Coffee Cognoscenti: SF's Top-Tier Cafes
By Patrick Heig, San Francisco Editor
San Francisco's coffeisseurs demand not only perfectly-roasted, fair-trade beans, but expert preparation, artful presentation and hipster cache with their caffeine fix. Here are five cafes that exceed those requirements, and contend for the title of the city's--and maybe the world's--best cup of coffee.
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Blue Bottle Cafe
66 Mint St, San Francisco, CA
Coffee cognoscenti flock to this SoMa hotspot for painstakingly prepared brews fresh from the venue's vaunted Japanese siphon bar. -
Four Barrel Coffee
375 Valencia, San Francisco, CA
This coffee speakeasy serves special single-origin roasts from an unmarked doorway in a dead-end alley. -
Coffee Bar
1890 Bryant St, San Francisco, CA
This lofty lounge space on the Mission/Potrero Hill border impresses coffee geeks with its high-tech Clover machine--and their friends with a bevy of beer and wine options, too. -
Philz Coffee
3101 24th St, San Francisco, CA
This charming/quirky Mission coffeehouse serves up rich and frothy Arabic-style brews made one cup at a time. -
Ritual Coffee Roasters
1026 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA
Known for having the best beans and baristas in the city, Ritual is also a Mecca for fixie-bike-riding, laptop-toting hipsters.
