The San Francisco morning: sourdough, coffee and chocolate

San Francisco takes its mornings seriously. Sourdough has been baked here since the Gold Rush, espresso arrived with North Beach’s Italians, a generation of local roasters followed, and the city now makes its own chocolate from the bean. Here is where to taste it all.

Every city has its breakfast, but few have one with this much history. In San Francisco the morning starts with bread that goes back to the Gold Rush, coffee shaped by the Italians of North Beach and a later wave of roasters, and pastry good enough to queue for. Add chocolate made in the Mission from the cacao bean, and you have the makings of the city’s most delicious walk.

Sourdough

Sourdough is San Francisco’s bread. Boudin Bakery has baked it since 1849, when the Gold Rush filled the city, and its flagship on Fisherman’s Wharf is the place to taste the tangy loaves. For a newer take, Tartine Bakery on Guerrero Street is where many visitors start a Mission morning, with bread and pastries to carry to Dolores Park, a couple of blocks away.

Espresso and roasters

In North Beach, the old Italian quarter, Caffe Trieste on Vallejo Street has pulled shots for more than 50 years, part of the neighbourhood’s Beat-era story. Sit with a cappuccino and watch North Beach go by.

Then came the roasters. Ritual’s Valencia Street café is a Mission landmark; Sightglass roasts in the city and has its flagship on 7th Street in SoMa; Saint Frank pours on Polk Street between Russian Hill and Nob Hill; and Equator, from Marin, runs a café near the Salesforce Transit Center. Out in the Outer Sunset, Andytown roasts its own beans and opened its first café and bakery on Lawton Street, near Ocean Beach.

Pastry

The city’s pâtissiers are worth the detour. b. patisserie, at California and Divisadero in Lower Pacific Heights, opens from Wednesday to Sunday, so plan around its days off. On Valencia Street, Craftsman and Wolves makes cakes, pastries and savoury bakes, including one with a poached egg baked inside, and opens every day.

Sourdough arrived with the Gold Rush, and San Francisco has been baking it ever since.

Chocolate

Chocolate has been a San Francisco story since Ghirardelli’s Gold Rush beginnings, remembered today in Ghirardelli Square on the Wharf. The modern makers start with the bean. Dandelion Chocolate makes single-origin bars and in 2019 opened its 16th Street factory in a century-old former print shop on the edge of the Mission, with a café for hot chocolate and pastries, and factory tours you can book.

At the Ferry Building, Recchiuti has handcrafted chocolates and confections for more than 25 years; its boxes and caramels travel well. On a market morning you can buy them after a turn round the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, which fills the plaza on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

A morning plan

Start in North Beach with an espresso at Caffe Trieste, take a cable car or a taxi to the Mission for bread at Tartine, a pastry at Craftsman and Wolves and coffee at Ritual, then walk up 16th Street to Dandelion for a hot chocolate. On a Saturday, go the other way round and finish at the Ferry Building’s market. Everything here is in this guide, with addresses and hours.

Our advice: go early, as the best pastries sell out, check the days each bakery opens (b. patisserie closes on Mondays and Tuesdays), and save the chocolate to take home.