Green Beans Coffee Company is an international coffee shop, with a sole location in California, at SFO, where it recently replaced a Starbucks.
I often arrive at SFO from international trips, craving exactly two things: good coffee (sorry, coffee onboard is soooo bad!) and a light meal (I often eat so heavily during trips that I come home wanting nothing but salads), so I was excited to see this new option. Previously, I always got coffee at Starbucks, and salads or spring rolls at Koi Palace Express, around the corner.
That said, I didn't have high hopes, as, well, airport dining isn't known for being great.
Luckily, some of their stuff is decent.
This location is entirely grab n go, and looked pretty generic. Everything ordered from a counter.
Pre-made hot breakfast sandwiches were under heat lamps, along with larger than normal coffee cups on display at the register where you order.
It is actually these filled croissants that always make me take a second look (they have regular croissants as well, but they look quite sad). And again, these filled croissants do not look like quality items, but the greasy pastry, and cheese (or fruit and cheese)
A cooler contained sparkling and still water, packaged salads from Epicurian Solutions, and some pre-made sandwiches and wraps.
Nothing is made to order.
The packaged area expanded in 2020, with more options for food, eliminating the drinks mostly.
Still just a bunch of sandwiches and wraps (top shelf, not interesting to me), vegetarian artisan deli salads from Epicurean Solutions (reviews coming soon!), and hummus/crudite cheese/fruit platters (middle shelf), and fruit salad, yogurt and granola parfaits, and larger salads (with green bases) (bottom shelf).
I opted for salads every time.
"Spring mix, dried cranberries, bleu cheese, candied walnuts, raspberry vinaigrette."
My first visit, I grabbed a pre-made salad, somewhat on impulse, but also really just craving something fresher and lighter than everything I had consumed in the prior ... two weeks? Oooph.
Other options were a Cobb, or generic looking Caesar, but I was drawn in by the candied walnuts on this one, even though I find spring mix boring, dislike dried cranberries/raisins/etc, usually don't like bleu cheese or pears, particularly roasted ones, and never want vinaigrette as my dressing. I blame jetlag for making this salad jump out at me.
But ... I liked it! Well, parts of it.
The raspberry vinaigrette was packaged separately, a good thing, since I didn't care for it, predictably. Sweet, tangy, vinaigrette-y. No fear, I had my own dressing at home to use instead anyway. I also didn't like the dried cranberries, as I just don't like them in general (I appreciate chew and texture but ... I dunno, not my thing), but if you like cranberries, the portion was generous.
The next year, flying through SFO, landing, and again, needing something light. I couldn't decide what to get, but finally grabbed the caesar (ok, not so light!).
The chicken caesar salad is a pretty standard recipe: romaine base, croutons, Parmesan cheese, and caesar dressing that does include anchovy. No option for a version without the grilled chicken on top.
It was a good enough salad.
The romaine was ... reasonably fresh, some browning on the edges, but I appreciate the large chunks, and mostly romaine hearts. There were far more croutons than made any sense, and they were incredibly soggy (which makes sense, not packaged separately), but they were really well seasoned and flavorful, and I liked them despite their shortcomings (I just certainly didn't need this many!). The shredded Parmesan was fine, but plopped on top of the chicken, and since I was removing the chicken (don't like!), it was hard to get the cheese without the chicken. The chicken looked fine, mostly white meat, sorta grilled.
And of course, critical component: Caesar dressing! It was good - creamy style, but not super thick and strongly mayo-forward, tangy, and with anchovy in it (critical for me). I loved how much anchovy there was. Far about average dressing.
Everything was decently good, and this was a easy option to grab when landing at SFO and wanting something slightly fresh. That said, it is *not* a healthy item, almost 1000 calories in the single salad?! (The croutons and dressing must really add up ...)
Another visit later, I tried the final type of salad, kind of randomly. I was, um, craving bacon.
The Chicken and Bacon Cobb has the same romaine base, and is topped with more of the same grilled chicken, exactly 2 cherry tomatoes, a single hard boiled egg half, bacon crumble, and blue cheese. The dressing on the side is ranch.
Again, it was a fine salad. The lettuce was just as kinda fresh (e.g. crispy enough, but still some browning), I didn't have the chicken nor the hard boiled egg (but my partner scored some nice lean proteins!). The bacon and blue cheese were better than expected - the bacon wasn't bits, but was actually small chopped chunks of cooked bacon, good flavor, good chew, and good fattiness. The blue cheese was particularly creamy and not that pungent, which I liked.
The dressing for this was classic ranch. Much like the caesar, it was above average. Very "ranchy-ranch" if that makes sense, herby, ranchy, and good ranch.
Overall, fine, if you are in the mood for a cobb salad grab n go.
I just wanted a decaf coffee to perk me up a tiny bit, since I already had two cups of regular sludge on the flight, but a quick glance told me that there was little chance the decaf coffee was fresh, as it was nearly noon.
I got an Americano instead, opting for a medium, before remembering how super-sized the cups were.
It was worse than the instant coffee from the flight. Watery. Strange funk to it. I took a few sips, and threw the whole thing out. Which is saying a lot for me, I have high tolerance for bad decaf, usually made more bearable with copious sugar.
This was truly awful, and I will never get it again.
Uh, except I did.
Their smallest size is still ridiculously large. Yes, this is the small. Its huge, believe me. I can't imagine getting a caffeinated coffee this size, no matter how jetlagged I was!
This was my second try with Green Beans coffee, having *really* hated them before, but I didn't want to have to go to a second store just to get coffee. I'm glad I gave it another chance.
It wasn't bad. It wasn't good, not complex, nothing special, but it wasn't bad, and did the job. I'd get it again if I really craved coffee, but didn't want tons of caffeine.
I often arrive at SFO from international trips, craving exactly two things: good coffee (sorry, coffee onboard is soooo bad!) and a light meal (I often eat so heavily during trips that I come home wanting nothing but salads), so I was excited to see this new option. Previously, I always got coffee at Starbucks, and salads or spring rolls at Koi Palace Express, around the corner.
That said, I didn't have high hopes, as, well, airport dining isn't known for being great.
Luckily, some of their stuff is decent.
 |
| Register, Hot Sandwiches. |
 |
| Breakfast Sandwiches / Cups. |
Baked Goods
For some reason, the baked goods at Green Beans always look good. I wish they didn't. I always avoid them, usually because I have plenty of sweets at home, and I always blame my jetlag or strange sense of time on thinking they look good. Because, seriously, generic coffee shop in airport baked goods? And they don't look good in a fresh quality way.
I finally tried one. Um, they *are* good.
 |
| Danishes & Muffins. |
Behind them is an item called "Cherry Cheesecake" that ... looks like a muffin. In fact, it *is* a muffin, but it is stuffed with cheesecake and topped with fruity cherry pie filling. My server, who I did ask for a recommendation for, said these were her favorite.
Next up some odd looking round brownies, some mediocre looking sticky buns, and, more types of muffin:blueberry and cinnamon crumb. The blueberry didn't look special, and the cinnamon crumb looked like a giant muffin shaped coffee cake, with lots of crispy crumb topping and very generous drizzle of icing, but, meh, coffee cake isn't that interesting.
And last, more muffins: Double Berry, Chocolate Cheesecake (but I didn't see chocolate?), Chocolate Chip, and Apple Pie.
The double berry looked good to me, loaded with juicy blueberries and some other berry, and again, crumble topping. I asked what the other berry was, and was told cranberry. This foiled my plan to get it, as I wasn't really feeling the tart cranberry.
And then there was the apple pie muffin, which looked much like the coffee cake, but, better in every way. My server also said it was her second favorite item.
My server offered to warm it up for me, but I declined, since I was planning to just try a few bites and hop in a cab, and hopefully just eat it then / at home.
 |
| Brownies, Sticky Buns, more Muffins. |
 |
| Muffins Part 3. |
The double berry looked good to me, loaded with juicy blueberries and some other berry, and again, crumble topping. I asked what the other berry was, and was told cranberry. This foiled my plan to get it, as I wasn't really feeling the tart cranberry.
And then there was the apple pie muffin, which looked much like the coffee cake, but, better in every way. My server also said it was her second favorite item.
 |
| Apple Pie Muffin. $3.75. |
It turned out to be fairly delicious. And soooo not really a muffin, and definitely not really breakfast appropriate.
I loved how crispy the top was, and the body of the muffin was moist. It was much more cake than muffin though, very sweet, and loaded with cooked spiced apples, basically, apple pie filling, goo and all, baked throughout. And that icing on top was super sweet too.
Warm it up, serve it a la mode or with whipped cream, and you have a very easy dessert. Or, as I couldn't resist doing, just devouring it immediately, tearing off "just one more chunk" to have alongside a coffee, was a wonderful treat.
Prepared Salads / Sandwiches
 |
| Salads, Sandwiches, Drinks, Snacks. (2019) |
Nothing is made to order.
 |
| Packaged Items. (Expanded, 2020). |
Still just a bunch of sandwiches and wraps (top shelf, not interesting to me), vegetarian artisan deli salads from Epicurean Solutions (reviews coming soon!), and hummus/crudite cheese/fruit platters (middle shelf), and fruit salad, yogurt and granola parfaits, and larger salads (with green bases) (bottom shelf).
I opted for salads every time.
 |
| Roasted Pear Salad. $11.25. (2019) |
My first visit, I grabbed a pre-made salad, somewhat on impulse, but also really just craving something fresher and lighter than everything I had consumed in the prior ... two weeks? Oooph.
Other options were a Cobb, or generic looking Caesar, but I was drawn in by the candied walnuts on this one, even though I find spring mix boring, dislike dried cranberries/raisins/etc, usually don't like bleu cheese or pears, particularly roasted ones, and never want vinaigrette as my dressing. I blame jetlag for making this salad jump out at me.
But ... I liked it! Well, parts of it.
 |
| Roasted Pear Salad: Inside. |
But everything else was a success. Sure, the spring mix wasn't exciting, but it was fresh, and there was a lot of crispy juicy romaine hearts in the mix that really hit the spot for me. The green onions were also really welcome, quite flavorful, and brought everything together in a way that more standard, harsher, red onion sometimes fail to do.
I adored the candied walnuts. Like, really loved them. Great crunch, nice sugar level, not bitter (which does sometimes happen even with candied walnuts). They went really well with the bleu cheese, and as there wasn't much of that, it didn't bother me. Sure, I'd prefer something like a triple cream, but the bleu worked.
The roasted pears were a big surprise. I pretty much assumed I'd toss those, but I liked them. Soft but not mushy, flavorful, clearly seasoned. Nicely roasted. Three large chunks. They combined beautifully with the walnuts and blue cheese. These three components made me want a glass of wine and a full cheese platter (one of which I may have quickly gotten up to procure).
Overall I was very pleased, although I removed the cranberries, and added my own dressing to mostly just the greens, and choose to eat the nuts/pears/cheese on the side with my glass of wine.
I'd certainly get this again if needing a salad to bring home after a long day(s) of travel.
 |
| Chicken Caesar Salad. (2020) |
The chicken caesar salad is a pretty standard recipe: romaine base, croutons, Parmesan cheese, and caesar dressing that does include anchovy. No option for a version without the grilled chicken on top.
It was a good enough salad.
The romaine was ... reasonably fresh, some browning on the edges, but I appreciate the large chunks, and mostly romaine hearts. There were far more croutons than made any sense, and they were incredibly soggy (which makes sense, not packaged separately), but they were really well seasoned and flavorful, and I liked them despite their shortcomings (I just certainly didn't need this many!). The shredded Parmesan was fine, but plopped on top of the chicken, and since I was removing the chicken (don't like!), it was hard to get the cheese without the chicken. The chicken looked fine, mostly white meat, sorta grilled.
And of course, critical component: Caesar dressing! It was good - creamy style, but not super thick and strongly mayo-forward, tangy, and with anchovy in it (critical for me). I loved how much anchovy there was. Far about average dressing.
Everything was decently good, and this was a easy option to grab when landing at SFO and wanting something slightly fresh. That said, it is *not* a healthy item, almost 1000 calories in the single salad?! (The croutons and dressing must really add up ...)
 |
| Chicken and Bacon Cobb Salad. (2020) |
The Chicken and Bacon Cobb has the same romaine base, and is topped with more of the same grilled chicken, exactly 2 cherry tomatoes, a single hard boiled egg half, bacon crumble, and blue cheese. The dressing on the side is ranch.
Again, it was a fine salad. The lettuce was just as kinda fresh (e.g. crispy enough, but still some browning), I didn't have the chicken nor the hard boiled egg (but my partner scored some nice lean proteins!). The bacon and blue cheese were better than expected - the bacon wasn't bits, but was actually small chopped chunks of cooked bacon, good flavor, good chew, and good fattiness. The blue cheese was particularly creamy and not that pungent, which I liked.
The dressing for this was classic ranch. Much like the caesar, it was above average. Very "ranchy-ranch" if that makes sense, herby, ranchy, and good ranch.
Overall, fine, if you are in the mood for a cobb salad grab n go.
Beverages
Along with bottled drinks in the cooler, they make standard espresso drinks, have pre-brewed coffee, and I think now offer boba?
 |
| Decaf Americano, Medium. (2019) |
I got an Americano instead, opting for a medium, before remembering how super-sized the cups were.
It was worse than the instant coffee from the flight. Watery. Strange funk to it. I took a few sips, and threw the whole thing out. Which is saying a lot for me, I have high tolerance for bad decaf, usually made more bearable with copious sugar.
This was truly awful, and I will never get it again.
 |
| Decaf Americano (Small). (2020) |
Their smallest size is still ridiculously large. Yes, this is the small. Its huge, believe me. I can't imagine getting a caffeinated coffee this size, no matter how jetlagged I was!
This was my second try with Green Beans coffee, having *really* hated them before, but I didn't want to have to go to a second store just to get coffee. I'm glad I gave it another chance.
It wasn't bad. It wasn't good, not complex, nothing special, but it wasn't bad, and did the job. I'd get it again if I really craved coffee, but didn't want tons of caffeine.
0 comments:
Post a Comment