Sipping at Sightglass
You rarely need to go more than a few steps in San Francisco to enjoy a great morning brew. I like to start my day at the eternally hip, sibling-owned Sightglass Coffee, and my favourite of their four locations is the flagship shop/cafe/roastery in SoMa (short for South of Market Street, a downtown, warehouse-filled neighbourhood known for its museums, tech companies and hotels). Sightglass’s original store is set in bright industrial surroundings, with clean metal lines and raw wood beams reminding me of a huge barn, minus the hay. But don’t let the soaring glass windows, vast open space and gigantic coffee roaster deceive you into thinking this is somewhere cold or unwelcoming – it’s not. Warm wood hues, soft amber lighting and stacks of bean-filled burlap sacks help soften the edges, while the smell of freshly roasted coffee makes you feel cosy and at home.
As I wait patiently for my coffee to brew, an early morning sunbeam illuminates my buttery, fluffy, flourless almond cake, and I almost devour it before my cortado arrives. If I visit in the afternoon I prefer to sit up by the second coffee bar on the quieter mezzanine level, where I can still peer down over the comings and goings below, but also concentrate on my book with only a gentle soundtrack of clinking cups and fingers tapping keyboards for company.
Sightglass source their delicious coffees from all over the world. I particularly like the Owl’s Howl espresso; a blend of Colombian, Ethiopian and Guatemalan beans, which has notes of warm honey, toasty cocoa nibs sweetened with cherry-like stone fruit, and a hint of candied citrus peel. It’s delicious with milk too. I’d recommend the vanilla paste latte as an afternoon pick me up, or an individually brewed filter coffee first thing, to kick start your day and combat any jet lag.
Sightglass Coffee, 270 7th Street, SoMa, San Francisco
In with the old
I often head over to the Italian neighbourhood of North Beach, a charming and energetic district home to locally owned bakeries, boutiques and bookstores, as well as the long-established Caffe Trieste just off the main thoroughfare of Columbus Avenue. Founded by Italian émigré Giovanni Giotta in 1956, it was the first espresso house this side of town (and said to be the first on the whole of the west coast) and was a famous hangout for Beat generation writers and poets in the late 1950s and 60s – a legacy which still lingers today.
In an ever evolving world of Modbar espresso systems and robotic cafes, Caffe Trieste is every bit the traditional coffee spot in San Francisco and still an absolute hit with the locals. It’s somewhere I love to go for a perfectly crafted double espresso or a foam-topped cappuccino, where I can sit and listen to the rustling of newspaper pages and animated conversations, and just watch the world go by.
Caffe Trieste, 601 Vallejo Street, North Beach, San Francisco
