Everything about coffee shops except the coffee.

Cafe Enchante

Coffee

I’ve only ever had the house coffee so far. It is pretty standard, as it’s brewed before hand and then put into dispensers so there’s no telling really how long they’ve been there. However, I do think there’s enough traffic that it was always relatively fresh. There were a few times that it did run out for the one I wanted. My medium cup of house ran about $2.65, which I think is expensive. They also do charge $1 for refills. Hot water refills for things like tea are also $0.60. They do have to make money back somehow.

Food

Never had it here, but I do see a regular stream of people ordering from the menu for things like bagels and sandwiches. You do smell things like bacon every now and again even from the far end of the room.

Location and Ambience

Cafe Enchante is all the way out in the Outer Richmond area on Geary Blvd. It’s a charming coffee shop with plenty of seating, whether it’s a large communal table or small intimate tables for getting shit done. It’s cute, with murals of Parisian streets on the wall, lots of house plants, and an upright piano that you’re probably expected to never touch. Light jazz music is played which wasn’t too loud. There’s plenty of outlets for charging, which is becoming more of a rarity in coffee shops. It is cold inside though, which doesn’t help given that the Richmond is perpetually cold as is.

WiFi

WiFi is pretty good here, with no noticeable drops in connection and a reasonably fast connection. Even with a dozen+ people inside there were never any hiccups. I probably would not recommend torrenting things here.

Workability

Lots of seating, lots of outlets, no real expectation of buying anything when you come in (though you should be nice and do it), good wifi. Negatives are for the lack of heat. Wouldn’t kill to turn up the thermostat a tiny bit. I’d give this a 8/10.

Ambience: 8/10
Coffee: 6/10
Workability: 8/10

Peets Coffee on 10th & Mission St.

Coffee

I wish I remembered but it was one of the cheapest things on the menu as I honestly just wanted a place to sit and camp out while working - probably the Peets equivalent of the house brew. If you’ve been to one Peets you’ve been to them all. Pricing was in the range of $2-3.

Food

Your standard fare of Danish pastries and bagels. Didn’t have any, but you can already visualize them in your head. They looked alright, but I probably wouldn’t have bought any.

Location and Ambience

It’s located right next to the Big N tech companies such as Twitter, Uber, and Square so lots of young tech professionals around. However, it is also right next to Market St. near the Tenderloin area, meaning there are some homeless walking around, and it is kind of dirty. One of the large windows was broken and had a board put up in front of it. This place gets a lot of traffic as well, getting pretty busy. There are outlets however, and you will probably find a seat. It seems like some locals also like to visit the place and just hang out which is nice to me. The last thing you want is a coffee shop full of only tech bros and gals. Music was kind of loud as well, with your standard radio pop music playing.

WiFi

WiFi was good. It did what I wanted such as searching StackOverflow and watching Youtube. No password required to log in. As always with public coffee shops, take some precaution on your internet safety.

Workability

Decent seating overall despite the numbers and outlets to boot. It was a bit dirty though, and tables were kind of rickety. I wouldn’t feel safe leaving my laptop by itself for any period of time though. It was also a bit distracting with people always moving through it and loud music that I could hear through my earbuds. 5/10 overall.

Ambience: 6/10
Coffee: 6/10
Workability: 5/10

Coffee Cultures

Coffee

Coffee is fancier (and more expensive). I yet again had the house coffee, which was called the Coffee of the Day. I did not ask what the coffee of the day was. Despite being one of the first here, it didn’t seem the freshest cup somehow. I’ll probably need to upgrade and try the more expensive drinks, though at $3.50 already, it’s already pretty pricey for me to casually drink. A pour-over in comparison is $6.

Food

Actually has a more extensive menu here such as ~avocado toast~, bagels, salads, etc. I had a toasted everything bagel with cream cheese. Standard coffee shop fare overall.

Location and Ambience

Not too far from tech giants Twitter and Uber, this particular location is on the intersection of Mission and 9th St. Like the Peets, there are still some homeless around but it is a bit quieter and less busy, being further away from Market St. Ambience can be described as more hip, with indie music playing in the background. It is also a bit cold inside. Decent seating for the morning, though there’s only either stool seating along the window, or some couches in the back to recline on. More for a casual meet up than a place to sit and work it feels like.

WiFi

WiFi is pretty good, password protected though so you have to ask the barista. There have been Yelp reviews of the internet being spotty here, but so far I have not experienced any of these.

Workability

I don’t really like having my back to the bar counter where anyone waiting in line can look over my shoulder and see what I’m doing on my computer if I sit along the window, but there are really no other places to work. There are outlets however, which is always a plus. Coffee is okay, music isn’t obnoxious. It is cold though, and can be busy. I’d give it an 6/10.

Ambience: 7/10
Coffee: 7/10
Workability: 6/10

Java Beach

Coffee

Coffee was not bad, wasn’t sour from sitting too long. What did I buy? Good ol’ house brew. At this point you can probably guess that the average price of joe would be $2.60 and you’d be spot on.

Food

Didn’t try any, but from my recollection they had your standard fare of danish and croissants. From their Yelp page they also have sandwiches and breakfast fare like bagels and oatmeal as well.

Location and Ambience

Located along La Playa St, it’s right next to the ocean. It’s pretty nice in the middle of the day, though it did help that the day was a balmy 68*F. No parking lot, but street parking wasn’t too bad if you’re willing to walk about a block. As for the ambience, it was a bit crowded, possibly due to the nice weather. There are a lot of tables and seats though, both inside and outdoors. I do have to say that some of the seating were benches that you wooden had to share with strangers, so every time someone got up or sat down you’d feel it. If you’re sensitive to that kind of thing it could be a problem, but there were other individual seats as well. Outlets were scarce or non existant from what I remember, so remember to charge your laptop before coming.

WiFi

WiFi held up well given the large volume of people. My friend who was doing a video lecture was able to watch without problem.

Workability

I would say this would have been pretty solid place to work if there were less people and more outlets. It was too distracting with how many people were coming and going. There were a lot more people working here however than most of the other places I’ve been to, so people do manage. Cute place with lots of seating, and supposing you snagged an outlet. Also a short walk to the beach for a break which is a nice change of scenery. Unfortunate otherwise if you needed to grind things out.

Ambience: 6/10
Coffee: 6/10
Workability 4/10

Sextant Coffee Roasters

Coffee

I actually enjoyed the house brew here, as it had a nice nutty flavor to it. There were a lot of options and being a roastery, you can tell they take their craft pretty seriously with their Ethiopian beans.

Food

Sorry, got nothing about what they have here. I think they sell pretty much only coffee.

Location and Ambience

You’re in SoMa along Folsom St, so it’s easy to see that it’s a gentrifying area with a mix of bougie coffee shops and auto body repair warehouses. The coffee shop itself sort of blends into the area with the industrial roasting equipment, bare brick walls, and exposed piping, which I liked. Seating was a bit rickety though, and the tables were pretty small. A lot of business people were there, so it seems to be a popular spot for one on ones and meetings.

Workability

I’m going to start combining WiFi under Workability as you kind of need both nowadays. WiFi worked well enough, with no hiccups. Seating was sort of limited or awkward, meant to be shared with more people than individual seating in my opinion. Half of the room had some smaller more personal tables and chairs and the other had the tall tables with stools, which I personally hate. Outlets were limited yet again.

Ambience: 5/10
Coffee: 8/10
Workability: 5/10