Roaster of the Week: Ritual Coffee in San Francisco, CA

Feb. 28, 2018

We're celebrating our customers at Artisan Coffee Imports and this week we'd like to give a high-fiveRitual Coffee Roasters in San Francisco, CA. Ritual is another female-owned roaster-retailer (see our blog about Espresso Elevado last week) with 6 or 7 retail locations now, and a thriving wholesale business. Ritual was founded in 2005 by Eileen Hassi, and began with their Valencia street location in the famous Mission district.

Aaron Van Der Groen, Ritual Green Buyer

Today the roastery is at 1050 Howard St. Ruth Ann had the opportunity to visit back in November 2017 and delight in the sights and sounds. The high-ceiling roasting-packaging area is flooded with light from an open bay door, and circled by a mezzanine walkway around the perimeter. A custom-made cupping table complements a library-card drawer set re-purposed to neatly store samples of coffee.

One notices a number of employee-friendly aspects about the location also. First, everyone seems pleasant and friendly. Convenient bike racks just inside the door welcome the bicycle commuters. There is an employee coffee pot next to some delicious looking crumbs remaining from a treat that was available to workers earlier. Around 2pm, I catch a glimpse of the "community coffee break" where everyone gets to relax for a few minutes in the lounge area with sofas and over-stuffed chairs.

Aaron Van Der Groen, Ritual's green coffee buyer, gave me the million dollar tour of the roasting area, green storage area and packaging line. We cupped on the cool cupping table, and peeked in at the room with a least a dozen chrome-plated high-end brewing devices. Next we headed to the up-and-coming Bayview area and enjoyed expertly brewed coffee while sitting on heated seats in the outdoor courtyard of the Flora Grubb nursery. We were surrounded by giant ceramic planters and an amazing variety of succulents (cactus).

Altogether, the team at Ritual is at the top of the game of "crafting the very best cup of coffee available anywhere" (Ritual's motto). I will vouch for that, and their delicious assortment of coffees available, including KOPKAMA's Nyagatari from the Lake Kivu area of Rwanda!

Enter the roastery.

Custom cupping table.

Packaging line.

Employee coffee break.

Bayview location is inside Flora Grubb.

Ruth Ann, Artisan's President, admires the sample roaster.