This Bay Area region has its own ‘Caffeine Trail’

Call it the anti-wine trail: In Contra Costa County, there’s a network of coffee and tea shops meant to get you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed called the Tri-Valley Caffeine Trail.

At least so says Visit Tri-Valley, a Pleasanton-based organization that’s marketing this trail as a destination for buzz-seekers. “Rise and grind, caffeine-lovers!” they say on their website. “The Tri-Valley Caffeine Trail is a unique collection of cafés, coffee houses and tea rooms in the Tri-Valley, each with their own special set of peps and perks. Sip on craft coffee creations, sweet boba tea and steamy artisanal teas as you explore the most creative caffeine connoisseurs of the Tri-Valley.”

The trail includes 17 businesses in an area from Danville to Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore. Remarkably, there’s only one Starbucks on there, and it’s a fancy Starbucks Reserve. The focus is on neighborhood shops and cafes and even full-on kitchens like Sideboard. There are plenty of milk-tea places and even a kava joint, Steam House Coffee & Kava Bar, that pours mind-expanding elixirs and kombucha on tap.

At least two roasters are also on the trail, Medleno Coffee Shop & Roastery and Rosetta Roasting. The former is known for its authentic Turkish coffee and the latter has this nifty fact attributable to one of the proprietors: “Her uncle, David Schomer was one of the original creators of latte art and developed what is known as the Schomer method of coffee preparation, which quickly gained worldwide recognition and praise.”

Visit Tri-Valley says if you take photos at five of the trail locations and upload them to its website, it’ll send you a free coffee mug. Call it a perk for getting perky.