Remedy Coffee

What? Closed?! Why??? Where else will I get to drink coffee next to an old phone booth underneath a street sign hanging on the wall indoors?

I really loved this place, and to my dismay I think it has closed! I biked past this morning to find the windows full of brown paper!
Alas, so sad!!!

Where art thou!!!
Did you guys close your doors?!
Can we talk about this?
I’m outside your doors, crawling down my hands and knees.
:in tears and shaking fists at the sky:
NOOOOOOOO!!!

I can’t actually give Remedy any more stars, though I would if I could; the point is: vegan pastries are back at Remedy — at least, vegan crumpets! I was so sad when they vanished and so gleeful to see them return that I wolfed mine down while waiting for my to-​go soy latte. Tasty! Does this deserve an update? I think it does!
There’s a lot of terrible punctuation up there but only one good point: Remedy is awesome.

You’re in the Temescal, and wanting coffee, you have some options. Peets and The Mixing Bowl are down the street, and the Arbor café is so close you might accidentally wander in there instead.
How does Remedy stack up?
First the good: The people working here are mega-​friendly; no hipster snootiness here. The pastries are decent. The WiFi flows freely, as do good tunes, and the «retro/​found art» ambiance is funky and relaxed. Here, the space is more cozy than the Mixing Bowl, the baristas are more friendly than Peets, and the tables are more free than at Arbor. Win-​win-​win?
The so-​so: The baristas here know how to work the espresso machine just fine; however, my cappuccino tasted a bit flat and burnt, consistent with my experience of Ritual beans elsewhere. I blame the beans and my preexisting prejudices.
I might take my own coffee cravings elsewhere and come to Remedy for the relaxed vibe and a pot of tea. If you love Ritual roasts though, there’s nothing to dislike, so check this place out.

Since this is the only coffee shop for several blocks on this street, it may explain the hype. The iced teas lack flavor even with the addition of honey because it’s not not hot enough to melt. There is a limited option of snacks, such as cookies, but it seems to be packed with people using their wifi.
The staff does their job, but doesn’t necessarily help customers select coffees and teas or greet them with a smile. Street parking is available, but it’s better to just take BART or public transit.

Another hipster haven but sometimes you can get a good mixture of people here. I like to sit at the big round table close to the windows and get some love from the sun.
Sadly, I don’t think I’ve ever tried the coffee here as I got hooked on their iced tea and have since never wanted to try anything else. Their food is alright but I wouldn’t go out of my way to go here for their food. Not very filling but will suffice if your stuck with work and fearful of having to give up your seat.
Although, I do love the one scone they make with the dark chocolate bitters. The perfect amount of sweet, excellently mixed without any bursts of those raw flour or baking soda surprises. Probably one of the second best scones I have had (Sconehenge in berkeley is first).
Great selection of music, a bit on the loud side for your typical café but a good distraction from the daunting amount of work you might have brought to complete. You can definitely catch me singing along to some of the tunes.

What’s the first thing to do on the morning after my ‘re-​entry’ into CA? It’s to drive aimlessly around Berkeley/​Oakland in my rental car at 7.00am because I can’t sleep. As I drove up Telegraph I spied Remedy, a place I had been meaning to try on my last trip out, open and ready for business.
Four bucks for a decent, 10oz. (?) bevvie. The roast seemed to be a bit lighter than what I would prefer, but it was well made.
The space is large and tidy. I sat at the window and watched those few other folk also awake walk, cycle, and drive by.
And, as Rachael C. pointed out, it would seem that the baristas are friendly only to those customers with whom they already have a rapport, and, of course, amongst themselves. I don’t really care if one is unfriendly just as long as it’s consistent. As soon as the shiny-​happy-​perky comes out to the guy in line right behind me, then I begin to wonder if my deoderant isn’t working.

I walked in and was immediately aware of how I was dressed.
I ordered up a cappuccino, drip, tea, and chai, to go, along with some available pastries, for the group of us that were staying in our friends empty house.
The pastries were dry and lackluster. No complaints from the drip or the tea, but the cappuccino did not receive rave reviews from the Brasilian, nor was my chai particularly memorable.
Make me an excellent chai, and I’m yours for life. Go through the motions and charge me $ 5 for a cup of blah, then we have a situation.
I tried a different café the next morning which had dope homemade pastries as well as excellent coffee. Boom.

Remedy just looks like a bunch of tables and coffee tables in a line alongside the wall with apple laptop computers on top of them. didn’t see much in the way of food.
see a coffee dripping system.
drink: ritual coffee (2.5)
–almost smooth with faint hazelnut flavor
–not a robust drink but enjoyable.
coffee drips:
–have to downgrade ritual coffee to a leisurely drink
–still need industrual strength bold coffee
–still good coffee though.

Some people are seriously allergic to hipsters, so just to be safe I’m including this disclaimer: awkward mustaches, skinny jeans, and a sea of glowing white apples are part of the furniture at Remedy.
Totally fine by me!
Thoroughly hip and adorable, Remedy is quite le spot to settle for a few hours, with a bunch of cute wooden tables, comfy couches, and streams of sunshine pouring in all day. Plus, there is free wi-​fi and easy street parking in the ‘hood.
Remedy does that trendy coffee thing where you read a little blurb about the fancy beans they’ve got, pick the one that meets your highly-​evolved coffee-​tasting standards, and they brew it specially for you. Trends like this intimidate me, since I’m a pansy coffee drinker. I don’t care how special those beans are, I’m dumping a bunch of honey and soy milk in that cup of brown water when it’s all said and done. And that really makes some people angry.
BUT! I confessed my coffee ignorance to Mr. Remedy and he gave me a genuinely sweet smile, nodded in compassion and picked a very simple $ 3 brew for me, to spare me the faux agonizing. Aaaaah, the joy of non-​judginess.
Overall, a seriously chill spot for serious coffee nerds, and the occasional milk & honey dumper like m’self.

i hella love coffee. this place is pretty decent the coffee is good and it gets plus points because its close to my pad. There are actual hipsters here too and you know i am down with the hipster crowd because i go to all these hella hipster hangouts.
i havent tried the scones yet but i am all over that. i love me some scones!
oh and i like the recycled furniture especially the metal/​wood chairs that probably came from my parents’ era grade school!

I haven’t reviewed remedy yet?!
I got a job working next door a few months ago, and I usually bring my own huge ass mug of coffee. sometimes I’m in a rush, and sometimes I’m in the mood for an actual latte, so I was pleased there was a coffee shop right next door. Lattes are excellent, and they make the foam right. espresso is also nice and strong.
the SCONES… I’ve been dubbed «the scone princess» by my coworkers since my family owns a pretttttty popular bay area scone company… so, I’m pretty picky with scones. we have some outstanding quality scones, so at the risk of sounding like a food snob, my standards are pretty high.
well, the scone princess approves. the scones here are delicious! flaky, moist, not too sweet, done completely right. only reason I’m keeping it from 5 stars is because everything here is pretty pricy. I’ve calculated the production cost of making an espresso drink, and as far as I know anything over 2.50 is fairly overpriced [for all you starbucks guzzlers, they are totally raping your wallets. everything is their own brand, which means they avoid distributor fees. and yet they’re still charging 4.50 for a mochafrappawhateverthehellcino?]. still, they are banging out some quality coffee, so I’ll indulge every once in awhile.
also… this place is hipster central. *shudders*

Bumped up to a 4! Super friendly staff and very helpful and personable. Ordered the mocha (easy on the chocolate) and it’s AMAZING!

Remedy has established itself as the ultimate hipster café in Temescal.
The coffee are excellent, and the scones are better than Betty’s. So if you can get a spot, sit down and enjoy the hipters watching!

LOVE the vegan banana walnut chocolate cherry scones. Crispy outside, fluffy inside. They don’t taste vegan, just delicious. My new favorite baked good.
Other thumbs-​ups: the scene, the staff, the wireless. They make their own vanilla coffee flavoring from scratch. They run the register off an Pad and can handily email you the receipt.
The drawback: there is only one size of coffee, a wee 12-​ounce cup. The overindulgent American in me needs at least 16 ounces of caffeine to see straight each day. And for obvious reasons I can’t walk out of there with 2 coffees (ahem, vanilla lattés) and a giant chocolatey scone all for myself each morning. Because that would be just a little much, yes?

The folks here are friendly and the space is comfortable. There’s a number of tables along the walls of varying sizes and near the windows, but good luck finding a spot because there’s always a constant stream of people coming in for a cup of coffee at all times of the day. The tables are personal sized and good for up to 2 or 3 people max. There are outlets scattered along the walls so it shouldn’t be too hard to find an empty outlet. There is also free wireless internet. There’s a minimum credit card purchase of $ 10 and they use Square. There is also an ATM machine on site. The music is usually good, though I wish it was not so loud. One can easily spend a few hours here with a good book, assuming one finds a seat.
You’ll find all the standard coffee snob gear in action here including a custom drip bar that uses glass cone drippers, a clover machine, and hario water pots. Remedy serves coffee from Ritual Roastes and honestly, I was not impressed. We had a coffee of the day (Dama) and a drip (Elida), but both were incredibly mild. I almost did not even want to add half and half as I usually do, but it definitely brought out the aroma of the roast once it was in there.

My 300^th review! Today is kind of a holiday. Yea, I’m not AT work. I’m working from home. So in a Remedy way it’s a holy day. In a serious way! ‘Cause for the first time since I moved to Temescal — and the first time since Todd brought his holy remedies to our block — I’m here for my second coffee of the day… and it’s so dayum good… Eliada Estate — Panamanian drip extraordinaire… take me to my reverie…
With the Ritual roasts
Todd the ire-​kind host
Crew rockin’ foam hearts supreme
Sweet-​soul lattes don’t need no sugar
Grooves from LP’s wax eloquently
Mochas to-​go before I sleep
And mochas to-​go before I sleep

COFFEE: Love their House Black Coffee! It’s freshly prepared and it’s exceptionally good!!! The aroma and taste are extremely SOPHISTICATED, SENSUAL, EXQUISITE. It teases and satisfies all your senses and then melts your from within… The barrister clearly took pride in his work, as the coffee was very carefully and well prepared. It’s $ 3 — more expensive than its counterparts in this area — but it’s worth every single cent. Yes, it’s that good!
ATMOSPHERE: Friendly staff, cool people, wonderful neighborhood vibes. Free wifi. Delightful interior deco. Creative energy.
NEGATIVES: The music, however, was TOO LOUD. It was hard to concentrate on my work with rock music blasting from their (apparently top-​notch quality) speakers. The neighborhood where this café is located is, eh, alright, on the quieter, poorer side of the Telegraph Ave. Nice Korean eateries around the corner… But it doesn’t have that charm, quirkiness and one-​of-​a-​kind character that I like.
We were there on Sunday afternoon but we saw very few souls on the sidewalk and very few retail shops opened in this area. It seemed that this café was the only lively spot on that stretch of the road.

An oil leak (initially diagnosed as only a «seepage») led to my presence in Temescal earlier today. I last stopped by Remedy a couple of days ago at 5PM and discovered that they closed «1ish». As far as I was concerned, my drive up Telegraph this morning was an opportunity not to be missed. And hey, I didn’t miss it!
In a parallel universe, I’d be telling you that Todd made me a machiatto that knocked my socks off, one even better than the one I had earlier this week at SubRosa. In this universe, I asked Todd to choose my beverage. I ended up with a Clover-​made Ethiopian coffee without milk. With some sheepishness, I asked for it «to go,» since I was actually on my way to the gym. The Clover is an interesting device, and the Ritual coffees have their virtues, but I kept kicking myself for not getting a more concentrated drink.
I also bought a ¾-​pound bag of the same Ethiopian beans that were used in my beverage, so I’ll be able to experiment at home with my French press and other devices.
My workout was great, by the way — even though my drink seemed a little dilute to me, it must have packed a solid caffeine punch.
The bottom line: I’ll probably be back, but not often. I look forward to seeing how the café looks when the work is completed in a few weeks. For now, I’m not tempted to pay in $ 1000 to get a discount card worth $ 1250 in future purchases.