Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Dark Horse’s new stable

Weathered machinery lends attitude

A stylish new Golden Hill location for Dark Horse Coffee
A stylish new Golden Hill location for Dark Horse Coffee
Place

Dark Horse Coffee Roasters

3260 Adams Avenue, San Diego

Normal Heights coffee roaster Dark Horse will soon become a Golden Hill coffee roaster. Following more than a year of planning and construction, the company soft-opened its new retail shop on 25th Street just before Thanksgiving. It features more seating than the company’s other San Diego locations, including a spacious outdoor patio with large picnic tables.

Place

Dark Horse Golden Hill

811 25th Street, San Diego

Part of the delay in setting up this shop was waiting to find new roasting equipment. Once installation is complete, the site will house the company’s newly acquired, 12kg Diedrich IR-12 roaster. The early-model roaster was built by hand in California back in the 1980s, before Diedrich moved operations to a factory in Idaho. The vintage equipment doesn’t feature the bells and whistles of some of the new-fangled, high-tech, automated roasters popping up around town these days. However, Diedrich made its name 30 years ago by innovating an infrared roasting process that’s said to yield more evenly cooked and less-acidic beans due to a lack of open flame, and the weathered machinery visible behind the shop counter lends attitude to the new location.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Dark Horse has worked off a 3kg Diedrich since opening on Adams Avenue in early 2013, so the coffee profile won’t change, though co-owner Bryan Charlson notes the new gear “will help quadruple our production for expanding our wholesale and retail departments.” This is already the business’s fourth retail location, including a small counter in North Park and a satellite shop in Truckee, so that 3-kilo machine in Normal Heights has been going 12 hours a day to keep up with demand until the new machine is ready to cook.

Helping founder and head roaster Daniel Charlson with that has been industry vet Mike Helms. The former Caffé Calabria roaster and San Diego Coffee Network cofounder has joined Dark Horse to manage the new shop and will add his roasting acumen to the cause as necessary. Helms says the two have been trading six-hour shifts to ensure they have enough beans going into the holidays.

Once roasting operations have shifted to Golden Hill, the Charlsons plan to renovate the original Normal Heights location to better match the look of the newer shops. They will also add espresso drinks, so all their San Diego locations will include those along with cold brew on tap and pour over.

Another popular aspect of Dark Horse shops that carries over to the new location in a big way is the presence of vegan pastries made by Papa G’s Donuts. Papa G’s had been operating on a cottage license, working in limited capacity out of a home kitchen. Now the small company operates out of Dark Horse Golden Hill.

Bryan Charlson says, “We have installed a state-of-the-art ‘compact’ bakery in our kitchen,” where Papa G’s “will be baking all of the original fan favorites (donuts, muffins, scones etc.) as well as testing exciting new things like vegan donut bread pudding and pocket pies.”

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About doTERRA

Next Article

The vicious cycle of Escondido's abandoned buildings

City staff blames owners for raising rents
A stylish new Golden Hill location for Dark Horse Coffee
A stylish new Golden Hill location for Dark Horse Coffee
Place

Dark Horse Coffee Roasters

3260 Adams Avenue, San Diego

Normal Heights coffee roaster Dark Horse will soon become a Golden Hill coffee roaster. Following more than a year of planning and construction, the company soft-opened its new retail shop on 25th Street just before Thanksgiving. It features more seating than the company’s other San Diego locations, including a spacious outdoor patio with large picnic tables.

Place

Dark Horse Golden Hill

811 25th Street, San Diego

Part of the delay in setting up this shop was waiting to find new roasting equipment. Once installation is complete, the site will house the company’s newly acquired, 12kg Diedrich IR-12 roaster. The early-model roaster was built by hand in California back in the 1980s, before Diedrich moved operations to a factory in Idaho. The vintage equipment doesn’t feature the bells and whistles of some of the new-fangled, high-tech, automated roasters popping up around town these days. However, Diedrich made its name 30 years ago by innovating an infrared roasting process that’s said to yield more evenly cooked and less-acidic beans due to a lack of open flame, and the weathered machinery visible behind the shop counter lends attitude to the new location.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Dark Horse has worked off a 3kg Diedrich since opening on Adams Avenue in early 2013, so the coffee profile won’t change, though co-owner Bryan Charlson notes the new gear “will help quadruple our production for expanding our wholesale and retail departments.” This is already the business’s fourth retail location, including a small counter in North Park and a satellite shop in Truckee, so that 3-kilo machine in Normal Heights has been going 12 hours a day to keep up with demand until the new machine is ready to cook.

Helping founder and head roaster Daniel Charlson with that has been industry vet Mike Helms. The former Caffé Calabria roaster and San Diego Coffee Network cofounder has joined Dark Horse to manage the new shop and will add his roasting acumen to the cause as necessary. Helms says the two have been trading six-hour shifts to ensure they have enough beans going into the holidays.

Once roasting operations have shifted to Golden Hill, the Charlsons plan to renovate the original Normal Heights location to better match the look of the newer shops. They will also add espresso drinks, so all their San Diego locations will include those along with cold brew on tap and pour over.

Another popular aspect of Dark Horse shops that carries over to the new location in a big way is the presence of vegan pastries made by Papa G’s Donuts. Papa G’s had been operating on a cottage license, working in limited capacity out of a home kitchen. Now the small company operates out of Dark Horse Golden Hill.

Bryan Charlson says, “We have installed a state-of-the-art ‘compact’ bakery in our kitchen,” where Papa G’s “will be baking all of the original fan favorites (donuts, muffins, scones etc.) as well as testing exciting new things like vegan donut bread pudding and pocket pies.”

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Why did Harrah's VP commit suicide last summer?

Did the fight the Rincon casino had with San Diego County over Covid play a part?
Next Article

Todd Gloria gets cash from McDonald's franchise owners

Phil's BBQ owner for Larry Turner
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader