In an updated guide to San Francisco, we highlight the legacy roasters and quirky hideaways that define the city’s specialty-coffee scene.
BY SONORA SLATER
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Featured photo by Joshua Earle. All other photos courtesy of Sonora Slater unless otherwise noted
We’ve covered San Francisco‘s café culture quite extensively throughout the years—but the city’s coffee scene is so vast, it demands regular revisiting. Whether you’re visiting S.F. or are a local exploring your city on the weekend, there are a few must-stops that make for the perfect Saturday in the Bay: the park that overlooks the famous-for-a-reason Painted Ladies, the iconic City Lights Bookstore, and any one of the numerous world-renowned coffee shops that pepper the area are all good places to start.
San Francisco is considered a pillar of the third-wave coffee movement, due in no small part to the legacy coffee roasters and cafés that call the city home, from Ritual and Equator, to Blue Bottle and Four Barrel. But each corner of the city also has its lesser-known spots, imbued with the colorful personality of the city and frequented by those looking to try unique drinks, house-made syrups, or globally sourced roasts.
You could easily walk the streets of any S.F. neighborhood and discover a new, caffeinated hidden gem, but to save you from inevitable decision paralysis, we’ve chosen four spots that are guaranteed to be worth a visit.
Sightglass Coffee
With three locations scattered throughout the city, Sightglass Coffee is a household name in the world of West Coast coffee lovers. Their flagship shop, a roastery in San Francisco’s SoMa (South of Market) district, is located in the same spot where they began operations with a coffee cart in 2009.
Inside, the narrow, nondescript building opens up into a two-story warehouse with ample seating, an always-changing pourover selection, and a round bar in the center of the room where highly-trained baristas will carefully prepare your drinks and answer any questions you have about their current roasts. You can also purchase a wide variety of Sightglass beans, freshly roasted just a few steps away from where they’re sold.
You can’t go wrong with any classic, espresso-forward drink on Sightglass’ menu. But if you want something a little fancier than a cappuccino, the vanilla paste latte—which will leave real, visible vanilla bean residue at the bottom of your cup—is a smooth, lightly sweet elevated edition of your typical vanilla latte. Sightglass is a legacy roaster for a reason, and every sip of one of their drinks will serve as evidence of San Francisco’s earned place in the coffee world.
Golden Goat Coffee
Named as a double entendre, referencing both the iconic Golden Gate bridge and the legend that says grazing goats were the first to discover coffee, Golden Goat Coffee is small but mighty.
This shop is a hole-in-the-wall in the best sense, with just a couple of cozy places to sit while you wait for your drink. It’s tucked away in an alley so deep that it’s easy to miss, even if you’re looking for it—but neither of those facts stop it from having a consistent line and a loyal customer base.
One regular, Nainika Reddy, says that she comes to Golden Goat nearly every day, and describes their always-rotating drip as “possibly the best in the city.”
Golden Goat’s team describes the shop as a “coffee playground,” sourcing coffee from roasteries all over the world and encouraging baristas to embrace their creativity by giving each a budget to buy ingredients and experiment with syrups at home. This practice has led to a multitude of inventive house-made syrups, including the one used in their warm, lightly spiced banana bread cappuccino.
Home Coffee Roasters
Home Coffee Roasters first opened 11 years ago with husband-and-wife duo Annie Cheng and In Hwan Heo at the helm. The two set out to create a coffee shop that felt like home, hence the shop’s name. On Valentine’s Day of 2015, they opened the doors to their first shop, and, since then, have opened three more locations throughout the city.
Their cafés, which serve coffee roasted in the city, combine third-wave quality with second-wave customer experience and whimsy. They can certainly serve you a great cappuccino, but their menu encourages customers to have a little fun with their drinks, with options ranging from a seasonal caramel popcorn latte to a cookie butter latte, as well as their iconic (and beautiful) rainbow latte.
There’s a refreshing lack of pretense in the space, which is truly rooted in the principle that the best cup of coffee is the one you enjoy. One wall in Home Coffee’s Chinatown location is decorated with pictures of each barista, with their current favorite drink listed. Home’s menu is proof that fun flavors don’t preclude good coffee—and it helps that their drinks are some of the most photogenic in the city.
Andytown Coffee Roasters
With 10 locations throughout the city, it would be easy for this local chain to begin feeling corporate, instead of personal. But as the baristas at each uniquely decorated Andytown location work their way through serving long lines of eager customers, they manage to balance efficiency with precision and care.
“Some third-wave shops can’t handle the volume,” says Ciara Robertson, a shift lead and supervisor at Andytown’s Fremont Street location, which is located on the 7th floor of the Salesforce building and conjoins with the peaceful Transbay Terminal Rooftop Park, high above the city. “We can handle a crowd without cutting corners.”
Ciara says that Andytown’s owners, husband and wife duo Lauren Crabbe and Michael McCrory, really care about making sure their baristas are educated on quality coffee—but they’re also not afraid to explore creative or out-of-the-ordinary drinks. Their sparkling Americano, dubbed the “Snowy Plover,” is proof of this, and is perhaps the most popular thing on their menu. The fizzy coffee drink is topped with a dollop of their thick house-made whipped cream, tasting simultaneously like a comforting sip of a standard Americano and something entirely new and wonderfully refreshing.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sonora Slater is a barista and freelance writer in the Sacramento region with a focus on arts and culture, travel, and what makes a place special. When she’s not writing, you can find her exploring her city, trying to grow vegetables, or rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You can find more of her work at sonoraslater.com.
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