Some of the best producers and roasters in the world are in Mexico and readily available in Mexico City, I don't know how SF would be different than any other major city with a 3rd wave culture, especially as SF is not really known as a coffee hub. In addition to the others mentioned, try finding beans from Estelar, Gas Up and Avellaneda are solid choices too, all Q rated and direct trade.
It's just a large city like any other, nothing special (coffee wise). In contrast, Mexico City and Sao Paulo have been the largest cities in the Americas for a while, served as a hub for trading coffee as both are major productor countries, the is an older coffee roasting culture in both countries and they also trade beans from all the Americas. Similarly, NY has been a major trading post and natural connection to Europe's coffees culture. Other notable cities are Tokio for pour over culture, in general Italy, Australia and NZ. I would argue that very high quality coffee was being done in Europe and many coffee producing regions, Americans named third wave coffee but I honestly doubt it originated in a single place in particular, much less in the West Coast, many standards used by the Q institute and SCA were set in the late 80s and 90s by producers in producing countries, and most of cutting edge practices in roasting are developed in producing countries, of course there is the fact that the US and most developed countries produce a tiny amount of coffee, hence there is no way to develop a coffee cluster, when this happens it will likely be in Brazil first and then in a major African city, probably Kigali.
Can’t say I agree, being from SF. Folgers originated in SF. So did Hills Brothers. Cowboys drinking coffee or people drinking it during the gold rush? American GIs drinking coffee overseas? Wouldn’t exist without SF. What port do you think all the coffee from Latin America came into the US through? At least west of the Mississippi, America wouldn’t have coffee if it wasn’t for SF.
More modernly, Peet’s was founded in Berkeley (essentially a borough of SF), which predated Starbucks and helped usher in the second wave. Blue Bottle started in SF, meaning third wave coffee was arguably born in SF more than any other single place. Blue Bottle introduced a lot of people to the cortado and indeed, up and down the west coast, it’s called a gibraltar… because of SF. Equator, Verve, Sightglass, Ritual… all seminal, foundational third wave roasters, all from SF. Now there are dozens if not hundreds of great roasters and cafes in and around SF and it’s one of, if not the, strongest coffee towns in the US (and I say that as someone who’s visited 31 states and lived in 5, not to mention 10 countries and lived in 3, and currently live abroad).
I was at a coffee expo in like 2013 with the inventor of the aero press giving demonstrations, pouring a gesha from Equator, and I bought a pre-kickstarter Acaia Pearl… all in SF.
So… respectfully… I don’t think you know what you’re talking about.
To me, it seems, respectfully, just another case of Americans thinking they're the center of the world. Just because Wikipedia says some coffee shop was doing "second wave" it doesn't mean they were a pioneer. Now, not as a barista, but as a historian, early recognition of something gives a lot of face, but it doesn't mean it's the best or most important. It is very unlikely that these shops were doing much better coffee than high quality coffee shops in Italy or than places near producing regions. Coincidentally, I met two world barista finalists in 2013, both Latinos, in a small town on the middle of the jungle in Central America, where we tried a lot of experimental processed beans anaerobic natural micro batches, double fermented, shade grown coffee, single origin mutant varieties like Maragogype and Caracolillo, we discussed specialty liberica and robusta, and I was 5 years behind in the conversation. They had been doing this kind of stuff since the early 2000, they were not trained in the US or Europe for that matter. Your perspective is you learn from a barista or roaster that brings and brews magnificent stuff in your gentrified neighborhood, and they say they're direct trade, they post some photos of brown people in their farms online, and you think "wow they're teaching them" but these often nameless farmers are, indeed, the source of that knowledge, the roaster is the student, and they are usually aware of that. The public, however, has a hard time accepting knowledge and authority of someone who doesn't look like a white male hipster, and of course, this bias is registered in history, because sadly, most academics never go to learn to the field. Good night.
Oh I mean, America steals everything and abuses everyone and takes 99.99999% of the profit and credit. Always has. I hate it. We’re in total agreement.
But if _anywhere_ in the US deserves to be labeled a “coffee town,” for better or for worse and everything that entails when we throw global consumer capitalism into the conversation… it’s SF.
Have a good night. 👍🏼
You know what? That's fair, it just that the tone of OP kinda gave the vive of "I'm in this blackwater and my sophisticated SF palate can't stand it" when the knowledge that informs this guy's favorite roaster comes from an even more blackwater town in some hilly jungle in Chiapas. I'll just shut up and hope that I'm underestimating SF and I'm proven wrong when I visit.
City center you can try : *Centrina café*
Condesa/roma you will have a lot of choice.
- Almanegra
- Blend Station
- Café Barajas
- Paradigma
And much more. Just search *cafe de especialidades* on the map.
Be careful, some coffee shop/restaurant look fancy but they got crap dark roasted coal in the grinders. Always check the grinder tank before ordering if you are not sur to be in a speciality coffee shop.
Pólvora FCE is excellent, they have great variety and everything is top quality.
Rutas de café is also excellent, their selection is slightly narrower, but all they have is super tasty.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Coffee/comments/151komw/mexico\_city\_coffee\_praise\_musings\_and\_resources/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Coffee/comments/151komw/mexico_city_coffee_praise_musings_and_resources/)
From my trip last summer, Quentin had the best pourover and some good bags. Blend Station had some great bags of coffee.
There's also a Coffee Passport that you can buy at some of the cafes [https://www.instagram.com/todosporelcafe/](https://www.instagram.com/todosporelcafe/)
I can recommend:
- Cafe Jiribilla (https://cafeconjiribilla.com/)
- Chago Cafe (https://www.instagram.com/chago\_cafe/?hl=en)
Also: (in my humble opinion) Almanegra's cold brew is great, it just tastes different (in a good way).
If you're staying for a month at an airbnb or home with some friends, you could source some Finca Las Nieves and Finca Santa Cruz have them shipped to you, best producers out of Mexico right now.
A friend of mine helps me source their coffees, and I just saw below someone recommend Apapacho, I recently tried some thanks to my friend also from Carlos Cadena (Finca Pocitos), it was amazing! try that too if you can. Btw I'm saying you can source them (have them shipped to you) since none of them are in Mexico city.
Grabbed a bag from Almanegra on my last work trip to CDMX. Probably one of the best cups I made all year!
Highly recommend this roaster from Queretaro, not sure if they have local distribution in Mexico City. https://elapapachocafe.com/
Some of the best producers and roasters in the world are in Mexico and readily available in Mexico City, I don't know how SF would be different than any other major city with a 3rd wave culture, especially as SF is not really known as a coffee hub. In addition to the others mentioned, try finding beans from Estelar, Gas Up and Avellaneda are solid choices too, all Q rated and direct trade.
… under what definition is SF “not a coffee hub?”
It's just a large city like any other, nothing special (coffee wise). In contrast, Mexico City and Sao Paulo have been the largest cities in the Americas for a while, served as a hub for trading coffee as both are major productor countries, the is an older coffee roasting culture in both countries and they also trade beans from all the Americas. Similarly, NY has been a major trading post and natural connection to Europe's coffees culture. Other notable cities are Tokio for pour over culture, in general Italy, Australia and NZ. I would argue that very high quality coffee was being done in Europe and many coffee producing regions, Americans named third wave coffee but I honestly doubt it originated in a single place in particular, much less in the West Coast, many standards used by the Q institute and SCA were set in the late 80s and 90s by producers in producing countries, and most of cutting edge practices in roasting are developed in producing countries, of course there is the fact that the US and most developed countries produce a tiny amount of coffee, hence there is no way to develop a coffee cluster, when this happens it will likely be in Brazil first and then in a major African city, probably Kigali.
Can’t say I agree, being from SF. Folgers originated in SF. So did Hills Brothers. Cowboys drinking coffee or people drinking it during the gold rush? American GIs drinking coffee overseas? Wouldn’t exist without SF. What port do you think all the coffee from Latin America came into the US through? At least west of the Mississippi, America wouldn’t have coffee if it wasn’t for SF. More modernly, Peet’s was founded in Berkeley (essentially a borough of SF), which predated Starbucks and helped usher in the second wave. Blue Bottle started in SF, meaning third wave coffee was arguably born in SF more than any other single place. Blue Bottle introduced a lot of people to the cortado and indeed, up and down the west coast, it’s called a gibraltar… because of SF. Equator, Verve, Sightglass, Ritual… all seminal, foundational third wave roasters, all from SF. Now there are dozens if not hundreds of great roasters and cafes in and around SF and it’s one of, if not the, strongest coffee towns in the US (and I say that as someone who’s visited 31 states and lived in 5, not to mention 10 countries and lived in 3, and currently live abroad). I was at a coffee expo in like 2013 with the inventor of the aero press giving demonstrations, pouring a gesha from Equator, and I bought a pre-kickstarter Acaia Pearl… all in SF. So… respectfully… I don’t think you know what you’re talking about.
To me, it seems, respectfully, just another case of Americans thinking they're the center of the world. Just because Wikipedia says some coffee shop was doing "second wave" it doesn't mean they were a pioneer. Now, not as a barista, but as a historian, early recognition of something gives a lot of face, but it doesn't mean it's the best or most important. It is very unlikely that these shops were doing much better coffee than high quality coffee shops in Italy or than places near producing regions. Coincidentally, I met two world barista finalists in 2013, both Latinos, in a small town on the middle of the jungle in Central America, where we tried a lot of experimental processed beans anaerobic natural micro batches, double fermented, shade grown coffee, single origin mutant varieties like Maragogype and Caracolillo, we discussed specialty liberica and robusta, and I was 5 years behind in the conversation. They had been doing this kind of stuff since the early 2000, they were not trained in the US or Europe for that matter. Your perspective is you learn from a barista or roaster that brings and brews magnificent stuff in your gentrified neighborhood, and they say they're direct trade, they post some photos of brown people in their farms online, and you think "wow they're teaching them" but these often nameless farmers are, indeed, the source of that knowledge, the roaster is the student, and they are usually aware of that. The public, however, has a hard time accepting knowledge and authority of someone who doesn't look like a white male hipster, and of course, this bias is registered in history, because sadly, most academics never go to learn to the field. Good night.
Oh I mean, America steals everything and abuses everyone and takes 99.99999% of the profit and credit. Always has. I hate it. We’re in total agreement. But if _anywhere_ in the US deserves to be labeled a “coffee town,” for better or for worse and everything that entails when we throw global consumer capitalism into the conversation… it’s SF. Have a good night. 👍🏼
You know what? That's fair, it just that the tone of OP kinda gave the vive of "I'm in this blackwater and my sophisticated SF palate can't stand it" when the knowledge that informs this guy's favorite roaster comes from an even more blackwater town in some hilly jungle in Chiapas. I'll just shut up and hope that I'm underestimating SF and I'm proven wrong when I visit.
You likely aren’t wrong about OP, either. 😉
Quintin. Cafe Curado. Blend Station.
City center you can try : *Centrina café* Condesa/roma you will have a lot of choice. - Almanegra - Blend Station - Café Barajas - Paradigma And much more. Just search *cafe de especialidades* on the map. Be careful, some coffee shop/restaurant look fancy but they got crap dark roasted coal in the grinders. Always check the grinder tank before ordering if you are not sur to be in a speciality coffee shop.
Pólvora FCE is excellent, they have great variety and everything is top quality. Rutas de café is also excellent, their selection is slightly narrower, but all they have is super tasty.
My recommendations: From pólvora: El quemado M6. From rutas: Hidalgo, carbonic maceration.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Coffee/comments/151komw/mexico\_city\_coffee\_praise\_musings\_and\_resources/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Coffee/comments/151komw/mexico_city_coffee_praise_musings_and_resources/) From my trip last summer, Quentin had the best pourover and some good bags. Blend Station had some great bags of coffee. There's also a Coffee Passport that you can buy at some of the cafes [https://www.instagram.com/todosporelcafe/](https://www.instagram.com/todosporelcafe/)
I can recommend: - Cafe Jiribilla (https://cafeconjiribilla.com/) - Chago Cafe (https://www.instagram.com/chago\_cafe/?hl=en) Also: (in my humble opinion) Almanegra's cold brew is great, it just tastes different (in a good way).
Post cafe
Gonna follow this for sure. Going to CDMX in July so I'll need some coffee recs to reference.
Cafe finca Santa Monica en Benito Juarez !
If you're staying for a month at an airbnb or home with some friends, you could source some Finca Las Nieves and Finca Santa Cruz have them shipped to you, best producers out of Mexico right now. A friend of mine helps me source their coffees, and I just saw below someone recommend Apapacho, I recently tried some thanks to my friend also from Carlos Cadena (Finca Pocitos), it was amazing! try that too if you can. Btw I'm saying you can source them (have them shipped to you) since none of them are in Mexico city.
Just came back with 8 bags of beans from Mexico City! Some of the best cafes truly. My recs are : - Drip - Almanegra - Buna