Kings Road Cafe

Thank you for choosing Kings Road Coffee. Over the years, my experience has taught me that the difference between good and great coffee can be very subtle. Nearly a decade of recipe development went into this blend before it was established in 1990. In the process of selecting single origin varietals and varying the roasting profiles we achieved that subtle, memorable difference. The result is this notably exceptional coffee. It truly possesses a smooth, rich, full body with very distinctive flavors, without the typical bitterness of darker roasts. If you love coffee as much as I do you will find unprecedented satisfaction in every cup of Kings Road Coffee. Lawrence Casperson - Coffee Roaster

One-Pound Bag: $14.00

Quantity Regular:

Quantity Decaf:

I opened Kings Road Cafe in 1990. It was truly a labor of love as I look back at that time. I grew up in San Francisco and began working in restaurants as a teenager. Over the years, I met some extraordinary people with exceptional talent who would have a dramatic influence on the cafe and my career. After some considerable time spent working in The City's finest hotels and restaurants, The Mark Hopkins, The Clift, Le Castel, and L'Etoile, I went to work for ''The Unsinkable'' Sam DuVall. I was involved with the opening of five different restaurants over the course of eight years as a manager both in San Francisco and Los Angeles. I was living in Los Angeles when it was time to go out on my own. I remember vividly saying I wanted to create the quintessential neighborhood cafe. I called my amazing friends to assist me in getting my concept launched correctly. My Chef friend Wendy Brucker, who owns Rivoli and Corso in Berkeley, helped me develop the menu. My artist/painter friend Michael Brennan, who is now San Francisco's premier restaurant interior designer, gave me the look and feel of the space, and my dear friend from high school Alex Ronquillo helped us build it. For more than twenty years now Kings Road Cafe has been an integral and vibrant part of the neighborhood, nurturing a sense of community on so many levels. It truly is a labor of love everyday. Thank you for your years of generous support! Lawrence Casperson

When I was a young child, I used to help my grandfather make his coffee. He had become blind from diabetes. Prior to his blindness he was an ironworker. He was a very tough, capable guy. He simmered his coffee in a saucepan on the stove and oddly kept putting his fingers in the pan in order to determine if its texture was right. The concept of texture when referring to coffee was not something I understood as a child. As an adult I came to realize that he was making his unique version of ''cowboy coffee''. I also came to understand the texture as being its fullness of body. This orientation to coffee would eventually show up in the uniqueness of how I make every cup of coffee at Kings Road Cafe. Having grown up in San Francisco, I had the great fortune of being introduced to espresso, cappuccino, and lattes as a teenager in the 1960's. The Italian neighborhood, known as North Beach, had the best cafes in The City. In those days there were two Italian families roasting small batches in retail storefronts. The Graffeo family, who opened for business in 1935, would have a significant influence on my future coffee. Years later in 1981, I met a ''gourmet'' coffee roaster who supplied the coffee to the restaurant I was working in. My visits to his warehouse marked the beginning of my roasting education. I was completely fascinated with the roast spectrum, single origin cupping and the blending of varietals. I spent several years developing what is now my signature blend. When I opened Kings Road Cafe in 1990 I rented a storefront next door to the cafe, fired up my Probat L12 and began roasting Kings Road Coffee. Thank you for your years of support! Lawrence Casperson