Hot Ice Cubes

Cube don't like shattered ice.

Qualifier: This is for city apartment dwellers or  people who have ice trays that you have to fill manually. Those of you with the automatic ice cube makers you can move on to the next post.

I hate shattered ice cubes. They get on my floor and make water everywhere.

Quick tip: If you want clear solid cubes of ice. Use your hottest tap water when you fill your tray.

Then you have nice cubes for your gin n’ juice.

Post-post script: FYI You should all know that I did an experiment with boiling water, hot tap water, room temp tap, and cold tap. I came up with hot tap water because it was more or less the same result as boiling water. And less time consuming.  One commenter said something about the clarity of the hot tap water (it comes through the hot water heater). That would be a case by case determination, I would imagine. If yours isn’t clear, then boil it.

Four Barrel Coffee

Check out the line out the door.

So this blog isn’t really about coffee at all. “My kind of coffee” is a metaphor. Coffee being, well, you know, kind of a personal taste. Everyone likes it a different way. And if there aren’t enough choices, I am sure Starbux is dreamin up some more right now. This post right here, however, is about coffee. Because I do drink it. And I do want you to know about this.

So I went to Out The Door over on Bush St. with some friends for brunch. Had their coffee in a french press and asked about it because it was good. Really good. Like different than normal good. They told us it was a local company called Four Barrel Coffee.

The next week we went on a failed trip to a non-existent Farmer’s Market. Now having some time to kill we decided to check out Four Barrel. So we went through there and it was cool spot. There was a line out the door but it moved pretty quickly. The lattes we got were damn good. I bought a bag of coffee from there. Now the coffee is going to be more expensive here than your typical $10 bag. You’ll spend between $14-$18 on a nice bag.

chk out 4barrel : )

The place is choc-a-bloc with the requisite number of Mission tattooed and pierced coffee-house dwellers wearing the too-tight jeans. That number being ALL. There is nothing wrong with that….except I do consider the irony of wearing second-hand clothing while writing on Apple laptops. Whatever works. As far as I could tell, no one was laughing at me in my Warriors baseball hat and running shoes. So a nice place to hang. Feels nice and open with a good vibe.

Again, I am no coffee connoisseur but I do know good from bad and great from good. I give this place 5 coffee beans. Check it out, yo.

Four Barrel Coffee, 375 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, (415) 252-0800

www.fourbarrelcoffee.com