Will K.
Yelp
You might want to sit down for this one.
Listen, I like an independent coffee shop. Nothing against nation wide chain shops, but those tend to get a little sanitary, you know? A little cut and paste. Like, even the snarky of the barista is a little rehearsed. Consistency is cool, but you can get that at home. Sure there is economy of scale and yada yada yada... but small / independent shops are usually cool.
And I've been in search of a new one in downtown San Diego. Most of the major ones have just not met the mark. Turns out a lot of them get their coffee from the same provider, so flavors don't change much. And frankly, a lot of the independent places lately seem a little cut and paste. If I'm wrong, message me and point out one cause I'll go. But the situation puts me in crux. It's late 5 AM, I'm downtown, it's Sunday, and I need espresso like an aging content creator needs something controversial to say to get traffic. For some reason, most of San Diego Coffee shops don't do early morning on weekends, which confuses me, because you'd think early morning and coffee in San Diego go together like parking meters and outrage does in San Diego. I digress.
So, using the power of 4 AI tools, google, yelp and a fuzzy memory of downtown, I remember place called blue bottle. Which, honestly I thought was some sort of bottled water store or something I could cognate to a body problem. IDK, but the name doesn't scream coffee, and was almost lost to me as a place of coffee.
I digress again.
So, in search of a place that makes the condensed, refined liquid that properly blocks the adenosine build up so common on Sunday mornings, Blue Bottle met the criteria: they were down town, and they were open at 6 AM. Parking would suck. It did suck. But 2 outta three ain't bad. I didn't know it was a chain. In retrospect, might have made me wonder, but open and in the location were the spark.
So, I find the aptly non coffee associated name place, and walk in.
Now, purposeful coffee shops are ALWAYS places that seem a little bit like your living room or an industrial loft, right? Comfortable, cozy, thought provoking places that make you feel like you need to sit and think about something esoteric for a while. You can relax while you shake off several hours of sleep and become in sync. Sort of like a warm sweater, or a grey hoodie. Comfortable, enveloping, welcoming.
Well.
This place is lit quasar bright. Shadows simply do not exist. It felt like I needed step outside and put on SPF 1,000 and then walk back in. Clinically austere. A surgical strike against having any physical sensation other than squinting into the blinding light. If you took the operating room of a hospital and the cleanroom of a silicon chip manufacturer, mated them, then distilled that result, you'd have Blue Bottle. Nothing in sight says coffee, other than the menu on the wall. I wasn't sure that, in my morning haze, I hadn't walked into a place to get that long put off procedure by accident.
But I digress, again. I know, focus on the task at hand; Espresso.
Which they get right.
Exceedingly right. I am not an expert, aficionado, or even mostly knowledgeable. But when that almost syrupy, dense, first hits the tongue, and the bright acidity follows.. and you get a smell in your noise like a that of a dark beer, you kind of know.
And service. Wildly kind, despite the fact that it's just after 6AM on a Sunday and the only people out are people like me. No smarminess, no snarky. A kind offer of sparkling water to go with the espresso (so often not done). Walked to the table with a smile. Friendly , non-unctuous, banter behind the counter.
So, Blue Bottle. Kudos. For literally doing none of something according the template of coffee shop existence, but literally setting the standard for espresso and service. Maybe turn the lights down about 300 kelvin, consider renaming to blue coffee or blue coffee bottle or coffee bottle, or ANYTHING THAT HINTS AT COFFEE, but keep the awesome employees and keep the espresso as is.