Photo credit: cgfan on flickr

There are so many great independent coffee shops in San Francisco.  Each one having it’s own unique style and clientele. Surely there are many more undiscovered great ones, but for now I’ll just give props to a few of my faves.

It’s very worth mentioning a few coffee shops that are conveniently located within walking distance of our home. Wake up, put on your coat and head out for a nice morning walk. A piping hot coffee or cafe latte can serve as great motivation. Here are the ones in order of proximity to our home.

Café Ponte
This is a great little coffee shop and eatery featuring organic fair trade espresso and other fair trade coffees along with high quality fresh foods. This is a great place to grab more than just a coffee. They serve breakfast and also have delicious soups and sandwiches all highlighting their freshly baked breads. This isn’t a very trendy or hipster coffee shop but they do the basics just right. Don’t forget to grab a slice of their Banana bread to go!

Favorite pick: Banana Bread
www.cafeponte.net

751 Diamond (corner of Diamond & 24th St)
M - F 6:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Sat. 7:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Sun 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Free wifi

Bernies
A relative newbie to the 24th street scene, Bernies coffee shop is full of local flavor as they have a devout following of Noe Valley regulars who make it their first stop each morning. There is a plaque on the wall that explains the owner’s story of how she managed to make her dream a reality. Clearly this is a place geared towards serving great Spinelli coffee in a no frills environment to locals who like supporting a down to earth owner. Grab a bench out front and watch the neighborhood go by. 24th street is ideal for people, dog and stroller watching.

Favorite pick: Café Americano

3966 24th Street (Sanchez & Noe)
7 days a week, 5:30 am - 8 pm

Free wifi

Martha Brothers Coffee
This is the flagship location established in 1987 by Martha and her siblings. Their knowledge of coffee goes back to the 1960’s when growing up at their uncle’s plantation in the mountains of Nicaragua. They now have seven locations in San Francisco along with a roaster plant in South San Francisco. If you are looking for a super strong cup of drip coffee or perfectly steamed café late, Martha’s is a great choice. The biggest challenge here is navigating the frenzied ordering system and trying to understand if there is actually a line, or who’s next in a crowd of anxious customers.

Favorite pick: Café Latte
www.marthabros.com

3868-24th Street
M - F 5:30 am - 8:00 pm
Sat, Sun 6:00 am - 7:00 pm

Spikes
If heading down towards the Castro, or if you are just out for a walk it’s worth a stop at Spikes. A tiny shop with tons of character, Spikes is the answer to large corporate coffee. This is a place that Castro locals flock to for a great cup of coffee along with some spirited conversation.

4117 19th Street
www.spikescoffee.com

Ritual Coffee Roasters
Clearly one of the best coffee shops in San Francisco, Ritual has a cult-like following that draws customers from all over the city. Their space is funky and geared toward the Mission skinny-jean-fixie-bike type. The walls are adorned with local art complimenting the ambient grooves that play in the background. At Ritual, you can always expect a line out the door because the coffee is that good. While waiting just keep repeating…. “it’s well worth the wait.”

Favorite pick: Café Latte
www.ritualroasters.com

1026 Valencia St
M - F 6am-10pm
Sat. 7am-10pm;
Sun 7am-9pm

Free wifi, but no power outets

Ritual Flora Grubb
If you are up for another adventure in a unique location where you can drink a coffee amongst exotic plants, try their location at Flora Grub Gardens. If the weather is nice, bring along a book and enjoy one of their benches along with your cup. Flora Grub is a high end gardening supply shop with unique gifts and art.

Flora Grubb Gardens
1634 Jerrold Ave

M-Th 8am-3pm
Fri, Sat 8am-5pm
Sun 10am-5pm

Blue Bottle Coffee
Blue Bottle is hands down the best coffee in San Francisco. A lot has been written about it. There are two locations, the original Hayes Valley walk up window on Linden and the newer location at the Mint Plaza Alleyway on Jesse St. This is coffee done up by dedicated purists. For a thorough review of everything Blue Bottle, we’ll direct you to the Blue Bottle Review on CoffeeRatings.com.

Favorite pick: anything
http://www.bluebottlecoffee.net/

315 Linden Street, SF, CA 94102
M-F 7-5 or 6
Sat, Sun 8-5 or 6

66 Mint Street, SF, CA 94103
M-F 7am-7pm
Sat 8am-8pm
Sun 8am-4pm

Coffee Bar
A warehouse-type industrial space popular with the wifi crowd. A great spot to get a little work done while getting an excellent cup of coffee, but go early because getting a seat can be challenging. They also offer a tasty food menu featuring organic ingredients and an excellent wine list.

Favorite pick: Americano
www.coffeebar-usa.com

1890 Bryant Street, SF, CA 94110
M-Sa 7am-10pm
Su 7am-7pm

Free wifi

While we're working on our next "guide" post (our favorite San Francisco coffee shops), we thought you might like to watch this video about how one local woman is helping San Francisco cafes go green. Featured cafes in the video are Mission Pie and Velo Rouge. Visit the Green Cafe Network for more info on her organization.

We just posted our Top 10 Nature Walks in SF, and felt torn about listing a mural walk. So we're giving the murals their own posting! You'll come across street art and murals all over the city, but the Mission is the epicenter. Take a look at this great video and read below for advice to seeing them in person yourself. From our house you can walk down to the Mission neighborhood if you have time, or you can catch the bus that takes you down 24th Street, and exit at the Valencia stop or further down towards Balmy Street.

Balmy Street (map) and Clarion Alley (map) are the two most well known stretches of murals. You can just take a walk yourself, or you can pay for a guided tour that often includes these locations plus more. Zurdogo.com and SanFrancisco.com have great overviews of mural tour guides and locations. Regardless of which option you take to see the murals, be sure to stop along the way for food! I think Mission food is going to have to be another blog post. In the meantime, the Balmy Alley website lists a few food recommendations that we agree with.

One thing we love about San Francisco is exploring all the hidden nooks. Even long-time locals like us never tire of them. There are several great nature walks that you can do right out our front door, and several more that you need to drive or bus to. Here are our top 10, though if we had the time we'd easily list a dozen more! Links to Google maps included.

5 From Our Front Door:

Twin Peaks
difficulty: strenuous walk uphill
time: 50 minutes round trip

Twin Peaks has an elevation of about 922 feet situated in center of the city. They form the second highest point in San Francisco, after Mount Davidson. The radio tower, Sutro Tower, can seen from across the Bay. At the top of Twin Peaks is a popular vista point, which offers panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay. If you are up for a bit of a climb and adventure, it takes about 25 min to reach the top.
• Head out our door and veer left up the hill on Grand View Ave, taking the corkscrew stairway bridge up and over Market Street.
• Keep navigating up the streets using combination of stairs and streets and soon you will find yourself on top of Twin Peaks. The view (and finding your way) is well worth the effort.

Kite Hill
difficulty: easy
time: 15 minutes round trip

One of our quickie favorites on a sunny day. Kite Hill is a windy, grassy hill with amazing downtown and bay views. Mostly known to neighborhood locals, this park is popular with dogs and sightseers.
• Head out our door and turn right onto Grand View Ave for 3 blocks
• Take right onto Grand View Terrace and enter park at end of cul-de-sac.
• The park is small, has a few meandering paths, and one vista bench.
• Continue through park to lower right exit onto Corwin Street
• To extend your walk, take a left at the community gardens and continue to the  slides, or make a left at the Corwin-bend to steps that lead down to Douglas Street and the Castro neighborhood.
• To head back home continue on Corwin Street which becomes Douglass Street. Follow this for a few blocks and turn right onto 22nd Street to head up our hill. Then.. collapse on the couch ;) If you want to avoid our giant hill, take a right onto 21st street and a left onto Grand View Ave. You can easily find your way back from here.

Upper Douglas Playground Ridge
difficulty: moderate-strenuous
time: 35 minutes round trip

The Douglas Upper Playground is an old baseball field now overrun with frolicking dogs. Come here to get your dog fix and a little off road trek through some tall trees.
• Head down our hill and turn right onto Douglas Street for 10 blocks.
• Turn right onto 27th street and enter park.
• Hang an immediate left the entrance of the park and follow the fence up along the ridge. This takes you through the trees to the other end of the playground down a rocky slope and back onto the field.

Tank Hill
difficulty: moderate-strenuous
time: 55 minutes round trip

This is walkable if you have time. It's a 650-foot-high small park that offers really amazing views. It's so small that many maps of San Francisco don't list Tank Hill, yet this spot provides a panorama from the Golden Gate Bridge to Bayview Hill.
• Head out our door and turn right onto Grand View Ave for 4 blocks.
• Turn right onto Market Street and head to the first traffic light.
• At traffic light turn left onto Clayton Street for 2 long and 1 short blocks. You can stop and rest at the small community garden on the corner of Clayton and Corbett.
• Turn left onto Twin Peaks Blvd and the park will be on your right.

Glen Park Canyon
difficulty: moderate-strenuous
time: 1.5-3 hours round trip depending on your stay at the park

This is walkable if you have time. The great part is, the entrance is through the parking lot of the Safeway mini mall with a variety of food and snack options to take along into the park. The park is 70 acres, and has a variety of terrain.
• Head out our door and straight onto Hoffman, all the way to the end.
• Take a left onto 25th Street
• Turn right onto Douglas Street for 5 blocks
• Turn right onto Duncan Street for 1 block
• Turn left onto Diamond Heights Blvd.
• Turn right into Safeway parking lot.. get supplies and head behind the mall to the park entrance.
• Follow the path behind the playing fields and down the trails into the park. Read here about the trails at the park. There is a lot to do and see here in one afternoon.


5 To Drive or Bus To:

Fort Funston
Go here if you want to know what it feels like to stand on the edge of our continent. • Head left up Grand View Ave and turn right at Clipper St.   0.2 mi
• Turn left at Portola Dr.   1.8 mi
• Turn right at Sloat Blvd   1.3 mi
• Continue on CA-35/Skyline Blvd   1.2 mi
• Turn right into parking lot
• Stay to the right and park as close to the right side entrance as possible
• Walk up the wide sandy/bark pathway and go right on winding concrete walkway
• Veer left at Y (at dog water fountain)
• Turn left where the paths meet back up, down the steep sandy path to the beach or our favorite is to climb up on the right to the top of the hill to perch above everything.
• Explore around.. you have beach walking, meandering dune paths and the old army fort ruins.

Corona Heights
This is probably walkable if you have the time, but we typically stop by here by car when we're out-n-about and are up for a quick nature-hit. We recommend grabbing a Peasant Pie or a Holy Bagel egg tasty and a drink, and enjoy it at the top with the stunning view. Both shops are on 24th Street in Noe Valley. And for some personal trivia: this is where Dave proposed to me :)
• Head down our hill and turn left onto Eureka for X blocks
• Turn left onto Market St
• Make next right onto Douglas St
• Make next left onto 17th St for 3 blocks
• Make right onto Roosevelt Way for 5 blocks
• Park at the Roosevelt Way and Museum Way intersection, enter the park and head up up up!

The Cross at Mt Davidson
We recommend taking a blanket (or even beach chairs) and some snacks up to the top bluff where you can enjoy the view and sun and a good book. There is some interesting history about The Cross.
• Go left up Grand View Ave Turn right at Clipper St  0.2 mi
• Turn left at Portola Dr  0.6 mi
• Turn left at Evelyn Way  328 ft
• Turn right at Juanita Way  0.5 mi
• Turn left to stay on Juanita Way  308 ft
• Turn left at Dalewood Way
• Trail entrance will be on your left, park anywhere

Sutro Baths Ruins
This is less of a walk or hike, but rather a place to meander around and hang out by the sea. Here's some background on the Sutro Baths. It's also very close to The Cliff House, Ocean Beach and Fort Miley.
• Head down our hill and turn left at Eureka St  0.2 mi
• Turn right at 20th St  0.2 mi
• Turn left at Castro St  0.9 mi
• Continue on Divisadero St  0.9 mi
• Turn left at Geary Blvd  3.5 mi
• Continue on Point Lobos Ave a park at the bend just before The Cliff House
• Entrance is on your right.

Fort Miley
There's more than one hike here, all enjoyable. See if you can find the rock labyrinth! Fort Miley is also very close to The Cliff House, Ocean Beach and The Sutro Bath Ruins.
• Head down our hill and turn left at Eureka St  0.2 mi
• Turn right at 20th St  0.2 mi
• Turn left at Castro St  0.9 mi
• Continue on Divisadero St  0.9 mi
• Turn left at Geary Blvd  3.5 mi
• Continue on Point Lobos Ave for 6 blocks
• Turn right on El Camino De Mar into the parking lot
• Entrance is at the left end of the lot.

This is a great video about San Francisco from the Lonely Planet writer of the California guide book. Loved that he says (approx at 1:36) Noe Valley is the best neighborhood! We couldn't agree more. From Lonely Planet TV.

We have a "guide book" in the house, but we'll also be posting more recommendations for your stay in Noe Valley and San Francisco...

• best coffee
• neighborhood parking guide (free, no permits needed, no meters)
• our favorite walks
• more restaurants
• neighborhood corner markets
• getting around by bus

Let us know what else you'd like to know.. we'll do our best to steer you well!

One of our guests recently asked about vegetarian & vegan restaurant recommendations near our home, so I thought we'd share some of our local faves. I've also included links to their Yelp.com reviews (a great SF restaurant and business guide)

Peasant Pies:
• vegetarian and vegan options
• lunch or to-go, meager dining experience
• 24th Street @ Castro, walkable or 48 bus. parking so-so.

Cafe Gratitude:
• excellent raw vegan
• Harrison Street @20th Street, quick drive to the Mission, parking so-so. probably bus-able if you want to map it out.
• usually a wait

Udupi Palace:
• vegetarian indian - really effing good dosas!
• Valencia @ 21st Street, long long walk or 48 bus to Valencia @ 24th. parking sucks.
• usually a wait.

Pasta Pomodoro:
• chain restaurant, decent italian
• vegetarian options
• 24th St, bus or walk. parking so-so

Firefly:
• california/american cuisine
• vegetarian options, cozy/romantic
• 24th St @ Douglas, short walk
• reservations usually required, spendy

Pomelo:
• asian fusion & brunch
• might have veggie options
• Church @ 30th, take 48 bus, then J Church down to 30th. parking ok-ish.

Noe Valley Farmers Market:
• walkable or busable on 24th @ Sanchez
• we have an awesome fully equipped gourmet kitchen!

SF Farmers Market:
• Ferry Building on Market, walk/bus to Castro St underground MUNI station and take any to Embarcadero.
• we have an awesome fully equipped gourmet kitchen!