????鑄幣廣場（Mint Plaza）位于舊金山市中心，是多條狹窄街道與人行道交匯的地方，過去這里頗為臟亂。如今，戴著厚實塑料邊框眼鏡的建筑師、穿著格子襯衫和緊身牛仔褲的單車快遞員以及三位首飾叮當(dāng)作響的老婦人全都耐心地站在小巷里排隊，希望親口嘗一嘗他們心中全世界最好的咖啡。

????藍瓶咖啡（Blue Bottle）店內(nèi)，顧客們圍坐在陽光充足的山胡桃木柜臺邊，從仿佛是借自生物科技實驗室的玻璃容器中小心翼翼地倒出“虹吸”咖啡；或者一臉幸福地啜飲一款菜單上找不到的拿鐵，它稱為Gibraltar——與裝著咖啡端上來的多面玻璃容器同名。饑餓的主顧們將水煮荷包蛋放在厚厚的吐司切片上大快朵頤，或者小口小口地品嘗著精美的甜點，同時仔細閱讀他們所喝咖啡的多元來源地：YirgacheffeKoke產(chǎn)自埃塞俄比亞，F(xiàn)azendaSertaozinho則來自巴西。

????排隊的人群中還包括藍瓶咖啡創(chuàng)始人及首席執(zhí)行官詹姆斯?弗里曼，他的一身行頭與那些建筑師主顧頗為相似：黑色牛仔褲、暗灰色襯衫和時髦的黑色皮鞋——他在密歇根市北部一個鞋匠那里找到的。弗里曼的禮貌令人印象深刻，他記得所有員工和許多顧客的名字，一一向他們打招呼。與其他排隊的人不同的是，他還在不斷環(huán)顧四周，查看有沒有什么不妥的地方。查看他的iPhone之后，弗里曼發(fā)現(xiàn)柜臺上的單一來源咖啡列表與網(wǎng)站上當(dāng)前顯示的信息并不一致，于是立馬發(fā)了份更正郵件。看到有個男人買了本《R Is for Rosetta: A Blue Bottle Coffee Coloring Alphabet》，現(xiàn)年45歲的弗里曼輕輕地發(fā)出了一聲歡呼。這本書與店里的咖啡一樣，同樣凝聚著弗里曼及其員工的心血，是傳統(tǒng)工藝的結(jié)晶。

????首席執(zhí)行官和創(chuàng)始人的名頭聽起來很正式，這沒錯，可它們并不能準確的反映弗里曼古怪的企業(yè)家風(fēng)格。“為了一本彩色畫圖本開上25次會，這像是真正的首席執(zhí)行官的作風(fēng)嗎？”弗里曼笑道，“一旦腦子里產(chǎn)生這個想法除非它們得到不折不扣地實現(xiàn)，否則我怎么也放不下心來。”

????現(xiàn)在看來，弗里曼和藍瓶咖啡發(fā)展前景遠大。藍瓶咖啡正引領(lǐng)著新一輪咖啡運動，美國西海岸的舊金山、洛杉磯和西雅圖等城市是這場運動賴以匯聚力量的基地。首先出現(xiàn)的是餐館咖啡，然后是雀巢（Nescaf）和Flogers式的速溶咖啡，再然后星巴克（Starbucks）與畢茲（Peet's）這類咖啡連鎖店紅火起來，弗里曼和他的咖啡教軍團則代表著咖啡發(fā)展的下一階段。

????他們對咖啡豆出身的要求近乎苛刻，產(chǎn)地記錄極端詳盡，以至于弗里曼這樣的買家不僅能說出一些咖啡采摘者的姓名，還能描述它是在什么樣的樹蔭下成長起來的。通過煞費苦心的烘焙，咖啡豆才能完全釋放出以豆苗、干香蕉和甘草之類的術(shù)語才能形容的芳香和風(fēng)情。這些珍貴的純天然咖啡豆值得最認真地對待：煮咖啡的玻璃器具進口自日本，設(shè)計極為精妙；店員親手把煮好的咖啡倒入一個個滴濾器；他們使用的咖啡壺壺嘴如此纖細優(yōu)雅，仿若天鵝的長頸。每杯咖啡多花50美分至1美元，再額外排上5到10分鐘的隊，藍瓶就能將你的咖啡體驗提升到前所未有的高度，甚至遠遠超出你的想象。

????如果說星巴克是最新款的本田雅閣（Honda Accord），配有全套浮華虛飾，那藍瓶就是一輛1955年款的阿爾法?羅密歐Giulietta。當(dāng)然，阿爾法或許價錢較高，養(yǎng)護方面也需要多加留心，但它在美感方面所達到的水平是雅閣難以企及的。藍瓶咖啡反映了同樣的精湛工藝和細節(jié)上的盡善盡美。不過，隨著弗里曼將他的精品咖啡推向更廣泛的受眾，就連他本人也擔(dān)心是否人人都已做好準備。

從單簧管到咖啡豆

????FORTUNE -- Mint Plaza, a formerly grubby intersection of small streets and walkways in the center of San Francisco. Architects in chunky plastic-framed glasses, bike messengers in plaid shirts and skinny jeans, and a trio of older women with clanky jewelry all wait patiently in an alleyway for their turn to taste what many believe is the best coffee on the planet.

????Inside Blue Bottle, customers sit at a sunny hickory-topped counter to pour "siphon" coffee from glass containers that look as if they were borrowed from a biotech lab, or sip happily from an off-the-menu latte called the Gibraltar, after the faceted glass it is served in. Hungry patrons demolish poached eggs on thick slabs of toast and nibble on beautiful pastries while they read about the diverse origins of the coffees they are drinking: Yirgacheffe Koke from Ethiopia or Fazenda Sertaozinho from Brazil.

????Joining the queue, like everyone else, is James Freeman, the CEO and founder of Blue Bottle. He dresses like his architect clientele, sporting black jeans, a muted gray shirt, and funky black shoes he picked up from a cobbler in northern Michigan. He is unfailingly polite, greeting all the staff and many of the customers by name. Unlike the rest of the people in line, Freeman scans the room looking for anything out of place. He checks his iPhone and notices that the list of single-origin coffees on the counter doesn't match current information on the website. An e-mail is sent. Freeman, 45, lets out an understated cheer when he sees a man buying a copy of R Is for Rosetta: A Blue Bottle Coffee Coloring Alphabet, a newly printed book that Freeman and his staff agonized over, in typical fashion.

????CEO and founder sounds official, and it is, but it doesn't quite capture Freeman's quirky brand of entrepreneurship. "Are 25 meetings about a coloring book real CEO stuff?" Freeman jokes. "I get these ideas in my head, and I can't let go until they are done exactly right."

????At this moment Freeman and Blue Bottle appear to be the real deal. Blue Bottle is helping lead a caffeinated charge that first gathered momentum on the West Coast, in places like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, and Seattle. First there was diner coffee, then Nescafé and Folger's instant, followed by the vente-size growth of Starbucks (SBUX) and Peet's (PEET). Freeman and his cult-coffee cohort (see last page of article) TK are the next phase of coffee.

????It's coffee that is obsessively sourced, with provenance so detailed that buyers like Freeman can not only tell you the names of some of the people who pick it but describe the shade trees under which it grows. It's coffee that is painstakingly roasted to bring out aromas and flavors described by terms like pea shoot, dried banana, and hay. And because the precious organic beans deserve no less, the coffee is brewed in elaborate glass contraptions imported from Japan, or slowly hand-poured into individual drip filters, using kettles with spouts as slim and graceful as a swan's neck. For an extra 50￠ or a dollar per cup, and an extra five or 10 minutes in line, Blue Bottle elevates your coffee experience well above anything you've had before, or even what you thought was possible.

????If Starbucks is a late-model Honda Accord with all the bells and whistles, Blue Bottle coffee is a 1955 Alfa Romeo Giulietta. Sure, the Alfa might cost more and require a bit more attention, but it reaches an aesthetic standard that the Accord simply can't match. Blue Bottle coffee reflects similar craftsmanship and attention to detail. But as Freeman sets out to bring his couture coffee to a broader audience, even he wonders whether everyone is ready.

From wind blower to bean roaster

????Freeman grew up in Humboldt County, a rural region up the coast from San Francisco that's known primarily for its gigantic redwoods and prodigious, powerful crops of marijuana. In high school Freeman rebelled by not smoking pot, instead devoting himself to playing classical clarinet. "I was the nerdiest boy ever," Freeman says, "at home reading and listening to the London Philharmonic." After college and a master's degree in music, he embarked on a decade-long career as a journeyman clarinetist around the Bay Area, but by his own account he was only good enough to get gigs he didn't want.

????Around 2001, burned out on the life of a performing musician, Freeman turned his attention to another passion of his: coffee. Blue Bottle started life in a 186-square-foot former potting shed adjacent to Freeman's Oakland apartment. Freeman would roast coffee beans in his shed, then load the beans and a drip coffee contraption into his Peugeot station wagon and drive to farmers' markets in Berkeley, Oakland, and eventually the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco.

????Eight years ago Freeman was busy making coffee at his cart on a dreary winter day at the Ferry Plaza. He recalls hearing the usual customer chitchat. The next time he looked up, the line at his cart was 15 people deep. It turned out that a gourmet food trade show was going on at the Moscone convention center. Word had gotten out about Blue Bottle. Freeman's initial thought was that he was going to need to roast more coffee. "I was like, whoa, what has happened?" Freeman says. "It's basically been like that ever since."

????As a musician, Freeman rose every morning for years to practice chromatic scales on the clarinet before even putting his pants on. He applies that same discipline and attention to detail to source, roast, and prepare the perfect cup of coffee. "It's really about an appreciation for unnecessary beauty," Freeman says, "and a willingness to work for it."

????In some ways Freeman seems out of phase with modernity. His reference points are Proust, Mozart, early 1970s stereo equipment, and 1920s Japanese coffee gear. He never says "dude." Hanging out with Freeman, you get a Christopher Robin vibe that comes from his polite vocabulary and quiet, almost lilting, speech patterns.

????That is not to say Freeman is an easygoing guy. "He can be very stubborn," says Jay Egami, a friend of Freeman's who imports coffee and equipment for Japanese beverage giant UCC. Egami sold Freeman the $20,000 halogen-powered siphon machine that sits in the Mint Plaza café. Egami says that his friend's stubbornness stems from his desire to have everything just right.

????If you are a restaurant that doesn't have the right equipment to prepare Blue Bottle coffee -- that is to say, if you try to use a run-of-the-mill brewing machine -- Freeman won't sell you coffee, no matter how popular or well reviewed a joint you run. He won't sell you ground coffee -- whole beans only. You can't order an espresso in a to-go cup (just drink it). He is "deeply skeptical" of would-be wholesale customers who are more than a short drive from one of his roasteries. Ideally, he wants your espresso or filter coffee sitting in a cup ready to drink within four days of when the beans were roasted, and three is even better. When asked how long you can store beans ground for espresso, he responds: "About 45 seconds."