What's In A Name? SFist Spotlight On Ritual Roasters, Part II
In part one of our spotlight on Ritual Roasters, we told you the backstory behind one the the Mission's most popular new cafes. We did, however, save one important component of that story for this follow-up: the origin of the name. Sure, the name "Ritual Roasters," resonates, has nice alliteration, and may seem like a no-brainer. For Eileen Hassi and Jeremy Tooker, though, the process was agonizing.
"Other than securing the financing to open the cafe, deciding on the name was the most difficult part of the process," says Hassi.
The two of them looked through books of antiquated names and dictionaries, both conventional and unconventional. After going through a bevy of materials, they looked back at an old list and found the name "Ritual," which they both liked. Tooker, in particular, has an interesting take on the significance of name to a coffee house. To him, the name represents an individual's method of making coffee -- one's "muscle memory," which makes a barista's technique "your thing and yours alone."
When asked about extracurricular activities, they quickly mention that they participate in Litquake. Amusingly, Ritual has its own bicycle posse known as "RCCBP" (Ritual Coffee Club Bike Posse), which meets up with Critical Mass. They create a costume theme for each one; at the time of our conversation it was "Critical Mustache," but the upcoming one this Friday is "Critical Superhero." Ritual also at times displays works of local artists. However, Hassi and Tooker tend to stick to the business at hand, mostly because, as Hassi says, "special events tend to detract."
One special event that the gang participates in, however, is Barista competitions, both regional and national. Two of the baristi at Ritual participate in such events and train their asses off for them: Gabriel Boscana and Ryan Brown.
Hassi describes these competitions as intense, laden with criteria, and perhaps "mockumentary worthy." Boscana and Brown's participation in the Western Regional one back in February was worthy enough that Ritual shut down for a day so that the staff could cheer on their fellows -- much to the dismay of some of the regulars.
While the rules of such a competition are indeed laden with minutiae and would take too much space for these pages, here's the gist: there are SEVEN judges (four sensory, two technical, one head); contestants are judged on performance, knowledge, passion, appearance, quality of drink, appearance of drink, and more. Intriguingly, each contestant has an opportunity to make a "signature" drink along with the required ones; Boscana's is the "espresso citron," which is served cold and has a combination of citrus juices; Brown's has the awesome title of "de-licorice," and incorporates anise seed. These drinks helped Boscana and Brown place second and fourth,respectively, at the Western event (first went to 2003 U.S. Champ Heather Parry). Pictures and links to more info can be seen here. Subsequent to our conversation, the guys from Ritual competed in the U.S. Championship, which was held this year in Charlotte, N.C. Boscona took 10th and Brown took 15th -- Hassi noted that this was an accomplishment, considering "the competition was stiffer than ever." Also, Ritual was one of only two companies that had more than one semi-finalist. Intelligentsia (the "N.Y. Yankees" of the competition world, despite being Chicago-based) was the other and they took first, third and fourth places.
Tooker and Hassi's love of coffee permeates more than their business lives. Hassi recently took a trip to Guatemala with some family. While she was no means there on cafe business, she still made a point of going to a coffee plantation.
We have our own prejudices when it comes to coffee, and were very curious to know the coffee-drinking preferences of people whose lives and livelihoods revolved around it. Tooker's preference: "It changes a lot, but always black coffee . . . and while we're 'on bar' we probably drink the equivalent of 10 shots--and then there's the fact that you soak it in through your skin . . . yeah, we just try shots of espresso [thoughout a shift] to make sure the bar's under control. Or, if you pull a shot that's like too good to pass up . . ."
He left that sentence hanging, but his smirk finished it nicely, as if to say "of course you take it." Hassi's day always starts with a Gibralter--basically, a four-ounce glass of half espresso, half milk. "It's kind of like a macchiato, it just has a little more milk." Her day is scattered, as Tooker's is, with hot coffee and espresso in a variety of forms. Future plans are at the same time fairly predictable and pretty interesting. We asked, acknowledging it was silly, if Tooker and Hassi had any thoughts of expansion.
"It's not that silly," Hassi told us. "We have another location planned."
Ritual itself going to keep the ship on course. An intriguing plan, though, is to have a kiosk-sized offshoot in a plant store in the Bay View that current neighbor Guerrero Street Gardens/The Palm Broker is planning to open ("It's like a park in there," Hassi says, referring to the current location). It's a chance to participate in what the proprietors of both establishments hope will be "the premier plant destination in the Bay Area." Thankfully, nowhere in these bold future plans do they intend on introducing a flavor line. No, the young owners/proprietors of Ritual Roasters seem to have a knack for taking the right kinds of chances and keeping things simple, straightforward, and high-quality the rest of the time. It works for the neighborhood, and it works for us -- Ritual has become our favorite cafe in town. We hope you SFist readers enjoyed reading our two-part spotlight on Eileen Hassi and Jeremy Tooker as much as we enjoyed the conversation behind it.