Better Buzz Coffee Roasters, Hillcrest

After joking about nearly depleting the croissant inventory at Patisserie Melanie earlier this very morning (well not entirely)...

we headed to the newest Better Buzz for more caffeine...

as well as breakfast.  The roastery opened on January 20, which was the same day that Mostra opened their brick and mortar, so we were there instead.

This building, a former hospital annex, used to be an antiques store then was supposed to be a ramen place. Those plans fell through and is now Better Buzz.  It's three stories, with a mezzanine level. The top floor is reserved for their corporate offices.


There's all kinds of seating and visual overload everywhere...with a cool oval shaped bar.  We got there around 8:30's and scored a free and untimed parking spot right outside the door.  There really wasn't a line but when we left, it was out the door.

Their vintage roaster:

You order at the front, and in my case, use a fake but easy to say and spell name, and wait for your drinks at the back. Note to self, it SUCKS ASS trying to walk up stairs while carrying a full to the brim cup of coffee.  I'm a pretty clumsy person and this was sheer torture for me.


The70's are back with all this macrame.

So I ordered a couple of drinks that are only offered at two locations (this one and Encinitas, which is too damn far for me). The first was the Rose Water latte. Lovely, right? This was before I ascended the stairs of hell.

D had their house coffee but also sampled my drinks.

The other specialty drink was the Orange infused matcha. I love that the glass it was served in. You can see the layers of matcha and coconut milk. The drink itself was orange flavored and garnished with a speared orange rind.

The whole shebang:

D ordered the Adulting Grilled Cheese Sandwich ($8)- There were two types of cheese (Gruyere and sharp Cheddar) with prosciutto and caramelized onions. Butter galore on the grilled bread, as it should have. We really enjoyed this sandwich...

I ordered the Better Breakfast sandwich - "cage free" fried egg (didn't know it would be runny though, dammit), Havarti, thick cut bacon,arugula, and garlic aioli on a small pretzel bun. All of the flavors worked well together, but perhaps a different bread for this sandwich would have been better.. We didn't like that bun at all and ended up not eating the rest of the bun itself. That being said, we still liked this sandwich. If ever I order this again, I'd have to make sure the egg is fried over hard. Runny eggs are not my thing, but I tolerated it this morning.

The pretzel bun didn't work for us. We weren't going to attempt biting into this. Cutting into it proved to be messy. The bun itself was not soft or had a lot of "give".

The orange infused matcha was so refreshing! The matcha wasn't so strong either.  I mixed it up, hence the sage green hue.  The coconut milk made this more palatable for me as well. We were both pleasantly surprised by this flavor combination. T

Look at that long ass line...sheeyit.

Rain was coming so sucks to be them.

We had a pretty fun morning! Coffee twice plus French pastries.

Just for fun, behold, the scant TWO, count 'em TWO yelp reviews from it's previous incarnation, House of Heirlooms here.

Here is an excerpt describing the now defunct building from Urban Walk #3 - University Ave East (Hillquest):
"4. House of Heirlooms. St. Josephs Hospital (the precursor to Scripps/Mercy Hospital) occupied this building from 1891 to 1924. The House of Heirlooms building was erected in 1919 as a surgery annex. Lodging for the nursing school still survives as residential hotels just to the north on Eighth Avenue."

In this blurb, the space was also deemed historic in early 2007.

According to the last yelp review, House of Heirlooms closed in 2006 and became a gift shop of sorts. The building had been empty for years until it reopened as the newest Better Buzz.

The space was set to become "Robata Jinya", as depicted on this article by SanDiegoVille "Better Buzz Coffee Roasters to open" Aporil 2, 2017. Yelp does list a Robata Jinya as "Closed" but with no reviews. According to this SD Eater article from October 2014"Japanese ramen bar & Izakaya style eater in the works for Hillcrest" was planned, but that obviously didn't come to fruition. This article from SanDiego Whoville reported that the previous plan did fall through was to become another Japanese menu concept in 2017. Again, no go.

Articles:
"This way to a better buzz" SD Reader, Feb. 27, 2018
"Better Buzz a bigger biz with huge new roastery cafe in San Diego" Daily Coffee News, Jan. 30, 2018
"Hillcrest's gorgeous new coffee haven is here" SD Eater, Jan 19, 2018
"This huge coffee hub is coming to Hillcrest" SD Eater, Oct. 31, 2017

Better Buzz Coffee Roasters
801 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 269-2740

www.betterbuzzcoffee.com

The folks working here were really nice, from the cashier (a very fabulous and handsome young man who LOVED my Tokidoki Seapunk print bag, hee hee), the baristas, and the servers. A return visit (early of course) is in order to try some of their other breakfast offerings. Too bad they don't do toast flights.  I'm excited to try a few of their other new drinks here, maybe with the Educator GF's or Bert and TC.