IMO beacon is the best roaster in Ventura county. The owner Jon is a master roaster who is able to pull flavors out of a roast which you wouldn't think would be there. Prospect to me is all hype and the coffee isn't particularly well roasted. Go in to beacon and ask questions, they love to talk coffee.

What is third wave

What does third wave mean?

Beacon espresso whole beans 🥵

Beacon, Prospect, Singing Sun, Palm & Boy, Humblemaker..

Interesting

Another vote for Modern Times in SD. Verve is based out of Santa Cruz, as is Cat and Cloud (both excellent options). Whenever I'm in SF, I make a point to stop in at Philz as well. If you're in the south bay, Chromatic is a great choice. Blue Bottle is also a Bay Area staple, but interest in them seems to have dwindled since the Nestle acquisition.

I’ve heard great things about Hawthorne and James from a friend who went to San Diego last year.

For SF, I adore Sightglass and stop by every time I’m in the city, and I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about Andytown though I’ve yet to have the opportunity to go. I used to stop by Four Barrel’s shops (including The Mill) whenever I could, but I’ve kept my distance with the harassment news.

Modern times is a brewery turned coffee shop (and still brewery) in San Diego. Their beer is very good and the coffee is a very pleasant surprise.

IIRC, they wanted to cut costs on making their coffee stout, so they started roasting their own coffee. Found they could make great coffee and started roasting their own beans.

I'm a fan of bird rock in San diego.

Be sure to get some California burritos while in SD

I just did a California road trip and hit a lot of coffee shops. My favorite of the whole trip was Dark Horse in San Diego. If you are into fruit bombs they have a Fruit Party blend that will blow you away, I regret not getting a bag.

In LA, Lab coffee roasters was great, and has parking.

My favorite of San Fran was Four Barrel Coffee. Ritual was great too.

It is also worth stopping at a Blue Bottle if you don't have them where you are from.

So many great places in California.

Succulent Coffee Roasters is the best in South OC, I'm surprised it doesn't get much recognition. Them and Moon Goat are our best roasters in OC.

Try looking up Freelance, Vacancy, and Kean. Enjoy your time here!

Moongoat is up there, I really like their roasts and their location on Placentia is really nice

Stereoscope has a small location - not my favorite setting because its a weird business building and you need to pay for parking in the structure if you stay longer than 15min, but worth a look

Portola is pretty good also

Newport - Freelance, Vacancy, Stereoscope, Daydream, Kit, Huskins

CM - WIP, Portola, Neat

Laguna - Equator, Endless quest

this gets asked a lot on the r/orangecounty sub too so you might be able to find some other recommendations on there as well

KIT Coffee, Huskins, Stereoscope, Vacancy, Herst

you're probably right... only been there once but forgot about validation

I like Verve, Onyx, Counter Culture, and Tandem Coffee. I don't think you can go wrong with any of these.

Counter Culture has been my favorite coffee this year. They also have a great subscription service.

Verve is very very commercialized, please choose small local roasters.

Excellent suggestions. I think Onyx is the best in the country right now. Love the other two as well.

What does third wave mean?

So when people post these things do we just assume they are in the US?

3rd wave is a coffee movement based on making coffee a specialty thing, focusing on direct trade, light roasts and fancy brewing methods.

Toby's Estate for the win! The owner has his own farm in Panama. Once you experienced Toby's, SB will loose its magic. Lols.

Another 3rd wave shop na highly recommended is Blue wave in Estancia & Firefly in QC.

What's a third wave coffee shop

Woke Coffee in Valenzuela. The ambiance is nice as well, since it's also a flower shop/studio.

Niseko Coffee, Crema and Cream are the top-tier for me. Chapter coffee is also nice.

Fat Seed is a hit or miss for me.

I vouch for Toby's Estate, Angkan, Elephant Grounds and Bakehouse MNL (malakas wifi 😂😂 plus their flat white and pastries are so good) 😍

All of these naman are located in BGC. Hope you have a great time once you get to try it. 🥹☺️

Black Velvet will likely have a few single origin light and medium roast options. In my experience they’re the best coffee in Mammoth.

Black Sheep in Bishop gets a pretty good single origin roast going once in a while as well.

These are small towns, without many coffee snobs to support $10 pour overs being profitable, so manage your expectations.

Not just your closest option, your only option. Black velvet is good, well roasted coffee. Everywhere else in town is just meh IMO. Unfortunately coffee shops along with most other businesses in this town cater to the tourist who is on vacation and just looking for a quick fix. You won’t find anywhere that specializes in anything deeper than making a quick buck.

Born and raised in mammoth, black velvet is your best option. If you compared black velvet coffee to something you could find in a major city like LA or SF, it’s gonna be a solid 6-7 out of 10 in terms of their pour overs and lattes. In a small town after a full day of skiing? Their coffee is the best in town and a 10/10 in any form.

Tried Black Velvet when I was in town recently. They had one coffee on pourover, a Costa Rica single origin. The barista was not able to give me any information about it (roast level, flavor notes, processing). I went for it. Their pourover setup does not include the use of scales so unclear how they are measuring the water ratio. The pourover was fine, a bit of nice acidity, certainly better than generic starbucks or whatever, though it had a bit of a papery note to it.

Also I should note, at 8000 feet above sea level, water boils at 197 so that limits how light of a roast can be brewed successfully up there.

Didn't try their espresso drinks.

Just got a pour over at Black Velvet; it’s just meh. Only a single choice of coffee for pour over. They didn’t use a scale. They didn’t use a timer.

Coro does pourovers on weekdays but their batch drip coffee has never disappointed me. you’re going to want to have a budget in mind for bags of coffee you’re going to want to buy.

Coffee movement is great and they do pour over flights which is fun.

Last but not least, they don’t do pourovers but Golden Goat is the literal goat for me in SF, they have close to no seating but they’re really close to a chill park. I’ve also never had a problem getting a spot in the limited seating in front of the shop. It’s a neighborhood spot people pick up and go. They’ve got their espresso game on lock, also their drip coffee also never did me wrong. They often carry Flowerchild but no promises, they rotate regularly.

Coffee movement for sure. Had their DAK recently and it was amazing. The one in the Richmond has seating.

Pay homage to the OGs at ritual and four barrel that kicked off 3rd wave coffee in sf and most of the world by and large.

Coffee Movement and Saint Frank are the best imo. Enjoy!

If you are going to go South of the Bay Area.

I might get a lot of hate, but Moonwake in San Jose is comparable to Japan's Glitch coffee.

I've loved the steady state that I've had, and I've also had some really nice cups in store at Bird Rock, there's one in Torrey pines not too far from Solana

Did you mean Solana?

Go north and try Rosehill in Cardiff. Further north has steady state. I’d avoid iron smith personally. Lofty coffee is okay. Interim coffee is also rad.

Close to Bird Rock in La Jolla and Encinitas!

These are a bit further north than you but highly recommend checking out necessity coffee in Encinitas! They're doing some really cool stuff with their drinks.
Steady state in Carlsbad is a great roaster too with tons of options to pick from.

Whoa, somehow I never knew this was 15min down the road. Thanks for posting! I feel kinda dumb b/c I’d kinda given up on South Bay roasters—some are fine, but hadn’t (yet) found any to be standout and consistent enough for me to go out of my way to vs buying online w/ free shipping. Will try tomorrow!

I've been ordering their coffee for a while. (From MN) I've never been disappointed. That Pepe Jijon was one of my favorite coffees this year. I've had over 30 Pepe coffees, and some of the best were roasted by Moonwake. Happy to hear their cafe is doing great

Hey, I work here. Y'all really made the owners' week with all the excitement about the shop and our coffee. Lots of exciting coffees and working on new cafe experiences to come in 2025 :)

Nice try Brian Quan

they roast some gooood fuckin coffee.