Ritual Coffee Roasters — Restaurant in San Francisco

Time for a Ritual early evening brew ha ha

Ritual Coffee Roasters in the Mission District was the site for my first ever coffee cupping class. I vividly remember the Nicaragua episode of "Bizarre Foods", where Andrew Zimmern slurped & spat his way through various coffee, noting the distinctive notes of each brew. I now had the chance to see how loud a slurp I could make, distinguishing from various single origin coffee. All the while, enjoying a high octane caffeine boost to power me on for the night.

Sho was our barista, and he led us through the cupping process. Starting with South American coffee, and onward to Ethiopian grinds, Sho had us sniff the dry grinds, to envision the flavor notes in our head.

Then, after brewing for a certain amount of minutes, Sho had our group sniff the brewed grinds, to see if the flavor notes we experienced before still applied or were altered in any way.

Afterwards, came the highlight of any coffee cupping - tasting! Sho demonstrated the artisan way of tasting. By using a spoon & slowly lowering it into the brew, we slurped the coffee as loud and fast as possible, which we spat out. Tasting this way sprays the coffee onto the tastebuds, allowing for maximum savoring. In my opinion, the South American coffee had more sweet/floral profiles, whereas the Ethiopian coffee had bold/more assertive flavors. What was on the unhygienic side, was we used a communal cup to wash our spoons before each sipping. All I can say is, I was glad I was the second one & not further down the line.

Upon our coffee cupping class coming to completion, we all had our choice of drink from Ritual Coffee Roasters. Wanting some cold with a kick, I went with Ritual's nitro cold brew-

Cold, slightly acidic, caffeine-laden, the nitro cold brew hit the spot. For the uninitiated, nitro cold brew coffee is akin to coffee beer. Frothy, slightly bubbly & having a stoutness to it, the drink is made the day before to remove most of the acidity. By cold brewing, the nitro cold brew contains more caffeine than traditional drip coffee. Refreshing as can be!

Service was great. Sho was quite professional during the class, communicating in unpretentious terms about coffee and the brewing process. Our drinks came out in a timely manner and we even received free can cozys.

A fair amount of seating inside, with 2 communal tables (in front & in back). A few tables for those alone or with someone. Most available seating is al fresco, via wooden tables overlooking Valencia St. Metered street parking is hard to come by, so try to visit during off hours when possible.

While I'm not a ritual coffee enthusiast, I do enjoy the brew at Ritual Coffee Roasters. All the coffee beans at Ritual are roasted in San Francisco, keeping things local. Drinks are made one cup at a time, and customers can see the attention & care that goes into the products offered here. I had an educational & entertaining time, participating in my first coffee cupping, and Sho was as great a teacher as any during the process. There are many café options in the city of San Francisco, and it would behoove you to make Ritual Coffee Roasters one of them.

Highly...

Such a cute coffee shop. The cashier/barista who greeted us was very friendly and helpful. The shop didn’t have any syrups for drinks other than simple syrup (which is very common in SF), but not the end of the world. Would have loved some vanilla or caramel for my oatmilk latte. My wife loves a miel, which is a latte with honey and cinnamon, and this also seems to be a hard find in SF.

There was a good selection of baked goods, but we’d just eaten before our bus ride over here, so we didn’t grab anything. I believe there were even some gluten-free options.

Seating is fairly comfortable, but if working from a laptop, the table height is a bit awkward, too low.

Like many SF shops, they didn’t have any WiFi and at least on T-Mobile, the reception was terrible. As a result on my hotspot it was like 1990s dial-up. I do cherish time offline, but we came here to work on some life planning as a couple, and sadly needed the internet to pull data. I'll plan better next time, because I do love this shop.

If you were meeting family or friends to catch up or wanted to read, journal, or do something that didn’t require being online with a laptop or tablet, this place would be perfect. Just make sure you power up your devices since they have covered all of the working outlets.

Loved the concert artwork and the music (good but at the right volume to think and relax) here. Also love the back window/courtyard (you can’t sit out here) with the vegetation. This gives the place a bit of a nature vibe for the win.

Still giving it 5 stars since my need for Internet and POWER shouldn't bring their rating...

This place had literally the worst customer service I have ever experienced. The guys behind the counter asked us what they could get for us while we were looking at the menu, and then when we told them said that we were in the wrong spot for ordering- and acted like we were yelling our order at them. Then, my husband's americano tasted really strange- like an extremely thick and oily texture. He drinks americanos everyday, two times a day, and said that this was the worst americano he had ever had. I went to the counter to let them know it tasted strange and asked for a new one, and the guy asked me what was wrong with it (which is fine) but when I told him, had the worst attitude and said that that coffee naturally has oils (duh) and that it was supposed to taste like that. He literally acted like I had no idea what I was talking about and had never had espresso before. He reluctantly said they would try again but that he didn't know how they could do anything differently. My husband tried the new one and it tasted terrible as well. It was so bad that he went up to the counter and just left the whole thing there untouched- even though he had paid for it. Worst customer service and not even a good product. Would NEVER...