Fondly known as the City of Trees, Sacramento is home to a quickly expanding specialty-coffee scene.

BY EMILY JOY MENESES
ONLINE EDITOR

Photos by Emily Joy Meneses

As someone who was born and raised in California, one thing I’ve always wondered about Sacramento, Calif., is why, though it’s our state’s capital, the city tends to be overlooked—overshadowed by greater-known California locales like neighboring San Francisco, or, toward the southern border of the state, Los Angeles.

But besides being a political center, Sacramento has a lot to offer: Fondly known as the City of Trees, it’s also a nature haven, with lush plant life and brisk air bringing some much-needed respite to passersby like myself. The city is also home to a burgeoning specialty-coffee scene, with both locals and visitors finding second homes amidst its numerous cozy cafés. 

Notably, Sacramento is also a short drive away from the UC Davis Coffee Center: the only academic center in the United States that offers studies in all aspects of coffee growing, roasting, brewing, and tasting.

We spent a weekend in the city to get a taste of the Sacramento coffee world—and it’s safe to say that we weren’t disappointed. Read on to learn more about some of the gems we uncovered along the journey.

Temple Coffee

Founded all the way back in 2005, Temple Coffee has been providing specialty coffee for residents of Sacramento with some of the best specialty coffee in the country since the concept was just catching on outside of the immediate San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Temple boasts eight retail locations—six in Sacramento plus one each in Davis and Folsom. On a crisp, sunny spring morning, there’s nowhere else a person wants to be than languishing over a coffee on the patio of Sacramento’s K Street location. When the weather gets chilly—or sweltering in the summer—folks head indoors to the airy café space decked out with a lavish pourover bar and espresso station. Careful you don’t trip when you’re inevitably distracted by the floor, which is tiled with actual copper pennies throughout.

But that’s just one of the stylish, comfortable cafés. Every Temple we visited was busy with happy customers enjoying the coffees Temple has been ethically sourcing since before “sustainability” was a buzz word. The company enjoys decade-long relationships with many of its producer partners, Temple’s key tenant established by its founder Sean Komescher (who values the craft of coffee making to such an extent that he’ll more proudly call himself a barista than the now legendary company’s owner).

Offbeat Coffee

With its minimalistic, loft-like decor, Offbeat Coffee feels like an art gallery as much as it does a coffee shop. The light-filled café is incredibly spacious, measuring at around 3,000 square feet—but the friendly staff, along with a menu full of imaginative, house-made drinks like the Saigon Cinnamon Latte, keep the vibe comforting and cozy.

The coffee shop is a recent addition to Sacramento’s Land Park neighborhood, holding its soft opening only this past January. And still, the establishment has already managed to establish a loyal following, brewing espresso on a two-group Modbar setup and serving drip from Fellow’s sought-after Aiden Precision Coffee Maker.

Co-owners Vivian Tran and Thao Nguyen, who are originally from San Jose, Calif., initially launched Offbeat as a pop-up café—and the Sacramento community is lucky to now experience it as a storefront. Overall, it’s a great place to start your coffee tour through the city.

Scorpio Coffee

Scorpio Coffee is a star within the Sacramento coffee scene: I stopped by on a Saturday morning, and the place was packed, with baristas slinging drink after drink for a long line of eager customers. The best part about my experience at Scorpio was that the coffee lived up to the hype—the espresso was truly stellar. On bar, you’ll find coffee from popular roasters like Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Sey or Amsterdam, Netherlands-based Dak.

When I visited, I ordered an oat milk flat white made with a single-origin washed Colombian coffee by Dak, along with a warm bowl of ochazuke, or salmon rice porridge. I also sampled the shop’s pear toast, which comes topped with a light, fluffy cream and edible flowers.

Scorpio is definitely a must-try in Sacramento—if you visit on a weekend, be sure to come early to snag a table, or drop by on a weekday to skip the line.

Mast Coffee

Mast Coffee has been a part of the Sacramento specialty-coffee scene since 2012—and for founder Michael Sanchez, who was born and raised in Sacramento, finding a home in the local food and beverage scene came naturally.

When asked to describe the Sacramento coffee scene, Michael describes the city’s community-minded approach. “(The scene is) friendly—Sacramento is a very tight-knit group of operators, and once you spend some time in the city, you’ll find that service is a big part of the greater food and coffee scene here,” he says. “We really tend to focus on customer experience and hospitality. This is a big focus for us at Mast, and you’ll find that theme across many of the local food and coffee spots.”

Michael goes on to describe some of his favorites on the Mast menu. “I really love the ‘bat & ball,’ which is a riff on the classic ‘cheap beer and a shot’ bar order. Our version is a filter coffee served alongside an espresso, both of the same origin and roast profile, letting you enjoy the same coffee brewed two different ways,” he says. “The crowd favorite is the Mont Blanc, which is cold brew topped with a coconut cold foam and citrus zest.”

When I visited the shop’s 17th St. location, I tried their flat white alongside toast with a soft-boiled egg and their house-made jam—simple, with a focus on quality, it was the perfect way to start the day.

Chloé Cà Phê

For the team at Chloé Cà Phê, coffee runs in the family. Crystal Huynh-Kim, who was born in Sacramento and runs the business with her husband, Charley Phung, cites her parents—the owners of Cafe Chieu Tim, one of the first Vietnamese coffee shops in Sacramento’s Little Saigon—as the primary inspiration for her current work in the coffee world.

“(Crystal’s) parents were early pioneers in the city’s Vietnamese café culture,” Charley says. “After a couple years in the food industry, (Crystal and I) wanted to build something more rooted and permanent, honoring our heritage while introducing Sacramento to Vietnam’s growing specialty-coffee movement. That vision led to Chloé Cà Phê, named after our daughter, blending tradition with innovation.” 

Charley also shares that at Chloé Cà Phê, the focus is on directly sourcing coffee from Vietnam—and he personally flies back to Vietnam often to work closely with producers. “Vietnam is the second-largest coffee producer in the world, yet its specialty coffee is often overlooked. We’re changing that by sourcing high-quality, rare varieties like fine robusta, Liberica, THA1, and Bourbon from different regions, including the high mountains of Son La, the central highlands of Lam Dong, and great plains of Dak Lak,” he says.

On the Chloé Cà Phê menu, you can find innovative drinks like the Pho Americano, which is infused with spices like cinnamon, star anise, and clove. Notably, the establishment also places an emphasis on Liberica coffee, which accounts for less than 1% of global coffee production.

“We’re committed to showcasing the full spectrum of coffee varieties, including some that are rarely seen in the U.S. specialty market,” Charley says. “Since (Liberica has) been in Vietnam since 1908, we wanted to bring it here and show that Vietnam’s coffee is rich and vast in (its) ability to deliver complexity.” 

Charley invites both visitors and locals to the shop to experience the legacy of Vietnamese coffee he and Crystal are working to preserve. “We hope to see Sacramento’s coffee scene embrace more diversity—not just in origins but in the types of coffee people drink,” he says.

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