Ritual Coffee Roasters in San Francisco is one of the city's third-wave originals, with the Valencia Street flagship and a sharp single-origin filter programme.
Tip: The cortado is the regular order; the Hayes Valley kiosk has the fastest line on a weekend.
Address: 1026 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
Saint Frank in San Francisco is the Russian Hill cafe and roastery known for direct-trade Latin American lots and a quietly precise cortado.
Signature drink: Cortado
Tip: The pour-over flight rotates weekly; ask for the lightest lot if you want to taste origin clearly.
Andytown in San Francisco is the Outer Sunset roastery cafe known for the Snowy Plover, a fizzy espresso-over-soda drink that became a city signature.
Signature drink: Snowy Plover
Tip: The original 43rd Avenue location is the best pour; weekends are quieter at the 18th Avenue outpost.
Cafe Zoetrope in San Francisco is Francis Ford Coppola's flatiron corner cafe in the Sentinel Building, with a small Italian kitchen and house wine on tap.
Signature drink: Cappuccino
Tip: The sidewalk tables on Kearny are the seat to want; the cappuccino is the right midday order.
Tartine Bakery in San Francisco is Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Prueitt's Guerrero Street original, with a queue that has not let up since 2002 and a morning bun.
Signature drink: Pour-over with morning bun
Tip: Morning bun and croissant come out at different times; ask the counter when the next bake is due.
Reveille Coffee in San Francisco is the small chain anchored in North Beach, with a corner room at the Columbus and Pacific triangle and a strong maple latte.
Signature drink: Maple latte
Tip: Sit at the Columbus side window; the foot traffic to City Lights makes for the best people-watch.
The Mill in San Francisco is the Josey Baker Bread and Four Barrel Coffee partnership on Divisadero, with $4 thick-slice toast and an open bread bakery in the back.
Signature drink: Cinnamon toast with Four Barrel coffee
Tip: Toast is the order regardless of what else is on the board; the rye-buckwheat is the move.
