Favorite Bay Area Cafes & Coffee Roasters

Update September 2020: If you think the coffee / cafe scene is a moving target you would be right. When I published this list a few years ago, included were so many now-closed cafes including an awesome industrial cafe at a coffee roaster Uncommon Grounds and Farley in Emeryville. Blue Bottle had not yet been acquired by Nestle. During the COVID-19 pandemic, of course cafes are only for take-out. This has dramatically reduced or eliminated laptop thefts!?!

Without further ado, here are some great spots for coffee around the Bay Area:

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I still have not quite hit upon a job that would entail going to a new cafe every day but Epicuring is a pretty good excuse. If you live to enjoy good coffee and get a buzz from working at a cafe, or meeting people for good conversation, consider my well-tested short list…so hard to make a short list:

Berkeley / North Oakland:

For coffee sans Internet, like if you’re actually going to read, write, or simply enjoy, get thee to the Cheese Board starting at 7am weekdays for pastries and coffee. Then swing next door to the pizza place and settle into one of their wooden tables.

Cole Coffee on College (Rockridge / Elmwood), Philz (North Berkeley and pretty much everywhere these days), and Paradise Park Cafe at San Pablo and Alcatraz are a few more great options serving up my preferred darker roast coffee.

You’ll feel instantly hip at Counter Culture Coffee in Emeryville —where you can take home coffee roasting classes, among lofts and industrial buildings.

The Crown is a coffee geek’s dream: an open-source coffee education center, laboratory, event space and tasting room. I went to a cupping where we learned about different roasts and origins. Fabulous tile too!

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@redbaycoffee and @ale.industries on E 10th St in Oakland. The neighborhood is a changin! #coffeeroaster #oaklandcoffee #oaklandbeer

A post shared by Susie Wyshak (@susievision) on Feb 23, 2019 at 1:37pm PST

San Francisco:

• Bernie‘s (Noe Valley) – Cozy, perfect neighborhood cafe.
• Equator Coffee at Fort Mason – Perhaps the most beautiful, historic setting in the Bay.
• Duboce Park Cafe (Castro / Duboce) Light, bright, airy with Mr. Espresso coffee, by Duboce Park. Very pleasant with outdoor tables.
• Ritual Roasters (Mission)
• The San Francisco Farley’s in Potrero Hill is a neighborhood classic.

OK I give up! Try this Yelp search to find more. 🙂

Palo Alto: Conveniently located downtown, an easy walk from the train, Coupa Cafe will make you feel like you’re working at a hot startup even if you’re an unemployed slacker. It’s small, tightly packed – often with startups and the VCs who fund them –  and the cafe gets the coffee directly from the growers in Venezuela.

Mountain View: During the proverbial dot com era, I spent many mornings at Dana Street Roasting. It has a casual punky feel, no plugs, and coffee that makes me reaaaally happy. Located near the Castro train station, it’s a great stop if you’re going by the farmer’s market on a Sunday.

Santa Cruz: On the West side, love Coffeetopia on Mission and on the East side Verve Coffee Roasters on 41st Ave, whose coffee appears in cafes around the bay area. Need more specifics? I could live at Verve. I only leave to be polite. With surf shops outside you’ll get a contact “good beach life” high.

Wine Country / North Bay:

• Acre Coffee, with several welcoming cafes and great food
• Weaver’s for classic dark roast at the San Rafael roastery.
• Equator, another dark roast favorite with some of the most funky cafe locations in the bay (a container in Oakland, a historic outpost in SF).
• Flying Goat Coffee in Healdsburg and beyond

Face it, coffee in the Bay Area is a moving target! That’s a good thing for us variety seekers.