The Warriors small forward Jimmy Butler’s coffee pop-up BIGFACE said “ciao” to a line around the block on its opening morning Thursday.
The Valencia Street block filled up quickly with Warriors fans, Mission neighbors, media and college students — the only people able to spend their morning in line for a BIGFACE $10 coffee or $9 matcha.
Inside the pop-up, named “Ciao,” everything was curated to the nines: Red and white, BIGFACE branded, primed and polished for opening day. The shop featured a full espresso bar, mini-retail in its “Corner Market,” and a locally sourced pastry selection, this week from Bernal Bakery.
The six baristas and salespeople working the event sported “BIGFACE x Square” tees with the words “Better to have Lucca’d and lost, than to have never Lucca’d at all,” on the back, a nod to the Italian deli that called the corner home for more than 90 years.
While Butler had not yet appeared, his traveling personal barista, Rodney Mustelier, was on hand. The prices were appropriate for those with an NBA contract, but no one seemed to mind.
Although $4 for an espresso is typical for high-end coffee, a $10 latte isn’t. Whether it was a $6 cortado or a $9 matcha, guests said it was worth it.
“This is probably the best matcha I’ve had in my life, thus far,” was just one of the reviews overheard by this reporter.
Francisco Villanuva, who was the first in line, heard about the event yesterday from the Mission Local Instagram account and arrived 30 minutes before the doors opened. On a trip from Fresno to visit San Francisco State University before he starts in the fall, Villanuva was hoping for more than coffee.
“I’m a big fan of Jimmy Butler. I hope he’s gonna be here,” Villanuva said.
Josh Manongdo, a self-proclaimed “late bloomer” to sports and from the neighborhood, has embraced the Warriors-mania full throttle. He’s been spending mornings with his three young children at different coffee shops, so attending this event was a convenient switch.
“I didn’t grow up with my parents into sports, so I’m all about it. And I’m trying to get my kids into it, too,” said Manongdo. It wasn’t clear that his children had yet caught the sports bug.
College students and South City natives Donnalie Yap, Amanda Diaz and Charlene Lozano climbed into one car this morning, for what they agreed was a “once in a lifetime” experience. When it came time to order, Yap, Diaz and Lozano spent nearly $400 collectively on coffee, pastries and merchandise.
“It’s a once-in-a-while experience,” said Diaz sheepishly.
It was easy to spend: Packages of the brand’s signature Onyx coffee started at $40, SF-based Fellow brewing-ware ranged from $215 to $395 — Butler brews his coffee in a La Marzocco. And there was more retail: $60 hats and $155 hoodies.
In homage to the former Lucca Deli, the retail shop had rows of high-end Graza olive oil (retailing for $20 to $25 a pop), “BIGFACE x Carbone” jarred pizza and pasta sauce (retailing for $10 or $15 a jar) and a display of carefully curated baguettes placed thoughtfully next to the $65 dollar BIGFACE tote.
“San Francisco is a tough town for coffee, so let’s hope it’s good,” said Butler fan Nancy Chung as she waited in line.
I don’t get why my critique is not being published …
Wow. This was a WTF masterpiece. Nine or ten bucks for coffee? Purported college kids throwing four hundred bucks to accessorize their coffees? And going to a coffee pop-up on its first day is a “once in a lifetime” experience?? There’s just not enough room here to list every “You gotta be kidding me!” reaction to this nonsense.
Sir or madam —
These comments are approved in manually, as they come. And while I agree with you about costly coffee and accessories, I’m not necessarily going to be hovering over the keyboard at 10:55 on a Saturday to publish it.
Best,
JE
Sorry for the confusion, Joe. After reading and commenting on the piece earlier Saturday, the comment appeared with the auto “submitted to moderation” tag, but when I checked it that night, it had disappeared. Thinking there had been a glitch I re-entered the comment and got an auto-reply that I’d already made that comment, so I concluded that it had indeed been reviewed and rejected, prompting my follow-up you posted. And, yep, I wouldn’t expect you’d be moderating comments at 11:00 on a Saturday night of all things. Thanks for your continuing coverage. Michael
Thank you Michael. If you want a cup of coffee, I’ll make you one. For free.
JE
Welp, looks like Big Money Mission is back!
(Fuck if I’ll be buying overpriced everything there, but glad that others are doing so 🙂
Bent-over addicts clogging the sidewalk…is this the 1900 block of Mission St.?
That’s 16th/mission. Hopefully Lurie will get sick of the never ending BS there and find a way to get rid of those druggie hanger-on-losers. Once we uplift the last shithole in the mish- mission/16th- the hood can get back to what it was 2019! Thank god young techies are coming back in droves. Been 5 looong years, but it’s good to be a market rate LL in the mish again…time to upgrade lunches again (less regular burritos and more sushi 🍣 …whee 😉
Valencia at 22nd
Let’s all please UPLIFT each other .. no clue what progressives hate successful African Americans . We need more positive MALE role models in ALL communities .
I was skeptical but the specialty coffe pros I have asked say that Butler’s personal barista is running the company, that said barista knows what they are doing and that the roaster supplying this operation is well respected. $10/cup is a lot for sure, but I might just try it.