A few weeks ago I found myself in California and talking to Eileen Hassi who part owns Ritual Roasters in San Francisco. The conversation started with the normal “what do you do?” and then she blew me away.

She had the perfect one line response, which led to my second question, to which she had another perfect response; and on and on. After a half day spent in her company not once was I left with the impression that she was less than 100% committed. Her commitment and obsession with her product seemed total.

I’ve rarely been so impressed by someone. And this is a three store coffee chain!

So I finally got around to looking her up on Google tonight and this is the quote I see…

Ms. Hassi said she was at a party recently when someone came up to her and offered a profusion of thanks. “He said, ‘thank you, thank you, thank you for opening your cafe.’ “

Street Scene – Cafe Capitalism, San Francisco Style – NYTimes.com

Can I recommend a coffee house without ever seeing it? Hell yes!