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This is a classic SF neighborhood coffee house (note that "classic" doesn't mean "good"): several wood tables and benches, sponge-painted walls, large windows in front, and darker seating in the rear. Sparsely decorated and low-key. Out front there's some uniquely nice sidewalk seating along Noe St., complete with wooden benches and a quasi-Buddha garden of potted trees and plants. Inside they offer smoothies, bagels, and sandwiches, but this is predominantly a coffee shop. Given the neighborhood, the clientele here are almost all (white) men, and the space is generally quite except for the neighborhood-appropriate house music on the stereo. They owners also served Thai iced tea and Vietnamese coffee (they use North Bay Coffee for filter coffee). But using a two-group La Spaziale, the pull espresso shots with a thin, darker brown crema. It's a rather plain and unassuming shot: a body-dominated espresso with little brightness, saved just short of ashiness. Its flavor is mostly of dark smoke and tobacco with a little herbal pungency. Surprisingly not bad for cheap America's Best Coffee beans, but that isn't saying much. Served in cheap ceramic cups and mismatched saucers. The quality has improved a notch with better barista skills here in the past few years: less bitterness and better body and crema.
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