Four Barrel, San Francisco

What to buy here: Coffee: Four Barrel Friendo Blendo 12oz. ($13.75); Ritual Roasters Sweet Tooth 12oz. ($15.95); Blue Bottle Three Africans 12oz. ($16.50).

The name “Four Barrel” refers to the gas-heated, four-barrel roaster at the back of the store where about 7,500 pounds of coffee are turned out every week. A series of single-origin roasts are for sale along with the most popular Friendo Blendo blend.

Ritual Roasters- Jeremy Tooker, founder of Four Barrel, also co-founded Ritual Roasters with Eileen Hassi, so the styles can be similar, in this case something called “Scandinavian.” Culinary coffee drinkers have called it superior in many ways, the perception being that Scandinavians roast lighter to allow the flavor of the coffee bean speak for itself. Their single-origin blend, Sweet Tooth, rotates throughout the year, a new esoteric coffee grower chosen every month.

Blue Bottle- Once described as “more coffee rave than cafe,” the Blue Bottle kiosk first existed in the garage of an architect’s woodshop in Hayes Valley and its brewing headquarters in a 182-square foot room in Oakland. Its Three Africans blend combines Ugandan and Ethiopian coffees for something chocolaty, unthreatening, and easy to like.