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Last week in San Francisco, I made four separate trips to the Blue Bottle Coffee Company trying to get a pot of mud made in the Mint Plaza cafe’s $20,000 coffee maker. For various reasons the dedicated barista that operates the siphon bar wasn’t around on my first three attempts, but I finally managed to get one a mere half hour before I was due to leave for the airport. Was it worth it? It was a fine three cups’ worth, and its preparation pretty fun to watch, but I’m not sure the taste improves upon a Clover cup, or even the perfectly good dripped-to-order regular coffee there. Maybe I was simply too rushed to appreciate the “kaleidoscopic” flavor, as owner James Freeman describes it. But there is something about the deliberate grace that goes into the beverages there–each one takes several minutes to prepare, which even happens at the remote stands at the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market. It helps you slow down and take notice of what’s in the cup–on my first three visits anyway.
