Not ideal for people who actually love coffee (2/5 green stars)
I can understand people who come here for their mocha or mojito, but for straight up coffee I find it unsatisfying. I've listed some reasons for this:
1. I don't think that their blending or roasting brings out much character in each coffee - they all end up tasting a bit samey to me. And basically mediocre.
2. It might be hard to find a blend that suits because you don't know what's in them and the baristas don't seem to either. On two occasions I asked for whatever they have that's close to a light-roast Ethiopian and both times the barista couldn't really recommend something. I'm also not into the idea of their "secret ingredients" - I want to know what's in my drink.
3. You don't have much control over how much milk or sugar to add - they do it for you. This still strikes me as a bit insane. Last time I was here we did three additions of sugar to get it right. For me, a bit too much sugar makes the coffee undrinkable - I'd rather just add it myself. According to baristas, they use heavy "manufacturing" cream - fattier than even heavy whipping cream, so watch out for that if you are watching your saturated fat intake - it has a fat content 3 to 4 times higher than half and half!
4. Considering all of that, $3.50 for a small coffee is too much - their coffee doesn't come close that of Blue Bottle or Highwire, etc. - I don't even think they are up to the standard of Sbux or Peets.
Apart from that, I think people appreciate the happy vibe that Philz generates. The staff members are usually friendly and the café layout and music is inviting. Their food selection is quite good these days. I would not recommend it to people who love good coffee, but it's certainly a popular hangout for students working on papers, drinking mojito iced coffees.
I'm also giving them 2/5 "green stars" for social and environmental impact, based on these reasons:
* Coffee sourcing. From their website: "All green coffee purchases are traceable as close to the farm level as possible." We can infer from this that they generally don't have direct trade relationships with farmers and more of a commodity market relationship.
* Their coffee sourcing report is pretty sparse. They don't list any prices paid for green coffee - they should be doing this.
* They donate to two non-profits but it's not a lot - 5 cents per lb. of coffee (0.2% of their average coffee bean retail price). Most large multinationals donate more than this to non-profit causes.
* I looked through many of their coffees - none of the blends available in store are certified as organic or fair trade or shade grown. (Their packaged beans from Peru seem to be the only exception - certified by Fair Trade USA.)
* Environment: They say that they purchase "only from sources that prove they do not use chemicals on the Sustainable Agriculture Network banned chemical list." It's something, but if that's the extent of it, that's not exactly a high standard of commitment to the environment.
* "We require that every partner throughout our supply chain has at least one substantive social program in place." This is promising but a bit vague.
* Their dairy supplier, Dairy Pure from Dean Foods, is a very disappointing choice - especially in the Bay Area where there are many better supply options. There is no option for organic milk.
* With their choice of Dairy Pure in mind, I'm taking their statement "All ingredients are sourced ethically and sustainably" with a very large pinch of salt.
* They do have soy and almond milk (Pacific) and some pastries from Starter Bakery.
* Waste impact: their coffee bags are not compostable. No cup discount for bringing your own mug. Some compostable utensils available.
* What do employees think? On Glassdoor, Philz gets a middling rating - lower than Starbucks.
* Overall, they are a still a fairly small chain but I don't think they rank even as high as Starbucks for social and environmental impact.
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