UpForDayz is owned and operated by the Shamieh family: Sam, and his children. The café and roastery opened its first location in March of 2019, but its seeds were first planted by Sam’s coffee-obsessed upbringing in Jerusalem in 1969.
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UpForDayz brings a different approach to coffee roasting and brewing to the Mission, showcasing Sam’s relentless pursuit for perfectly balanced and unique coffee blends. When Sam’s family first moved to the Bay Area, they realized that most quality-focused cafes only offered single origin, lightly roasted coffee. While extremely high-quality coffee can be roasted light to showcase its origin, many of the coffees Sam sampled locally did not live up to this ideal, displaying bitter or sour characteristics. In addition, they noticed that many cafes they visited did not place an emphasis on hospitality and education, two important elements of Jerusalem culture.
Given Sam’s deep experience in blending coffees, he knew that like a fine blended Whiskey, well-crafted coffee blends amplify the best attributes of its component coffees, providing a special experience. At UpForDayz, it is that focus on sourcing the highest quality coffees from around the world, roasting them carefully, and then blending them to create a refined, delicious cup that the Shamieh family is able to share with customers every day. Each blend at UpForDayz took several years to perfect, and each is presented on the menu with the total number of development years. For example, the One Thousand Hands Blend took Sam fifteen years of constant experimentation to refine. It is that relentless pursuit of perfection and constant iteration that the Shamieh family proudly shares with its customers.
What makes UpForDayz stand out is not only its approach to coffee, but also its fifty-year history. Sam first roasted coffee growing up in Jerusalem, falling in love with the mythical bean and captivated by bustling souks where hundreds of pounds of coffee could change hands in a single day. Sam soon found work in the many coffee shops in Jerusalem, learning more about how to prepare and roast each bean to its full potential. He then moved to Germany, where he was able to learn the secrets of roasting from masters who had perfected their craft through the generations, with a focus on technology and precision.
UpForDayz has multiple brewing methods for its customers to explore, which highlight different qualities of each blend. For example, UpForDayz is one of the first cafes in San Francisco to showcase the award-winning Ground Control coffee brewing system, which produces a smooth and sweet cup, highlighting the nuances of each blend. Ground Control won the Best New Product Award from the Specialty Coffee Association in 2018, and when the coffee is brewing, it is pulled into a glass chamber for the customers to see, swirled like a fine wine. UpForDayz also brews each of its blends using the first Seraphim precision brewer in the Bay Area, allowing each blend’s distinctive characteristics to shine through. This approach to combining thoughtfully crafted blends with scientifically precise brewing methods allows UpForDayz to offer an enjoyable, memorable, and customizable coffee experience to a diverse range of clientele.
UpForDayz also has a sandwich offering, and is the only cafe in San Francisco to offer house-made cheeses.
It is through a philosophy of tailoring the coffee experience to each customer, with hospitality and an extreme attention to detail, that UpForDayz seeks to make its contribution to the Mission’s bustling and thriving coffee culture.
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