Golden Bear Trading Company — Restaurant in San Francisco

this guy lies about his reviews. He isn’t even highly rated in the neighborhood, let alone the city. And why? The main product is awful. Wow the coffee here is terrible. The stale flavor of beans sitting in open bins for weeks or months can be covered up with lots of milk and sugar, but better yet, I went a couple of blocks to the Beanery where they roast fresh and not only is their coffee vastly better, it's cheaper also. Snowbird coffee, also nearby, also beats this place cold. The retail arm of this dusty old place is even worse. Baklava, if you can call it that, is trucked in from who knows where. Bagels - like hockey pucks. Why would you buy one there when hot from the oven goodness is available at Posh bagels just a short walk away? And the bottles sitting in the sun...this is not good for wine, duh! No wonder they have tons of dust on them, nobody's buying. Finally, there is the owner, Sam. A total jackass. I asked where he was from, and he told me in an arrogant way that I had to guess. As Jar-jar says, "How rude!" I correctly guessed Turkey, and you should have seen him explode when I mentioned that Donald Trump called that a s&*)hole country! I left in disgust that a store owner would yell at a customer, for any reason. He was rude even before that, but his verbal abuse was inexcusable. By the way the place was empty at 8 am on a...

TLDR: delicious coffee, with good recommendations and, truly, a casually masterful level of preparation at a very good price.

The full review:

Visiting a friend in town; after a few hours of hanging out by evening beach bonfires we decide coffee is a good idea - we show up to this shop about 2-3 minutes after it closes.

I knock, the shopkeeper unlocks the door, lets me in, and graciously makes two pour-overs with the coffee he recommends which will total less than $8 for the business. 0 complaints, 0 expression of anything even resembling annoyance.

During this time, we exchange ~4 ish sentences, as I do phone things and he quietly prepares the coffee. Almost no wasted movements; it felt like someone zen in the art of the barista was preparing these.

I ask if they have oat, or hemp, or almond milk. "Yes, all three."

From start to finish, one of the most organically enjoyable snippets of my evening wrapped around what was legitimately excellent coffee.

Yes I will come here again when I'm in town. I'll go out of my way to do it....

The owner Ed, is pretty great. I've passed by this place every other week or month and finally decided on taking the plunge to try. Mind you, I'm used to just espresso at home since I make mines from home. Decided to take the plunge and try Turkish coffee. I know with Turkish coffees they're grinded more finer than espresso beans. Ed, as wonder as he is, told me the process and how it's made. I ordered a Turkish latte with a bit of sugar to take the edge off. I also ended up getting some fresh Turkish beans from him to bring home to try (a review for another day).

Hint of cocoa and nuts. I could have gotten it straight black but scared of the amount of caffeine a Turkish brewed coffee would come with. The taste is a bit darker for my liking since me and the wife prefer a lighter or medium roast, but nonetheless it's really good.

Definitely will have to come back next time. And you! Definitely worth trying and stopping by, especially when if you're local. Right down the hill from UCSF...