I went to Kean Coffee over the weekend. It was my 5th visit or so, and probably my last.
I know that Diedrich holds high status in the coffee world and all, but I do not really care for the coffee at Kean. I have drunk through a number of their coffees, espresso, and espresso drinks and I just don’t find anything special. Edit: On this visit, my cortado was all wrong. Way too much milk. It ended up being like an 8oz drink. I don’t know what happened…
I also got some Colombian beans to brew at home. Again here, nothing remarkable. Decent pricing, but nothing to make me return.
Also, a warning about Kean during COVID times: there were a lot of people not wearing masks and acting very lackadaisical. This was true of Newport Beach/Costa Mesa generally. The were some Proud Boy-looking bros behind me in line openly flaunting the rules and bitching when a staff member passed them a mask to wear. This was Saturday, post-President hospitalization. Ridiculous.
First I am not as experienced and knowledgeable as many as you guys are on coffee. I have never been to Italy, Portugal and Spain to actually try the espresso based drinks. Sorry about that cortado, I had it a few times and thought it was balanced. (1:1 ratio I think?)I know a cortado is a “test” of sorts of a barista skill.
I like history and I guess part of my liking is the Diedrich Family history/contribution to coffee. I am not sure how to answer your question! They been consistent to my taste over the years.
If you are down here again for Oliboli/Vietnamese/Ramen etc give Portola, Hopper and Burr, Common Room a try.
In the Portola versus City Bean battle for Ethiopia I easily declare CB the winner and at $5 per bag cheaper. Similar acidity, bigger mouthfeel, more robust and aromatic… slightly darker roasted
The Bad News: I called HPB to see if they still had Trystero beans yesterday, but they were sold out. The Good News: They let me know they will be getting a freshly roasted batch delivered today! Heading there soon to pick some up.
Does anybody have any feedback on Sightglass beans? They started carrying at my local Whole Foods. I’m probably going to stick with my rotation of Portola and Tectonic but wondering if Sightglass would be a good fall back in case of emergencies.
I have had Sightglass on a few occasions, but I don’t recall anything specific about their coffee.
Re: buying premium coffee beans at the supermarket
One thing to watch out for is beans that are sold at supermarkets will often not have a ‘roasted on’ date, but rather a ‘best by’ date or no date at all. When you are paying for premium beans, it is important that they are fresh. After about 2-3 weeks, the beans will lose those fruity, more subtle characteristics that you are paying extra for.
Good call out. It’s a last resort for me. I just remembered there is a Bodhi Leaf 7 minutes from my house so I’ll probably go there before I go the supermarket route.
I used to enjoy the Sightglass Soma location when I lived in the Bay Area. I haven’t stopped by their new hollywood location but if you’re ever in the area I think they’re worth a shot.
Okay, I’m going this conversation super late. I’m thinking of getting a subscription for partner for an X-Mas gift. Tectonic mentions becoming an “Inner Core” member and some sort of subscription, but there doesn’t appear to be any other info about this. If I buy a bag, do I then get sent info about how to subscribe? Do people recommend other subscriptions from purveyors?
The guys who run it are friends of mine; but even if that wasn’t the case, I’d still recommend YES PLZ for a coffee subscription. While other coffee companies are trying to roast and do the cafe thing at the same time, these folks are roasters only and can help troubleshoot all your home coffee needs. The quality of their blends has been wonderful as well. Full caveat that other shops may do it better, but YES PLZ definitely feels the most celebratory or “gift-like”.
I’ve been buying Tectonic coffee since the summer. Once you buy beans they send you a link to their wholesale website which provides lifetime access to wholesale pricing. They have their blends that ~$10 and their single origin beans from Africa and South America come out between $13 to $15. These are the wholesale prices.
They roast on the weekends and ship out on Monday. I’ve found it very convenient during the pandemic. With 1 day USPS shipping and tax it comes out to about $15 to $16 per lb bag. This is what I’d pay at Whole Foods or Bristol for a supermarket brand. Tectonic is superior to the supermarket brands when I don’t want to drive 20-30 minutes for Portola or Kean.
I stopped by to check out sightglass in Hollywood. It’s right next to Tartine. The set up reminds me of Farm Shop -they’ve pivoted to upmarket bodega format carrying Cream co sustainable beef, nice olive oils, hard to find brands of mirin & rice vinegar. Nice looking prepared food including meatballs & sauce in the refrigerated section, great looking pastries made in house . You can see through a huge window 2 enormous Probat roasters -so they are roasting locally for all the coffee you see in the supermarket as well. Haven’t tried the coffee beans i bought yet but my cortado was very good. If i lived in the area of be by more often.
Have to say that I was pretty surprised since I hadn’t really heard anything about the place.
Nice! I need to get over there. Yeah they had a friends and family soft opening lunch March 12 or 13, so really opened at the worst possible time, especially since they’re an SF transplant and don’t necessarily have a name for themselves here. Glad to know they’re doing well
The SF location is two stories and I used to love watching them roast coffee from up above!!
Did the City Bean thing last week. Picked up an Ethiopian that I’m really enjoying, for a great price. Although I will say, it was a bit older than I might have liked when I bought it (all of 8-9 days or so), and I feel like now that I’m a week or so on from purchase it’s fading a bit. But for QPR it’s hard to beat.
Kind of the opposite of the thread title but we’ve been ordering 5lb bags of coffee from City Bean since July and it’s great. I was moved to comment because yesterday afternoon we ordered again online and it very clearly (and fairly) states that orders received after 12PM PST on Thursdays will process the following Monday but we found coffee on our doorstep just now. Superlative work, City Bean!
