S3 Coffee Bar

Yesterday after my outing with Astroboi, I stopped by this particular strip mall to originally get donuts from Donut Panic.

A quick glance to the right showed me that the coffee shop (in the works since last year) was finally open!

Well now, it's time to check out S3 then...


I found out from their cheerful owner, Claudia, that they opened this past Tuesday and were still in their soft opening stages.

They use beans from Cafe Moto (good choice) and for their cold brew, beans from WestBean (their roasting facilities are just down the street).


Their space is not overlu large but it clean and minimal with an aqua and white color scheme, a wood accent wall,  Edison pendant bulbs and a mini art gallery in the back. This is very hipster (in a good way) for Grantville. Their bathroom is also pretty clean (good to know, right) and not yet grodied out by years of use and abuse.

The lovely jade tree on their front counter (bought from a small store in the Chula Vista mall they told me; my mom has a green one but with pointy leaves).

They have a cute set up in the back for their cream, sugars, stirrers, etc.

Although I had coffee earlier with Astroboi (post to follow), I wanted to try their iced cold brew, which was served with coffee cubes (nice!).


Claudia, the owner also gave me a free Madeleine (from Costco; it was that or  mini brownie bites as part of their soft opening). Their other pastries (muffins, croissants, etc) were from Bread and Cie.



The next morning (today in fact), I returned with Bert and TC...


The back walls  are a mini art gallery of sorts (the works are for sale as well) by local artists. The back wall is a dark particle board (which is different from the ubiquitous multihued reclaimed wood boards in every third wave/hipster coffee shop), and of course, Edison bulbs.


The other jade tree was just as beautiful as the one on the front counter.  Bert got his go-to drink, the Caramel Macchiato.  As you can see, it's in a paper cup. According to the owner, they only have paper cups now since their clientele are usually rushed for time and want everything to go. She is considering having glass/ceramic cups for those who want to drink their coffee in the shop rather than to go.

Can you guess whose drink this was?

According to TC, this was one of the better iced chai lattes she's had. I had a sip myself and it was on the sweeter side and not spiced so heavily like you feel like you're drinking blended potpourri (ugh). She really liked this, almost as much as Better Buzz's version.

As for my drink, I asked if they could make an off menu item, the cortado which they said they could except they didn't have the proper glass cups for them.  I said it was okay because I really wanted to give it a try, paper cup and all.  To my surprise, Claudia served me my cortado in a cup, a metal one though.

She apologized that the proportions weren't a true cortado as she used less milk than what is normally used due to the cup's size. And since there wasn't a lot of milk foam, there wasn't much of a design either.  I actually thought my cortado was quite smooth and enjoyed the lower ratio of milk to the espresso. It did not need additional cream or sugar to sully its smoothness.

The coffee shop has only been open since last Tuesday and are still trying to figure out their hours to accommodate neighboring clientele.

S3 Coffee Bar
Mission Gorge Rd.
San Diego, CA zip
(619) phone

www.s3coffeebar.com + the scant reviews from you know where (at the time of this post).

It's great to see this strip mall with a proper coffee shop. The nearby Starbucks or the drive thru Cuppa Cuppa place don't really count. The owner, her barista(s) and mother are so welcoming and friendly. They use quality produce (Cafe Moto for their drinks and Westbean for their coldbrew) and seem genuinely sincere in pleasing their customers.  I hope they do well in this location and I look forward to coming here again.