Where: Philz Coffee, 1060 S Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas, CA 92024
Open: 5:30 AM – 5:30 PM Monday – Thursday, Till 6:00 PM Friday, and 6:30 PM Saturday – Sunday
What: Philtered Soul Medium Roast
Tasting notes: Hazelnut flavor, Chocolate
Find them at: https://philzcoffee.com/ • @philzcoffee on Instagram
What I’m listening to: The Bare Naked Ladies and The Persuasions, “The Old Apartment.”
I walk through the front door at Philz Coffee — the wrong front door — predisposed to dislike them. Instead, I lean towards the little guys, the hustlers, and the indie businesses who thrive despite the odds!
In a way, I’m describing Philz Coffee. For 25 years, Phil Jaber (the namesake of Philz) operated a corner grocery in San Francisco’s Mission District. He started Philz Coffee in 2003 with his son Jacob, who became the official CEO in 2005.
The coffee shop had one original storefront focused on pour-over coffees to make a perfect cup of coffee. Philz became popular, known and began to grow. One storefront became two, which became three, and so on. Finally, in the early 2010s, they took on corporate funding to aid their expansion — $60,000,000.
It’s significantly more than maybe your neighborhood spot spent opening the doors, but these days, in California? Not by much. Today, Philz Coffee has 63 storefronts spread throughout California and another six in Chicago.
I didn’t know any of that when I went to get a cup of coffee this morning. I went solely to fulfill my duty to explore the coffee shops of North County San Diego for this column. So I took my lousy morning attitude with me right up to the front door across the street from the Self-Realization Fellowship in Encinitas.
This Philz Coffee is big and cavernous, with a huge patio that occupies several parking lot spaces.* I could fit our apartment in here at least three times over. But, unfortunately, I enter through the wrong door making for a long awkward walk where I’m not making eye contact with the baristas behind the unusually high counter. It feels like being on the customer side of the deli counter of a restaurant.
Perhaps, it is a tribute to Philz Coffee’s origins. I pass a few tables and a long bench that may have been a church pew until I reach the register.
A young-ish gent with a bit of black scruff in a black tee greets me with a kind smile. For the first time, I look around and see what I almost always see at the coffee shop, baristas hustling behind the counter to prep coffees, toast bagels, and greet everyone with a smile.
Philz Coffee may not be indie in the way many of my favorite coffee shops are, but the people working here and the customers spread about are still individuals doing what they do to survive the rising cost of living and enjoy this little corner of paradise. My predisposition to dislike this place begins to crack and slide like some of our cliff sides after a soaking from another atmospheric river.
Taking in all the art on the wall, the handwritten signs on the tip jars, the worn tables, and the local business card and flyer board — overloaded with too many flyers and too few pushpins — I can see remnants of the indie energy that probably still exists in that original corner storefront.
I ordered the Philtered Soul. It says it is a medium roast but drinks like a dark. I’m surprised that every coffee at Philz is still brewed to order as a pour-over cup. The prices are slightly higher than nearby places brewing drips in large batches to reflect the extra labor.
The sugars in this one have burned away, leaving only bitterness behind. Bitterness isn’t bad in coffee, but it needs to work with the sweetness in tandem to be excellent. I can’t blame the barista for the over-extraction. It’s hard to see over the high counter, but they appear to be working with equipment designed for a larger batch brew.
I couldn’t guess why, other than a few handwritten signs asking for patience with their menu due to supply chain issues. In an era of extreme weather, I’d expect more supply chain issues to impact our favorite coffee houses, not less.
Today, the sun is out, so I move to a table outside to drink my coffee and count the e-bikes traveling by. I quickly lose count. I could offset the coffee’s bitterness with a bit of milk to add the lost sugars back into the mix, but it is inside, far, far away from the sun.
Philz Coffee isn’t what I expected. But, I leave willing to embrace their origin story or at least be more open to hearing it. Their mission, as stated on their website, is to better the days for everyone, every day. It’s a big challenge. One that is made more accessible when your coffee is served with the smiling face of a neighbor who may even, one day, become a friend.
*Why is this parking lot so filled with Range Rovers? There is four spread throughout the lot. Is a nearby dealer offering coffee if you buy a new car?
Want to hear the stories of local coffee entrepreneurs or learn how to brew a better cup of coffee at home? Listen to Coffee People and Coffee Smarter on your favorite podcasting platforms. You can even stream the latest episodes on The Coast News!
