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Opening in early 2009, this is an unusual space in that most people cannot make it out: Is it a café? Is it an event space? Is it a restaurant? Is it a wine bar? It's all of the above inside an old, long, barn-like structure across from the diploma-factory California Culinary Academy across the street. There's some sidewalk seating in front of the space with more of a café space just inside - with flat-panel TV screens overhead, Portuguese cookbooks for sale, and a bit of Ritual coffee on display. In the back, past the wine bar at the side and near the food and pottery items, is a space that is used as a Portuguese restaurant at night with projection movies. Ritual not only roasts their coffee, but they even custom farm-source some of their custom blend coffee. When we visited, they were pulling single-origin espresso shots from Matalapa La Sidra, La Libertad, El Salvador from their three-group Linea. The resulting espresso has a good, sharp depth. While not as robust as what you might get directly from a Ritual Coffee Roasters café, it still has a bit of personality in the cup as a sharper, clearly Central American shot with more of a turpeny base. Served in wide ACF cups. Back in their restaurant, they serve espresso and offer a coffee menu highlighting three different farms as French press coffees ($4 for a small pot, $8 for a large). Credit is due for taking their coffee seriously here.
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