The drinks at this Nob Hill — and now Outer Richmond — coffee shop famously rotate often, so keep an eye out for when the menu rolls over. But in the meantime, don’t sleep on the expertly-crafted chai latte of black tea, milk, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, pepper, and malt. 

Though this cafe has still yet to open for indoor dining, the chai here is worth the trek to 9th Avenue. The chai is sweet, but not overly so, and for $4.50 this puts Snowbird at a slightly cheaper price than its competitors, too.

Cole Valley’s go-to coffee shop, adorned in all its movie-themed splendor, is also a lowkey contender for the best of the best chai in San Francisco. It’s hard to say what makes this chai so special, but it could be the Kilogram masala blend used to craft each well-balanced cup.  

This spicy rendition on the ancestral brew is a favorite for denizens of the city’s Excelsior neighborhood. The cafe is Black- and Brown-owned, and a haven for motorcycle enthusiasts of all stripes. Astranda Bakery cinnamon buns and Rize Up sourdough are on the menu here, too.

There’s Tartine on 18th Street, sure, but what Tartine has in bread, its neighbor Fayes across the street has in drinks. That includes San Francisco’s only remaining $1 coffee, but also a spicy chai that is well-worth trying. The shop uses David Rio, if that’s any indication of where else to try.

People are more or less familiar with the animal-themed works of David Rio, including its spacious Market Street cafe. The beautiful thing about grabbing chai at this Civic Center shop is the variety: there are 10 different chai lattes on the menu, including the spicy Cub Chai. That bad boy, when made with macadamia milk, may be the greatest chai latte in the city.

San Francisco’s only Yemeni coffee house is also a prize fighter in the chai championships. There are zero other places in the city where a group can order a pot of just-brewed Adeni chai, kept warm over a tiny candle, to share while taking in the gorgeous greens and golds of the cafe’s interior design.