Opened early this year, the new Blue Bottle Cafe (run by the folks from Blue Bottle Coffee) is tucked away on the unassuming Jessie alley just below Market Street. There, in a freshly bright and airy space, coffee lovers perch on stools to sip and savor siphon pot coffee the way some wine connoisseurs relish a superior glass of wine.

The source of the magic is the Lucky Cremas Bonmac 105 siphon bar, imported from Japan and the only halogen-powered siphon bar in the United States. With its glass globes and beakers, brass plating, and halogen lamps, the contraption looks like it belongs in a 19th-century chemistry laboratory. The crazy scientist in this case is a calm and expertly trained barista, who, because the process is so fine-tuned, is the only one in the café to touch the apparatus.

So how exactly does the machine work? In a nutshell, after one of three types of beans offered each day is selected, the beans are weighed, ground, and put in a glass beaker that has a hollow stem at the bottom. Filtered water is heated in a round glass globe by halogen lamp, and the beaker is attached above the water pot. The water vapor in the bottom globe forces hot water up through the stem into the coffee grounds while the barista performs his magic, swirling the grounds with a paddle. The coffee then filters back down into the water pot. The result is a deliciously delicate, sweet, and nuanced cup of coffee, in which you can better taste the distinct characteristics of single-origin beans. With the two-person pot (around $10) you and your drinking companion both get a tiny treat like dark chocolate to nibble on.

Next to the siphon pot set up for hot coffee is a taller and equally impressive contraption for iced coffee. Here, water from large glass globes drips over beakers filled with coffee grounds at an achingly slow pace (the whole process takes hours) achieving a less bitter iced coffee than you'll get from the common practice of pouring hot coffee over ice. In addition to hot and cold coffee, Blue Bottle Café offers a full range of espresso-based drinks along with small sandwiches, cookies, and other café bites.

Even if it doesn't end up being the end of your "best brewed coffee in the world search," this café is an excellent downtown but off-the-beaten path spot to go with your fellow coffee snobs to while away an hour or two over excellent coffee and tasty café food.

Blue Bottle Cafe
66 Mint St. (corner of Jessie)