San Francisco’s been home to boundary-pushing coffee since its days supplying miners headed out as a part of the Gold Rush. The big three — Folgers, MJB, and Maxwell’s — all are an enormous reason any of the coffee waves launched in the first place, supplying soldiers with vacuum-sealed tubs of the buzzy bean at home and abroad. There are also plenty of phenomenal modern cafes to visit in 2024. While there are iconic lattes and cold brews in the city — the Irish Coffee was born here, after all — cafes such as Outset Coffee and Kopiku showcase what San Francisco still has plenty of newness to offer the scene. Try any of the 16 on this list to see why everyone is talking about the coffee in the City by the Bay.
Read More16 Quintessential San Francisco Coffee Shops
Where to find expertly brewed cups of coffee in San Francisco right now
Kopiku
The first cafe space for Indonesian coffee roaster Beaneka Coffee Roastery is home to Firebrand pastries, a delightful and warm service staff, and some of the rarest coffee drinks in the Bay Area. That’s because until now, SanDai in Walnut Creek’s Kopi Bar was the only dedicated place for avocado and chocolate coffee drinks. Now, steps from the San Francisco Bay, grab an iced pandan coffee and nastar (pineapple shortbread) to enjoy while you take in the sights.
Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters
Wrecking Ball’s Trish Rothgeb is known for her well-balanced espresso drinks and precise, technologically advanced pour-overs — plus, she coined the now popular “waves of coffee” terminology. The Berkeley location of her business closed, so the Cow Hollow outpost will have to be as great as two coffee shops.
Saint Frank Coffee
Saint Frank is to San Francisco coffee as Dungeness crab is to San Francisco restaurants: when the time is right in the city, nothing else will do. Owner and founder Kevin Bohlin’s been on a spree, too, as he opened choux paradise Juniper on Polk Street in 2023 and a second San Francisco Saint Frank location in SoMa. Longtime fans return for the gorgeous service, minimal aesthetic, and tea-like Bolivian coffees.
Haraz Coffee House
Fans of spiced coffee and vibey music can enjoy the first San Francisco outpost of Haraz now that the Dearborn, Michigan-founded company has set its eyes on California. There are decadent Yemeni desserts and pastries here, such as honey-drizzled bee bites, but the drinks are, of course, the main attraction. Try the pistachio latte.
Outset Coffee
When Not Latte hit Irving Street in spring 2022, it marked the arrive of one of the city’s first dedicated fruit coffee shops. Now, as coffee continues to find imaginative and wonderful iterations, Outset on Valencia and New Montgomery streets takes the form to the next level. The Sunset Americano, a medley of Ethiopian coffee and grapefruit and orange juices, is not a creamy latte but a delicate, multi-textural drink unlike anything else in the city. And, gratefully, caffeinating, to boot.
Scullery
The Scullery is a little nook of a coffee shop with a smattering of outdoor seating, and the thrum of traffic booming on Geary Street outside. The team at this cafe is tuned into the specialty coffee world, serving East Bay favorite Mother Tongue Coffee and top-tier toast, too.
The Coffee Movement
There’s nothing as fine as sitting on foggy Balboa Street while the alchemists at Coffee Movement’s second (and greatest) location crank out the army of coffee ordered each morning. The flights are affordable, a chance to try one well-sourced coffee brewed three ways or to try three well-sourced coffees brewed one way. Plus, there are rotating coffee concoctions such as the Earl Greyhound made with filter coffee, grapefruit, Earl Grey tea, tarragon, elderflower tonic, and lemon balm.
Sextant Coffee Roasters
Sextant founder Kinani Ahmed works directly with Ethiopian, Kenyan, and Colombian growers, making high-end but affordable beans to-go. In this chunk of the city, Sextant is alone in offering terrific coffees and delicious pastries from Firebrand Artisan Breads.
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Flywheel Coffee Roasters
This coffee shop on the eastern edge of Golden Gate Park is both a familiar favorite and a high-quality, fourth-wave business. That’s because founder and owner Aquiles Guerrero was born in Nicaragua before coming to the city in the 1980s where he worked at Martha & Bros Coffee Co. The business is expanding — across the street into a kiosk in the park and with a shop in the FiDi in late 2023 — and it’s the high-quality pour-overs and drippers that keep business booming.
Abanico Coffee Roasters
Abanico Coffee Roasters brought specialty coffee drinks and freshly roasted beans to the Mission in 2021. Owner Ana Valle is originally from El Salvador, where she grew up sipping cafecito with her grandmother. Now she’s sweetening cafe con leche with condensed milk and dusting iced cafe de olla with cinnamon in this bright, airy space.
Day Moon
The level of luxurious quality at Day Moon, found in both the Linea coffee drinks and the little treats — whether a peanut butter cookie, a sesame bun, or a peach scone — is only matched by the downhill stroll to the expansive and gorgeous Ocean Beach. It’s tough to top as far as new bakeries go in San Francisco.
Paper Son at Neighbor Bakehouse
Alex Pong’s Paper Son pop-up is a crowning achievement in the city’s vast coffee game, merging his Asian American heritage with his top-tier espresso and pour-over skills. The espresso passionfruit tonic is a bubbly love letter to the fruit notes coffee snobs love, and Paper Son’s riff on Thai iced tea, the Thai Tea Cloud, is as well-bodied an iteration as they come in San Francisco.
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Grand Coffee
More than 11 years into its journey, Grand Coffee opened a second location a block away from its mini cafe on Mission Street. The shop also serves its coffee at the Grove at Yerba Buena and keeps customers buzzed during Ramadan. Next door to Alamo Drafthouse, the small businesses’ new shop is spacious and bright, and working through a two-person Chemex at the tiled bar is a delight.
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Hey Neighbor Cafe
Opened in June 2021 by Dee and their cat Boots, this Bayview shop has gained a loyal fanbase for items like the Hella Black toast on San Francisco bakery Rize Up’s bread and housemade orange marmalade. Plus, it bears repeating, the co-owner is a cat.
Excelsior Coffee
Lea Sabado and Andre Higgenbotham opened this Excelsior neighborhood shop in 2019 and already had a healthy following of motorcycle fans who were excited to see a Black and brown-owned business in a very white coffee scene. The shop makes a mean chai, but more relevantly this is the only specialty shop in the area with strong but not overly dark roasts.
Java on Ocean
Ocean Avenue plays host to lots of fantastic restaurants and bars, but few destinations are as open, enormous, and affordable as Java on Ocean. The shop features tons of specialty drinks, and not specialty coffee, mind you, but items like rose, lavender, and zebra lattes.