It’s easy to walk by the original location of Pixlcat Coffee, tucked inside the Sunset Squares food hall in San Francisco’s Mid-Market, without realizing the caffeinated manna that lies within. The innovative coffee shop serves arguably the best hot coffee in town, a dopo panna latte. And as of mid-November, there’s another place to get some: on Clement Street in the Richmond District.
The shop’s signature drink, which you can order hot or iced, comes in six flavors. Each is arguably more decadent than the last, including unique, Asian-inspired flavors like ube white chocolate, black sesame or honeycomb.
“The primary focus is to prioritize a coffee experience that’s different from all the others,” said Colin Tang, Pixlcat’s lead barista.
Tang said the business began when the three brothers responsible for its founding—David, Daniel and Dennis Lee—came up with the idea in a garage.
The Lees are hardly new to the food scene, previously helming the popular but since-closed Mission District Korean restaurant Namu Gaji. They’re also the trio behind Namu Stonepot on Divisadero.
The secret to the dopo panna latte at Pixlcat is in the layers, making it delicious to drink and gorgeous to photograph. The drink echoes a Viennese coffee specialty called the Einspänner, which means a “one-horse carriage” in German. It’s a full-flavored concoction the New York Times likened to “tiramisù in beverage form." Drivers of the carriages, the taxicabs of yesteryear, loved the hot drink because the thick cream acted as an insulator and prevented spillage.
The double layer of cream—the “dopo panna” in the name—is crafted in-house along with all of the flavorings, such as the cafe’s popular Tiger syrup made from burnt turbinado sugar.
There’s many a specialty drink to be had at Pixlcat: boba creations, iced matchas, sparkling Americanos and java chip shakeratos. But the dopo panna latte, popular both hot and iced, stands out.
Yet you need not limit yourself to drinks. Pixlcat is known for its butter mochi, a gluten-free snack Dennis Lee first started making for his kids during their sports games, Tang said. It gave him a lot of time to experiment with bold flavors, which are tricky to pull through, while also maintaining mochi’s signature texture.
It’s hard to pick only one mochi when you have options like bacon and cheddar, black sesame and ube white chocolate. So splurge for the flight and pick three—and pair it with a dopo panna latte for an additional $3. It’s a drink you’d be hard-pressed to find elsewhere.
“The secret is in the fat,” Tang said. “It pulls out flavors.”