Frisco Road Trip, Pt. 6: Off on the Right Foot

When we wake up, the first priority is coffee. If we'd been desperate, there was a Starbucks just around the corner. But being the spoiled Portlanders we are, we craved something small and local and, if we were very lucky, maybe even extraordinary.

And in the neighborhood known as Sunset, just a half block from our apartment, was a micro-roaster called the Beanery. Each morning we'd pull on some clothes, walk out into the early sunlight and stumble half-awake down to the corner, following the smell of roasting coffee to its front door.

The roaster itself, with its gleaming metalllic type that read "The San Franciscan," sat right in the middle of the floor in front of bins of raw beans waiting to be turned into the stuff that made our mornings sing. All it took was a (large) cup and a pastry, and we were set for our day.

Details: Beanery. 1307 9th Ave. between Irving Judah, San Francisco, CA. Phone 415-661-1255.

Read the other posts in this series: Getting There, Paying Our Respects, Resting in Redding, Schmoozing in Sacto, Home Away from Home, Choosing Chinese, The Ferry and the Hog, The Point of It All, and The Last Meal.