Café by the Bay

No discussion of food in San Francisco would be complete without talking about coffee. Everyone always thinks of Seattle and coffee, but in San Francisco we also take our coffee pretty seriously. Could be the not so great climate, could be the great food, or it our ongoing mass fantasy that we are a European city that somehow got separated from the mother ship. Continuing with the metaphor of San Francisco as the American Paris, just as un bon café is important in the city of light, so too is it in the city by the bay. Here’s list of some our favorite coffee purveyors, but the list is by no means exhaustive.

1. Blue Bottle – Smooth, richly favored and freshly roasted to the point of obsession, this is the coffee purveyor for hipsters and anyone else who likes nuanced full flavored coffee. No matter how many outlets they open (and there are precious few) the lines get no shorter. Totally worth the wait.
2. Ritual – One of the relative new arrivals on the SF coffee scene, its super popular amongst those in the know. They are leaders in obsessing about the qualities of their “30 step” process around sourcing, roasting and brewing.
3. Martha & Bros. – A small mini chain of stores sprinkled throughout San Francisco. Their house blend drip is so intense, you’ll swear it’s espresso.
4. Peet’s – Once a start up roaster in Berkley, Peet’s is San Francisco’s Starbucks in the very best sense. Densely sprinkled throughout the Bay Area (and now beyond), the brew a full range of deeply flavored coffee drinks. Not for the feint of heart, or stomach, but for people who like their coffee with a kick.
5. Starbucks – Puhleez. San Franciscan’s only go here when all of the above are closed or out of range. The one exception is the Starbucks — a.k.a “Bearbucks” — on 18^th Street in the Castro, where the people watching at all hours of the day makes for the less than perfect cup of joe.

Tagged as: coffee, resident, san francisco, Travel, visitors