in SOMA, Blue Bottle Coffee opened its long-awaited café in January 2008. Previously, BB addicts could only find the hand-pulled brew at small kiosks located in the Ferry Building farmers' market and in a Hayes Valley alleyway at 315 Linden Street. More
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Cafes
Imperial silver noodles, "Monkey-Picked" Tieguanyin, bamboo aged Pu-erh, and boba tea might sound like witches brew, but these are an interesting few of the finest and most flavorful types of tea to consider besides your everyday green tea and English breakfast. Too long overrun by coffeehouses in every nook of the city, tea finally plays the star of the show at three recently opened teashops, with a fourth on the way. More
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Cafes
At Lovejoy's Tea Room
The last time I went out for high tea was in Portland, Oregon a few years ago. A charming British waitress seated me on a sunny garden patio and brought me a pot of Earl Grey and a scone with clotted cream. The setting seemed so relaxing, so quaint, so European... until I overheard the waitress screeching into the phone in an accent no more British than Madonna. More
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Cafes
Still Life with Lunch
If contemplating Warhol's "Soup Cans" or "The Last Supper" makes you hungry for the real thing, you're in luck! San Francisco's three biggest art museums, SFMOMA, the Legion of Honor (Fine Arts Museum) and the Asian Art Museum each include onsite cafés. In addition, the California Academy of Sciences has a café at its temporary digs on Howard Street. More
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Cafes
Two Family-Owned, Intimate Tea Rooms
Cosmopolitan or not, the Bay Area loves its independent, unique, family-owned businesses. Worlds away from the fancy hotels that serve tea downtown, we found two tea rooms with a personal touch, run by Bay Area siblings. More
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