San Francisco Cafes

"good seating and coffee seem to be inversely correlated at San Francisco cafes. #sightglass #firstworldproblem" (2011-219)

Good Coffee

• Haight:
• Blue Bottle kiosk inside Haight Street Market. Some of the best coffee and friendliest baristas in the entire city that no one knows about.
• seating: nothing indoor. a coupe of tables outside plus the decent though often full Haight Street Market parklet. Nice on sunny days.
• no outlets, no wifi.
• open til 17:00 weekdays, 18:00 weekends.
• Stanza. Good coffee, stylish interrior
• seating: decent but minimal, often full.
• a few outlets, and wifi
• Mission:
• Dandelion Chocolate on Valencia st. south of 18th st. - excellent coffee from Four Barrel
• seating: a few tables and a long bar table near windows
• couple of outlets, wifi
• no soy milk
• Four Barrel on Valencia st. south of 14th st. -  excellent coffee (a few baristas know how to make flat whites)
• seating: mostly hard awkward chairs at narrow tables, about six seats at European shelf style raised bars at storefront, and two semi-circles of outdoor European shelf style raised standing only bars.
• No outlets, no hosted wifi (some wifi sometimes from the SFHA projects across the street).
• Open til 8pm and they'll give you a few minutes to pack-up your things.
• No soy milk (not even organic. some weird political thing?). Only almond milk.
• previously: might make the best lattes in SF
• Ritual Coffee Roasters on Valencia st. south of 21st st. - excellent coffee, a few carbo-snacks.
• seating: one couch, a few high chairs at a high table (before reconstruction project: three couches and the tables are decent for laptop working.).
• no outlets, no wifi (before reconstruction project: free wifi, one officially usable outlet.)
• Nice warm lighting, and it's usually much warmer inside than outside also. Open til 9 or 10pm - changes seasonally and depending on day of the week. Sometimes closes early for special events.
• SOMA:
• Sightglass on 7th st. north of Folsom st. - pretty good coffee
• seating: limited European shelf bar style long tables with bar stools. 
• No outlets, no wifi

Good Seating

• Upper Haight:
• Blue Front Cafe on Haight st. west of Masonic ave.
• seating: plenty of seating, tables a bit high for laptop work and a bench of soft seating along the wall that sits about 4-5 comfortably. Two tables by the window which are excellent for Haight Street people watching.
• good wifi, a few clusters of outlets.
• eats: Great eats (try the Rancheros Wrap with mixed greens instead of potatoes), and Cholula. Drinkable (ok not great) coffee.
• Typically open til 10pm. 
• Coffee To The People on Masonic Ave. just south of Haight st.
• seating: Lots of tables, a long bench against one of the walls, four couches.
• eats: (used to ~2011 have) very good breakfast sandwiches, decent pastries/cakes, and vegan donuts. Their plain coffee is certainly drinkable. Quite a variety of quirky/creative espresso drinks, as well as more milk alternatives (rice, almond, soy, hazelnut at least) than any other place.
• Free wifi - fastest cafe wifi I've found in SF. Plenty of outlets.
• Typically open til sometime between 6-8pm depending on when the new owners feel like closing up.

Some of both

• Haight:
• Stanza on Haight street - they make very good Intelligentsia coffee
• seating: a few nice tables, long bar with seats, good atmosphere.
• wifi (I think), and very few outlets
• Mission:
• Dandelion Chocolate - stealth cafe. Excellent coffee made with Four Barrel coffee
• a big long table, two small square tables, a bunch of stool seating (window and bar)
• a couple of nearly hidden outlets
• soy milk option (which Four Barrel itself does not provide)
• amazing mochas including soy mochas
• SOMA:
• Epicenter on Harrison st. east of 4th st. - 3 couches, nice eats, tasty Barefoot coffee. Wifi is however 1 hour with purchase metered. Plenty of outlets along the wall.

Closed

• Mission:
• The Summit (CLOSED 2012-01-28) on 780 Valencia st. south of 18th st. - a couple of nice couches, plenty of long shared table space (makes it more social), and a couple of short bars to sit at. Coffee is so-so, not sure how you can screw up Blue Bottle coffee as bad as they do. Free wifi. A few outlets. Typically open til midnight.

Related

• sfbrunches

Other Cities

New York

• http://kdhck.com/nycafemap 

London

• Let's Meet and Work is a curated directory of places to work around London (and coming soon in NYC).  They use Google Maps to pinpoint places and list space, outlets, food, etc.

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