Mariposa Coffee Company

Gerry has been roasting coffee for over thirty-five years. He started a furniture factory in San Francisco, lost it in an earthquake, considered going into chocolate, and chose coffee instead. He roasts on a machine he built himself, in a tiny rustic shop in the middle of California farmland, with a dog named Cowboy somewhere underfoot.

The smell hits you at the door. There's no real seating for customers, which is the first thing to understand about the place: this isn't a hangout. You come here to buy beans, taste what Gerry recommends, and have a conversation with the owner if he's in the mood for one. Some recent customers have found him brusque, particularly if you're not a regular and you're taking up space without buying. That's worth knowing before you walk in expecting cafe hospitality. Gerry is running a working roaster, not a tourist stop, and his patience has a known floor.

The house blend is the workhorse, and it's been refined over decades of roasting on equipment he understands better than anyone. The chocolate-covered coffee beans are the souvenir to take home and the kind of thing that turns up at gift exchanges in San Francisco for years afterward. The in-house ice cream powder is the kind of product you only find at a shop run by someone who has been doing this long enough to invent his own product line. Vegan cookies are around if you need a snack to go with the beans.

A shop for bean buyers and travelers who want to talk coffee with the person who roasted what's in their bag. Not a place for a group brunch or a quiet morning to yourself. The Mariposa drive is worth the detour if you understand what you're driving to: a small working roaster run by a man who has survived an earthquake and built his second life out of green beans.