Pick a base
Espresso is concentrated coffee. Drip, pour-over, and cold brew are all brewed coffee, just made different ways.
san francisco coffee field notes ✎
Read the menu.
Order the thing.
A friendly decoder for espresso ratios, milk textures, cold coffee, and the wonderfully specific names you’ll run into at SF cafés — plus where to actually find them.
128 drinks · classic definitions + SF menu sightings · last checked August 27, 2026
the useful bit
Look it up at the counter.
Search a drink, ingredient, alias, or shop. Try tonic, macadamia, Philz, or cortado.
Ratios are guidelines, not café law.
the 30-second decoder
Most orders are just coffee math.
Start with the base, then notice what gets added. A shop’s exact ounces and foam can vary; these are the useful ideas behind the names.
Pick the body
Water makes an Americano. Steamed milk makes a cortado, cappuccino, flat white, or latte.
Pick the temperature
“Iced” usually means ice plus a chilled drink. A shakerato is shaken cold; nitro is cold brew with nitrogen.
Pick the accent
Chocolate, honey, mint, tonic, chicory, or a seasonal syrup turns a familiar base into a house signature.
Trap one: a macchiato traditionally means espresso “marked” with a little foam — not automatically a giant caramel drink.
Trap two: a Gibraltar is essentially a small cortado; in SF, the glass and the local name are part of the fun.
Choose by mood
Tap a vibe and the lookup will pull up a starting point.
A no-stress way to order.
Say size + temperature + base + milk + sweetness. The barista can translate the rest. You never need to pretend you already know the menu.
small iced latte · oat milk · half sweet
say it slow — they’ve heard it all before