Great Coffee Shops for Design Fans

Boor Bridges Architecture has become a go-to design firm for third-wave coffee establishments in San Francisco. In addition to Sightglass 20th Street, it counts The Mill, Four Barrel Coffee, and Sightglass's first location in SOMA in its portfolio of cafes and shows no signs of slowing down. "The third wave coffee trend has allowed us to explore many of our design interests, including crafted and intricate custom details and lighting, honest and exposed materiality, adaptive reuse of existing industrial spaces, and the merging of manufacturing and retail functions in one space," Boor says. Working with general contractor Kevin Smith of SmithBuilt and a talented group of metal workers, furniture craftsmen, lighting specialists, and more, Boor Bridges created an inviting space that includes a full-production roaster, espresso bar, pour-over station, and retail.

The interior of Saint Frank Coffee, which is located at 2340 Polk street in San Francisco, features oak walls, flooring, and furniture. "There's a warmth and openness to the space," architect Ian Dunn says. "It's the product of some restraint and refinement; perhaps there's a peacefulness that comes through. You're there to enjoy a really great cup of coffee and the cafe was designed for that purpose." Photo by Patricia Chang.

The city, located on the country's eastern coast, is known for its world-class surfing. Photo by Rory Gardiner.

“On April 1, 2014, Peet’s will be 48 years old,” says Michael Williams, Vice President of Store Development. “Retail is an evolution and this is a new chapter in our story. Quality, craft, and passion are our core tenets and we wanted to insert that into the store environment.” Debbie Kristofferson, Vice President of Brand and Creative Strategy for Peets, says customer feedback about the previous retail experience wasn’t on par with how they felt about the coffee. “We wanted to tell the brand’s story in a way that will be meaningful, interesting, and will connect with people,” she says.

The marble counter hots a line of single-drip coffee makers and a La Marzocco Strada espresso machine at the far end. They offer single-origin beans from Africa and South America, as well as blends.

Here's another view of the interior. "It's intended to catch the eye of passersby even from across the street," says Jones.

Here's a view of the interior. Though this photo was shot in the evening, I arrived just as the lunch crowd was settling in. "We allowed the Spanish temperament to meet Scandinavian coolness to create a vivid place that…enhances the eating experience. A place for everybody to be," says Note Design Studio. Clearly their aim to create a place for "everyone to be" worked. Nearly every barstool was occupied and the place was humming with conversation.

Here's the cafe space, which is set off to the side of the building. The kiln (currently under construction) will be behind the bank of windows in the background. We love how the building hosts a multitude of uses: a social space for the neighborhood, retail, and manufacturing. It's also two local businesses supporting each other—a customer might come in for a coffee and come out with a new place setting, and vice versa.

Before the 1969 Airstream was home to Local 123, it belonged to Oakland's Remedy Coffee. Hoffman and her team of helpers worked for three months to revamp the interior and bring it up to Alameda County's rigorous health code. "We enlisted the help of our artist friend and Local 123 Gallery curator Alex Case to fix the shoddy cover-up work, build out a proper hand sink, add storage shelving and stereo cabinet areas, install aluminum cove base, clean up and seal existing wood finishes, repair plumbing lines, reroute the precariously hung electrical conduit, and rodent- and weatherproof the trailer's floor. Friends and family helped repaint, deep clean the interior and aluminum exterior, and adorn the trailer," recounts Hoffman.