Sugar Cafe

Sugar Cafe was a unique concept in SF.  Cafe by day, bar by night.  And ... it really, truly did transform fairly dramatically.

I discovered Sugar Cafe back during LevelUp's rise to popularity in SF, when I had fun checking out new places I found on there, drawn in of course by freebies.  Their LevelUp system was flaky at best, working less than half the time I visited, and when it *did* work, the staff always seemed quite surprised and amazed.

Anyway, I visited during the day for the cafe concept, on my neverending quest to find some decent decaf coffee.  I was rewarded for my efforts, as the coffee, from local Bicycle Coffee really was quite good.

White Chocolate Mocha, decaf.  $2.95.

My first visit, since I was trying a new place, and getting decaf, I figured it was safest to get something loaded up with sugar in case the coffee tasted horrible.  The staff also seemed like they were barely paying attention to anything they were doing, be it making the drinks or toasting the bagels, so I wasn't all that hopeful that the execution on this would be good.  Plus, hey, "Sugar Cafe" should be good at, uh, sugar drinks right?

But ... it was exactly what I wanted.  Warm, sweet, and honestly, quite delicious.  The coffee was from Bicycle Coffee, and didn't have a weird decaf funk to it.  The milk was really nicely foamed.  A good value for $2.95. ****.

Update Review:
I liked this the first time, so on another cold day when I wanted a sweet treat, I got another.  It had a really great foam layer on top, along with a chocolate drizzle.  The flavor wasn't very strong however, and it wasn't as sweet as the first one.  Not bad, but didn't really hit the spot in the same way the previous one had.  Good, but not great, consistency seems to be an issue here.  ***.

Americano, decaf.  $2.

Since I enjoyed the white chocolate mocha, and the decaf espresso didn't seem awful, on my next visit I decided to take the risk and go for the "real" coffee drink, a simple Americano.

It was again pretty good.  The espresso had some depth to it, no strange decaf funk.  I did end up adding some soy milk and sugar to it, but it would have been ok without it, although not particularly interesting.

Another good value for $2.  ***+.

Iced Americano, decaf.  $2.50.

On a hot day, I went for a classic iced drink.  I wanted an iced coffee, but they only brew iced regular, and it was afternoon, so I wanted decaf.  (Boo, since the iced coffee was $1.75 and the iced americano $2.50!  I was a little surprised that it was 50 cents more than the hot version).

Anyway, this was another decent drink.  The coffee was again fairly complex and balanced.  I added some milk since I like my iced coffee that way, but this decaf really can stand on its own.

***+.

Americano, decaf, with pumpkin spice syrup.  $2.50.

I went for a classic americano again, but this time, decided to be festive and added a squirt of pumpkin spice syrup, for an additional $0.50.

I ordered a decaf, and I was a little concerned when she handed it to me and said "pumpkin spice americano" and didn't say "decaf", but I was in a rush, so I didn't question it.  It was pretty clear to me 10 minutes later that it was not decaf.  Grumble.

Interestingly, I thought the espresso in this was worse than in my previous drinks.  Perhaps their decaf is better than their regular!  I added a bunch of soy milk to cover up the taste and make it creamier.  The pumpkin spice syrup jazzed it up a little, but wasn't particularly interesting.

**+.