Outset Coffee in San Francisco, California has a color. And that color is orange.
When you walk in the door, you’re greeted by an orange juice-squeezing robot, which pretty much sets the vibe for this Financial District cafe.
The walls of Outside Coffee are painted orange, all the furniture inside is orange, and there’s a giant orange logo towering over the interior.
That orange theme extends to the drinks. Outset serves coffee but they call it “creative coffee,” featuring a variety of drinks that highlight surprising combinations of coffee and fruit.
You’ll find traditional coffee shop favorites like lattes and espresso, but also far more exotic drinks, like an avocado latte, durian latte (featuring the notoriously smelly Southeast Asian fruit), and an orange juice Americano.
When I visited, I decided to stick with the orange theme and ordered a “Dirty” Mango Latte.
This drink is a layered kaleidoscope of flavors. On the bottom, there was mango purée. That was topped with whole milk, with a layer of espresso above it.
Finally, on top was a thick and creamy layer of mango foam—almost like mango-flavored Cool Whip.
The “dirty” part refers to the fact that there’s espresso mixed into the drink, but you can easily order this one—or many of the drinks on the menu—without coffee.
With all those flavors mixing together, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But the mango latte was delicious. The dense cream sat heavily on top, flavoring each sip.
As I sipped the drink, I got little chunks of mango from the purée at the bottom, mixed with the creamy coffee.
To round out a full San Francisco experience, I drank it while riding around town in a Waymo self driving car.
Combining coffee with mango might sound surprising. And combining it with orange juice might come off as blasphemy—especially if you hail from a place with a strong coffee culture like Seattle.
But Outside Coffee actually fits squarely within the overall picture of San Francisco’s food scene.
Bubble tea and other Asian-inspired drinks are very popular here in San Francisco.
The drinks at Outset Coffee feel like bubble tea creations—with all their complex purées and creams—but combined with an upscale coffee place.
Taking that context into account, the flavors of my mango latte made more sense. I could imagine the drink being served with boba instead of espresso and feeling right at home in any of San Francisco’s numerous bubble tea joints.
It’s cool to see coffee blending these traditional Asian tea flavors with San Francisco’s espresso scene to create something totally different.
And next time, I might go for something even simpler, fully embrace the orange theme, and grab an OJ—freshly squeezed from that robot!
Address: 90 New Montgomery St, San Francisco, CA 94105
