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Best Cafés in San Francisco (2026)

San Francisco takes its coffee and baking seriously, and a café stop is part of exploring almost any neighbourhood. Caffe Trieste in North Beach opened in 1956 as the first espresso house on the West Coast, and it still draws people for its history and its Beat Generation connections. In the Mission, Tartine Bakery has been baking croissants, morning buns and its country loaf since 2002, while Ritual Coffee Roasters on Valencia Street was the first café of a company known for light-roasted coffee.

Several cafés roast their own beans. Sightglass Coffee's original café in SoMa houses its production roastery and runs public tastings on Fridays, and The Mill on Divisadero Street mills its own flour for the bread it serves as toast. For French pastry, b. patisserie on California Street is known for its kouign amann.

Most cafés open early and close in the late afternoon, so plan pastry stops for the morning, when the choice is widest. Weekend queues are common at the best-known bakeries; ordering ahead online, where offered, saves time. Some cafés have no wifi or power outlets, so check before you plan to work there.

6 places · Updated October 27, 2026

Our top 3 cafés in San Francisco

  1. Tartine Bakery Bakery and café, Mission DistrictTartine Bakery on Guerrero Street has baked bread, croissants and morning buns since 2002 and is open daily from 7.30am to 6pm with café seating.
  2. Caffe Trieste Historic espresso house, North BeachCaffe Trieste in North Beach opened in 1956 as the first espresso house on the West Coast and was a haunt of Beat writers and Francis Ford Coppola.
  3. Sightglass Coffee SoMa Coffee roastery and café, SoMaSightglass Coffee's original SoMa café on 7th Street houses its production roastery, an open coffee bar and an upstairs space, with public tastings on Fridays.

Café

1. Tartine Bakery

Bakery and café$$Mission District

Tartine Bakery on Guerrero Street has baked bread, croissants and morning buns since 2002 and is open daily from 7.30am to 6pm with café seating.

View details — Tartine Bakery

Café

2. Caffe Trieste

Historic espresso house$North Beach

Caffe Trieste in North Beach opened in 1956 as the first espresso house on the West Coast and was a haunt of Beat writers and Francis Ford Coppola.

View details — Caffe Trieste

Café

5. b. patisserie

French pâtisserie and tea room$$California Street

b. patisserie is a modern French pâtisserie and salon de thé on California Street, with an open pastry kitchen, open Wednesday to Sunday.

View details — b. patisserie

Café

6. The Mill

Bakery and coffee bar$NoPa

The Mill on Divisadero is a café and bakery from Four Barrel Coffee and Josey Baker Bread, known for toast, coffee and bread made with flour milled daily on site.

View details — The Mill