Grand Coffee

Paolo from Eater recently hosted a fundraiser for the release of his first poetry chapbook, with all proceeds going to Palestine. Nabil from Grand Coffee donated coffee and snacks to the event. 

Before we got started, Paolo called Nabil up to say a few words about Grand Coffee. 

Nabil said more than a few words about Palestine, about how fucked the situation is,
and mentioned how unimportant Grand Coffee felt in comparison.

When I was asked to update Eater’s map of The Mission a few months prior to this, I replaced Grand Coffee with something else. I hadn’t been to Grand, I hadn’t heard of it, and I didn’t bother visiting. 

I finally made it to Grand Coffee for the first time last week. And I still cannot believe what I have done. 

The first time I visited Grand, it was just me and the barista — he was cool. Cool like your older brother in high school. His music was cool, his clothes were cool, his demeanor was cool. He knew how to make complicated coffee drinks and he didn’t care. 

We ordered iced lattes, he pulled an espresso into a cocktail shaker, added milk and ice, shook vigorously, and served our lattes with a frothy head of shaken espresso. I took mine with chai-brown sugar syrup. It remains the best iced latte I’ve ever had.

When I returned to Grand, there were a few people hanging out and it felt like Hole in the Wall — a place for which my love is well-documented. (Since first mention, I have helped reopen HITW and worked there for six months.) Everything I loved about HITW, I suddenly loved about Grand. Most of all, the singular purpose they serve as intimate, independent places that people choose to spend their time. 

On this second visit, Nabil was working.
Everything clicked — Paolo’s event, Nabil’s speech, the Eater map. It was Grand Coffee all along. 
I had left Grand off the list all this time.
And I had made a tremendous mistake.