San Francisco holds Annual Coffee Festival 

SF Coffee Festival is an Annual Festival where various coffee companies display their coffee

The entrance for SF Coffee Festival at the Festival Pavilion in the Marina District on Nov. 9, 2025 (Photo by Paul Singh)

Around 3,000 people showed up to Fort Mason for the San Francisco Coffee Festival. Various vendors showed up to the 9th annual event to showcase their coffee, chai and pastries. 

Attendees tried free samples from the vendors advertising their coffee beans.The festival went on from Saturday to Sunday with two sessions, session one goes from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. while session two goes on from 1:30 p.m. until 4:30 p.m

There were several vendors that represented coffee from around the world. Beanaka specializes in Indonesian coffee. They also have a sit-in-store location called Kopiku Coffee in the Marina District. 

“Right now, I think Indonesia coffee, it’s growing, but, like, really good Indonesian coffee is not out there. Essentially Indonesian coffee, there’s a lot of volcanic activity there, so the pH is high. Very acidic coffees,” Dae Kim, one of the workers there said. “We roast a little darker in order to get a nice balance and really showcase what Indonesia can offer in terms of coffee.” 

Then there was Elaichi Co, which is a Pakistani Chai House located in downtown Berkeley. They have been open early January 2024 and serve coffee, chai and pastries. The owners Mohammad Joyo and Zainab Joyo wanted to open a place like Elaichi Co. because they wanted to bring the experiences of growing up in Pakistan to the Bay Area. 

“We couldn’t find a good chai cafe where we wanted to hang out with our friends that was not, you know, a bar, but, you know, something that was just like a good, good vibe and good experience for us,” Zainab Joyo said. “And so Elaichi Co. just kind of came about that because of it, like a personal need for us.”

In addition, they are outgrowing the space in Berkeley and have plans on expanding. Their location in Berkeley can get pretty crowded easily. 

“We’re looking at multiple locations around Berkeley, around SF,” said Joyo. “We want to stay close because we found that especially for newer cafes like us, it’s really important for us to be close and nearby to where we live so that it’s a little bit easier for us to open a new location.”

Prabh Singh Sahi, Rikki Kaur Sahi and Jusraj Singh Sanga of Roaming Bean Coffee on Nov. 9, 2025. (Photo by Paul Singh)

Moreover, there is Roaming Bean Coffee, owned and run by a Sikh family, the idea for this business is serving weddings, birthday parties other events and catering to people who do not drink alcohol or soda. 

“The reason we keep doing it is the people, connections that we care about. It’s about the connections con and serving something that we can stand behind, we make ourselves,” Jusraj Singh Sangha, owner of Roaming Bean Co said. “We use organic ingredients only. We want to be health conscious as well and not just get something that might not be good for you.”

The idea for this coffee cart came from the coffee community. 

“We’ve been there for two and a half years,” said Sanga. “We want to slow down and have a conversation and build a community around coffee.”

Coffee and chocolates make a great combination. Brigadeiro Sprinkles brings a type of Brazilian chocolate called Brigadeiros, to San Francisco that is similar to a truffle. She has been in business for nine years. 

“There’s a lot of people that come here and it’s a very good opportunity for me to introduce my product,” Zeila Schappelle, owner of Brigadeiro Sprinkles said. 

Coffee is not only used for pairing with chocolates and pastries but it can be used to make barbeque sauce. Princess and Brownie Sims co-founders from The Final Sauce, a condiment company specializing in barbeque sauce. special rubs, wing sauces and vinegrette brought their coffee inspired barbecue sauce flavors, Spicy Mocha and Mocha to the festival. 

“We took the cold brew and, and warmed it up and melted milk chocolate and dark chocolate and cocoa and then added the pepper,” Brownie Sims said. “So you have layers of flavor.”

People lining up in front of Fellow Coffee and Equator Coffee on Nov. 9, 2025. (Photo by Paul Singh)

Attendee Bern Arias who is also a Special Needs teacher, came with her friends and sees the effort that these coffee venders are putting in. 

“There’s a lot of love, a lot of care and a lot of dedication to make really good drinks here,” Arias said. 

Then one of Arias` friends Maria Paredes, who is a Lab Scientist at Garden Health in Redwood City, has been coming to the festival for four years now. 

“I haven’t tried all of them yet, but I like the big names like Crown Ritual. I’m excited, excited to try the craft over there,” Paredes said. “Chula, which is a Mexican coffee, that one’s really good and the Salvadoran coffee.”

Coffee ties into people`s daily lives whether it is to stay awake from the job. Lab Scientist Phil Lei is looking for a variety of way to stay awake while working. Lei has also been coming to SF Coffee Festival for two years. 

“I work in corporate and one of the cardinal drinks of corporate is coffee. So if you don’t have coffee, how can you start in corporate?” Lei said. “So that’s why I’m here. Try out the many different ways we can energize ourselves before our work.”

Amanda Mah, Talent Acquisition Manager said that this has been her second time to San Francisco Coffee Festival. There were coffee flavors that Mah had never tasted before. 

“The fruitiness, the florals,” Mah said. “Like, it’s very interesting.”