Before: Always go to cafe. Sit around. Read the paper. Get a mocha. Get something to eat too. Spend $5. One day: The mocha is half empty, not half full. One questions the wisdom of driving around and making a big deal out of a cup of coffee, waiting in line, finding the good snacky treats all gone, spending $5, etc. After: These days five bucks covers nearly a month of home brewed Peet's (Major Dickason's blend), extra chunky from the french press. [4 tablespoons per 12 oz. mug is about right] One of the things I like about cafes is quiet and solitude. That means no customers. Almost by definition, the ones I like go out of business soon after I discover them. Still, if I'm out, maybe I'd hit one of the following. Notable newcomer MotoJava at 9th and Bryant in SF. www.motojava.com to you. A motorcycle shop with a cafe adjunct. Come for the coffee, stay for the chain lube. Good coffee actually. Some people I race with started it. I wish them the best. Peets Coffee and Tea - Somewhat fascistic in approach. You can't argue with the quaility. Somewhat pricy. Also somewhat safe. Various locations. I probably shouldn't lead with this one, since they aren't really sit-down cafes. This is my first choice if I'm grabbing a mocha to go when I'm driving somewhere. Good snacky treats too. Not exactly unpopular but they don't encourage consuming in the store so my hangout rule doesn't apply here.. Lakeshore Java House - Lakeshore Avenue is no one's first choice destination. Have never recieved the dreaded chocolate-short mocha here. Funky, if somewhat amatuer design. At least the prices are reasonable. Used to be mostly empty, but they've done a good job making themselves part of the neighborhood. They added beer and Red Bull to the selection too. They also changed the name to the Jahva house, attracting an entirely different (large) crowd, chasing me away. RIP #1 Edible Complex - Go for the coffee? Stay for the munchies! Ultimately - Close for no apparent reason! College Ave. Oakland. Farley's - A pleasant cafe with convivial atmosphere and patrons who look like now that they have made it in life, what they most want is to recapture the way they felt before they made it. Be careful what you want... etc. 1315 18th Street, San Francisco. Late update: The surrounding neighborhood became massively gentrified during the dotcom boom and the atmosphere here really suffered. If you're sitting there's always someone eyeballing your table hoping you're about to leave. Late late update: The economy sucked rocks when the aforementioned dotcom boom went splat. Farley's abides. The coffee machine on the first floor of my current workplace makes something that is supposed to fit the name mocha. Two or three of these a day and you don't need heat, food, sunlight, etc. Just don't count on the machine to be working at any given time. Most common problem -- the chocolate dispenser is empty. RIP #2 The late, apparently not great enough, Ground Zero - What I liked about it was that it was always empty. I guess I should have figured. RIP #3 Coffee Head - Farley's east. (Not officially.) Was across from California College of Arts and Crafts. Big, cheap espresso drinks. Broadway at College Ave., Oakland. Now replaced by a hair salon. Sources say it is a nice hair salon. RIP #4 Yo Mama's - So Fly. Very friendly staff. Furniture from grandma's basement. Food and beer too. A popular refuge from the laundromat next door. Should have been more popular, period. College Ave. at Broadway, Oakland (Oaktown.) RIP #5 Europa - Old world mom and pop. Columbus Ave. San Francisco. Orbit Room - So hip it didn't have a name on the outside for about a year. Open late. Curious place. Market Street near Guerrero, San Francisco. Royal Coffee Exchange- Most seats are outside. Before they expanded into a neighboring storefront, all the seats were outside. Watch out for the seats under the big tree. It emits a mist of sap at all times, and it hosts a colony of aphids that like to attack unsuspecting patrons like so many little lime green Kamikazes. This place is making a fortune selling beans. They use good espresso even when drowning it in cocoa and steamed milk. This we like. Just off College Avenue on 63rd, Oakland. Coffee Zone - Elbow your way in past the patchouli-laden "Jerry is dead"-wailing prodigal sons and daughters and large, cheap, decent espresso drinks abound. Upper Haight, San Francisco. No, really. Ultimate Grounds - Scored many points for being within walking distance of my house. Unusual peanut butter cookies. Park Boulevard in Glenview, Oakland. Too far to walk now that I've moved. So sad. World Ground - Closest to the latest house. 3726 MacArthur Blvd. in Oakland's Laurel District. Pretty good. Nice Feng Shui. Usually run out of the snacky treats I like. Like the Java House -- sorry, "Jahva" -- they've made themselves a part of the neighborhood. Getting too popular for me. No where to sit and read a paper or a book means no good for me. Que Tal - On Guerrero just above 22nd, San Francisco. The only place ever to serve me a mocha with so much chocolate I felt the practical limit of chocolate had been reached. She who shall be known as the evil one recommends the "whatchamaberry" scones. Popular with the new recruits in the local digital media industry, particularly the ones who paid too much for apartments without central heating. You know who you are! RIP #6 Like moths to the flame, some trust funds just weren't meant to last. What other reason can there be for The Spot? On Grand Avenue in Oakland, opposite the Grand Lake Theater. 50's garage sale decor, accessorized by retro snacks like Krunchety bars and moon pies. Nothing wrong with the mochas, though. Death before Starbucks - 'nuff said.

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