James Freeman

Blue Bottle's New Edith Heath Bar: Behind the Pastry

Behind the Pastry: Blue Bottle's New Edith Heath Bars

Blue Bottle is known for its coffee, but its pastry program -- headed up by Miette alum (and wife of owner James Freeman) Caitlin Freeman -- is starting to get a following in its own right. The team makes beautiful, art-inspired desserts at SFMOMA and thoughtful, rustic cookies and cakes for its caf ... More >>

"Deliciousness is My Primary Concern": Watch This 12-Minute Coffee Documentary

Approximately 2,000 hours of work go into every cup of coffee, from growing the beans to brewing the cup, according to this new 12-minute mini-documentary on coffee roasting from The Thrash Lab. "Specialty Coffee: The Pursuit of Deliciousness" takes an in-depth look at three California roasting comp ... More >>

Conversations About Coffee: Three Upcoming Events With the Author of Left Coast Roast

January's a great month for local coffee geeks, bringing us an upcoming trio of events featuring Hanna Neuschwander, author of Left Coast Roast: A Guide to the Best Coffee and Roasters from San Francisco to Seattle. As the title suggests, the book is kind of a coffee guidebook, profiling 55 companie ... More >>

Blue Bottle Coffee Shares Secrets to The Perfect Pour-Over

The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee Book Event Where: Heath Ceramics, 2900 18th Street (at Florida) When: Thurs., Dec. 13, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Cost: Free The rundown: Blue Bottle owner James Freeman heads to Heath Ceramics, where one of his coffee kiosks opened over the summer, to bring techniques from his ... More >>

East and West Coast Chefs Descend on the Mission for Edible Selby-Inspired Sandwiches

Photographer Todd Selby continues to conquer the San Francisco food world with his new book Edible Selby, an ode to his favorite chefs and their domains. Yesterday he stopped by Bar Tartine, where five chef friends and subjects each created a signature sandwiches for a one-day lunch menu. Here's wha ... More >>

Party with Local Chefs and Photographer Todd Selby, Author of the Eclectic Edible Selby

Photographer Todd Selby's made a career of photographing interesting, creative people in their natural environments. His first project, The Selby is in Your Place, focused on photographing creative people in their spaces, both at home and at work. For his new book, Edible Selby, the photographer tur ... More >>

"Craft of Coffee": Checking Out Blue Bottle's New Book

Blue Bottle's New Book Features More Than Coffee

When Blue Bottle's new book, Craft of Coffee, hits shelves on October 9, be prepared for an enlightening and in-depth education on growing, roasting and drinking coffee. As you flip toward the latter third, however, you may be surprised to find there is barely a bean in sight. Caitlin Freeman, wif ... More >>

Fall Book Preview: 5 Local Food Titles to Anticipate

When it comes to food-centric books, the Bay Area is a publishing powerhouse, and this fall is no exception. Here are the titles we're most anticipating this season, presented in chronological order: The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee: Growing, Roasting, and Drinking, with Recipes by James Freeman, Ca ... More >>

James Freeman, Blue Bottle Coffee Founder, Just Wrote the Book on Coffee

Any good San Franciscan knows how to muse over a cup of coffee. We can't help but remembering fondly the coffee drinkers at Four Barrel who continued sipping obliviously as two burglars used this hipster hotspot as an attempted escape route last November. I've sat in many a coffee shop, eavesdr ... More >>

Cold Coffee, Cold Chicken, and Hot Bama Messes: This Week in Food Bloggery

Generik11/SF Weekly Flickr poolHighlights from the blog this week:​ 1. SFoodie's late-night cooking-channel scout, Michael Leaverton, discovers Bama Glama, whose dethgoth, party-planning host wears spiked sunglasses (yes, photographic evidence is provided). Leaverton's reaction to the show: coin ... More >>

Blue Bottle Unleashes Bottled Iced Coffee

​It's a big year for high-grade iced coffee. Portland's big-and-getting-bigger Stumptown unleashed bottled "stubbies" of cold-brewed goodness in May. La Colombe followed suit in August with iced coffee encased in elegant containers, and Grady's large bottles of New Orleans Cold Brew showed up seem ... More >>

Blue Bottle Introduces the "Transcendent" Nel Drip at Mint Plaza

Say what you will about the rapid and ongoingsuccess of Bay Area alumni Blue Bottle Coffee,​ but it's indisputable that, for the gear-loving tech geeks of coffee, Blue Bottle has always been both a standout and a pioneer in fascinating -- and expensive -- coffee technology. The Ferr ... More >>

The Blue Bottle Coffee Cart Finds a New Home in the Castro

neilconwayA Blue Bottle latte​The Blue Bottle Coffee Cart has had a long and rocky journey to its newfound location. Originally slated to be a part of the all but aborted Dolores Park food cart project, Blue Bottle's attempt at mobile coffee brought a hailstorm of criticism from local business ... More >>

Liza Shaw's Thanksgiving Essential: Pumpkin Cheesecake

SFoodie's series asking some of our favorite San Francisco food people about the dish they just can't celebrate Thanksgiving without. Every year, A16 closes for Thanksgiving Day, and chef Liza Shaw is as thankful about that as anyone. "If you stay open for Thanksgiving," she says, "you're expec ... More >>

Russ Moore's Thanksgiving Essential: Sticky Rice and Chinese Sausage Stuffing

SFoodie's series asking some of our favorite San Francisco food people about the dish they just can't celebrate Thanksgiving without. Russ Moore is the Bay Area's chef's chef. At Camino, the Oakland restaurant, he operates with his wife, Allison Hopelain, the Chez Panisse veteran reduces cooking ... More >>

Marcia Gagliardi's Thanksgiving Essential: Giblet Gravy

SFoodie's series asking some of our favorite San Francisco food people about the dish they just can't celebrate Thanksgiving without. Tablehopper editor Marcia Gagliardi spends her days and nights roaming the city, chatting up restaurateurs and tasting all there is to be tasted. But when it comes ... More >>

Irvin Lin's Thanksgiving Essential: Green Bean Casserole

SFoodie's series asking some of our favorite San Francisco food people about the dish they just can't celebrate Thanksgiving without. Since I grew up Asian in St. Louis, my Thanksgivings always skewed a little from the mainstream. I never realized that sticky glutinous rice wasn't part of everyon ... More >>

James Freeman's Thanksgiving Essential: Wonky Turkey Roasting, Lots of Coffee

SFoodie's series asking some of our favorite San Francisco food people about the dish they just can't celebrate Thanksgiving without. Perhaps the wonkiest of S.F. coffee geeks, Blue Bottle's James Freeman does Thanksgiving with the aid of gadgets, key elements sourced from Ferry Plaza, and no lac ... More >>

Rec and Park Comments On Blue Bottle's Decision to Pull Out of Dolores Park

renroublard/FlickrLa Cocina is going through with plans to let El Huarache Loco's Veronica Salazar, center, operate a cart in Dolores Park.​More on the aftermath of Blue Bottle's decision to scrap its plans to sell in Dolores Park. Elton Pon, spokesman for the city's Recreation and Park Depart ... More >>

Blue Bottle Kills Plans for Cart in Dolores Park

niallkennedy/FlickrBlue Bottle's James Freeman: No appetite for a contentious dispute.​It looks like opponents of a Blue Bottle coffee trailer in Dolores Park have gotten their wish. Blue Bottle's James Freeman tells SFoodie that there's a better than 90 percent chance that the company's plans ... More >>

Why Are Only Some Food Vendors Okay for City Parks?

Alarzy/FlickrInformal chestnut vendor in Paris.​Our favorite morsel from the blogs. So Blue Bottle won't be driving its Third Wave trailer into Dolores Park after all. James Freeman told us whatever benefit the company could scrape together from setting up in the park would be more than oblit ... More >>

Anti-American Apparel Campaign Founder Goes After Blue Bottle Cart

Stephen Elliott.​Stephen Elliott, local author (The Adderall Diaries, Happy Baby) and the man who launched last year's successful grassroots campaign to keep an American Apparel store out of the Mission, learned out about the Blue Bottle coffee cart going into Dolores Park last Tuesday. The more h ... More >>

An Open Letter from Blue Bottle to the Dolores Park Community

Blue Bottle Coffee Co.Rendering of Blue Bottle's proposed coffee trailer and its site in Dolores Park.​Organizers of tonight's community meeting at Dolores Park Church to discuss Rec and Park's vendor plans for Dolores Park are finalizing the final agenda. And while representatives of would-be ... More >>

Fresh Eats: Our weekly roundup of SFoodie news

This Year's Eat Real Festival Is Bigger, Better Organized, and More Entertaining

Jonathan KauffmanThere are moments like this at Eat Real, but they're rare.​ In their second year, the organizers of the Bay Area's back-to-back street food festivals have clearly learned from the surprise throngs and food shortages of last year. Last week, John Birdsall commented how much better ... More >>

Eat Real Festival Releases Schedule and Vendor Lineup

​Eat Real Festival, the upcoming three-day celebration of street food, urban homesteading, and all foods local, just released its schedule and vendor lineup today. The event, which takes place August 27-29 in Jack London Square, hugs the contours of the food-world zeitgeist like an American Appare ... More >>

New Orleans Iced Coffee from Blue Bottle

dennisandluba/FlickrClean, rich iced coffee from the land of dirty rice.​As a daily windup to the Weekly's Best of S.F. 2010 on May 19, we've teased out 92 of our favorite local dishes that taste like here. All the tasty details after the jump.

A Dripper Bar Grows in Brooklyn

Return Home/FlickrApparently the siphon is a child's toy compared to the slow dripper.​Today, the New York Times reports that Oakland-based Blue Bottle Coffee is opening a roaster and cafe this week in Brooklyn (Williamsburg, to be exact). Followers of owner James Freeman's tweets have been notici ... More >>

Blue Bottle Oakland is Due Tomorrow. You'll Have to Wait for the Bookmaker's Sandwiches

cscotta/FlickrA traditional letterpress: Good for wedding invitations, and also sandwiches.​It looks like tomorrow will see the dawn of primo caffeine in Oakland, as Blue Bottle's new roasting facility (with attached retail café) is slated to open at 300 Webster (at Third St.), a circa-1923 w ... More >>

Stiff Competition Shaping Up for Food Vendor Contracts in Dolores Park

Phillie Casablanca/FlickrWith weekday foot traffic and proximity to the 18th Street food scene, Dolores Park is prime ground for vendors.​Yesterday's deadline to submit proposals for mobile food vending in San Francisco parks suggested there's stiff competition for the steep swath of green tha ... More >>

When It Comes to Iced Coffee, Kiosk Owner Has a 'Wood' Fetish

J. Birdsall Taste the chicory, not the sugar.This isn't the town for iced coffee, except when it is. Sure, cities like Chicago, New Orleans, and Manhattan have the kind of suffocatingly humid summers that turn the hollow of your back into an uncontrollable sweat sluice, soaking the waistband ... More >>

Street-Food Video Takes a Sip of Blue Bottle Coffee, Talks Pee in Linden Street

National street-food chronicler VendrTV was in town sampling java at the Blue Bottle kiosk in Hayes Valley, and has just posted the video. Lovably geeky host Daniel Delaney shares a cup with Facebook's Dave Morin (something brainy about the intersection of street food and social networking), and cha ... More >>

SF's $12 Cup of Coffee at Blue Bottle Cafe

Mr. Coffee Eat Your Heart Out: Blue Bottle's $20,000 Siphon Coffeemaker