Congratulations goes out to Chris Baca of Ritual Coffee Roasters after he "dazzled" judges at the Specialty Coffee Association of America's Western Regional Barista Competition this past Sunday. The barista outperformed, outwitted, and outlasted 33 of the top baristas in California. Awesome. The judges, it seems, were wooed by Baca's signature drink, "a three-tiered liquid cherry-lime cheesecake concoction." According to Baca, "I came up with the concept at about 2 a.m. while sleeping on my friend's couch in San Francisco..[t]he idea just floated into my mind and I worked out the details of the drink at our Ritual training facility." more ›

Now that donuts have made a return to Bay Area coffee houses--minus its exhausting Homer Simpsonesque, white-trash irony--you can find the preferable pastries at places like Ritual Coffee Roasters (vegan! and actually good!), Seattle's Best at Border's Books & Music (double-glazed), and even Starbucks (plasticky). With the return of the donut comes the return of the brewed coffee. At least, according to today's New York Times, which profiles the Blue Bottle Cafe, scheduled to open today this week, and their bizarre Jules Verne-ish coffee contraption. The first-prize-at-the-science-fair-like machine is poised to make coffee's tarnished reputation shine again. more ›

Last year's Park(ing) Day at Ritual Coffee Roasters on Valencia Street.
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Ritual Coffee Roasters' two locations are only about three miles apart. Not so bad on a bike, right? Well, what if you're biking with 130 pounds of coffee? Yeah, a little tougher. This Saturday, popular cafe Ritual Roasters, in conjunction with Bikes to Rwanda, is having a wacky, multi-tiered charity event that involves bike-race betting, film-watching, a raffle, and the consumption of both of our favorite beverages: booze and coffee. more ›

Last week's winner, the San Jose Metro: Again, we're reduced to reading it online, as our source wasn't in the South Bay this week. Cover article: fashion in the San Jose city hall. What are all these positions we're voting on for? A handy-dandy guide. Exciting inside SJ politics with the Fly, and their new SJ politics blog, SV411.org. Al Gore and his movie. Skateboarders come to town. And soft-shell crab. more ›

Boy--we sure love completely subjective awards, and we're super thankful for a chance to give out a few of our own. more ›