My friend Pita grew up in a household where chai was made from scratch every single morning. Her grandmother had a specific method involving whole spices, loose black tea, full fat milk, and a simmering process that filled the entire apartment with a smell that she still associates with feeling safe and taken care of.…

My friend Ren drinks tea. Not as a lifestyle statement or a caffeine alternative or a health decision, just because tea is what she likes and has always liked and she’s never felt the need to explain it further than that. She lives in San Francisco and spends a significant portion of her social life…

My friend Abby has a calendar reminder on her phone that she set herself and has never deleted. It goes off every year in late September and it just says pumpkin spice check Barista. She’s not embarrassed about this. She told me about it directly and without any of the apologetic energy that sometimes comes…

My friend Jordan has a coffee order that he’s slightly embarrassed about in social situations and will defend aggressively if you question it. It’s a double shot oat milk latte at one hundred thirty degrees with a half pump of vanilla and no foam. Not a hundred and thirty five. Not a hundred and twenty…

I need to tell you about my friend Petra because Petra is the reason I know anything about affogato in San Francisco and also the reason I’ve spent more money on dessert coffee drinks in the last year than I care to calculate. Petra is Italian. Actually Italian, grew up in Verona, moved to San…

My friend Valentina is not someone who gets excited about many things quietly. When she discovers something she thinks is worth talking about she talks about it at volume and at length until everyone in her immediate social circle has either tried it or successfully changed the subject. About seven months ago she discovered single…

There’s a specific kind of morning that a lot of people in San Francisco know well. You woke up slightly later than you meant to. The thing you needed to do before leaving took longer than expected. You have somewhere to be in twenty minutes and it’s twelve minutes away if the bus cooperates which…

My friend Claudia has a complicated relationship with blended coffee drinks and she’ll tell you about it at length if you give her the opening. She grew up drinking them at chain coffee places through high school and college and for a long time she thought that sugar rush experience was just what blended coffee…