This coffee and tea spot is a breakout hit. Now it’s expanding downtown
If you’ve seen a line stretching down California Street near Laurel, then you’ve witnessed the popularity of Q Speciality Coffee, which opened last year. Now, owner Cyrus Shen is ready to expand to a second location downtown.
“Seeing the response to our coffee, matcha, and especially our cloud drinks gave us the confidence that it was the right time to grow.”
When Q (opens in new tab) debuted in October at 3490 California St. in Laurel Heights, Shen wanted to appeal to coffee nerds (opens in new tab) and brought in top-of-the-line equipment and rare beans. The cafe roasts 10 varieties on-site and provides detailed descriptions of their origins and tasting notes for those who want to pick out hints of red plum or gummy bear (opens in new tab) in their pourovers.
Q also serves highly Instagrammable matcha “cloud” drinks (opens in new tab), with flavored foam floating atop the tea. Options that incorporate fresh juices, like a strawberry matcha cloud or yuzu matcha air cream, often draw lines that rival those found at the city’s cult-favorite bakeries.
“Business at our original Q has been going very well,” Shen said. “Seeing the response to our coffee, matcha, and especially our cloud drinks gave us the confidence that it was the right time to grow.”
Shen plans to open on the ground floor of the 10-story Orrick office building at 405 Howard St. at the end of October. While the original Q puts an emphasis on coffee experience and education, Shen’s second shop will focus on tea.
“We will have stone mills in the shop so customers can see the process of how tencha leaves become freshly ground matcha,” Shen said. He wants people to understand where the drink comes from, instead of it just being “a green powder that appears behind the counter.”
While matcha makes it onto most cafe menus these days, freshly milled tea is rare in the city, with most shops buying it pre-ground. (The second Q’s menu will still include coffee, but it won’t be roasted on-site.)
Q is just the latest cafe to embrace downtown in recent years, as the AI boom and stricter return-to-office policies have brought more people back to the business district. Spro, (opens in new tab) Painted Leopard, and Andytown (opens in new tab) all opened in the area recently, and Arsicault plans to launch a fourth bakery at 88 Spear St. before the end of the year.
Shen, a serial entrepreneur, also runs Poke Origin in the Sunset and Shaking Crab in Daly City. He previously launched, then shuttered, the trendy sando spot Toast ’N Egg in the Outer Sunset and Sugoi Sushi in the Mission. This will be his first foray downtown, but it felt like the right time to bet on the area.
“San Francisco is our home, and we want to grow together with our city,” he said. “We believe in downtown and want to be part of bringing more energy, businesses, and people back to the area.”
Q Specialty Coffee
- Opening hours
- Second location opening end of October.