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This industrial art space café opened in late 2009 and is easy to miss - despite its size and being across the street from AT&T Park. There are a few French café tables among the front patio and also inside, but inside it is primarily a large art space with white walls and a number of pieces of various media, including lawn chairs on a real patch of lawn. At the center is a coffee bar that doesn't mess with food items: the focus here is on the coffee, using a two-group Laranzato ME-2. There are also a number of plastic Clever drippers from Sweet Maria's and a number of Pelligrino bottles lining the long serving countertops. They feature coffee from Equator Coffees & Teas, which we've long been ambivalent about - i.e., great accolades as a roaster, but underwhelming results in most of the cafés they supply. They used their Arabian Mocha Java blend for espresso, but they also featured an organic Brazil Chapada Diamantina, a Colombia La Josefina, and a Costa Rica Montes de Oro. They pull espresso as sizable shots served in larger paper cups (unfortunately). It has a healthy looking, mottled, medium brown crema of average thickness and a flavor of a light tobacco smokiness. There are some herbal notes and pleasant spices in the mix, but the shot has a somewhat narrow flavor profile. Good, but again not the place to showcase Equator beans.
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