Day Light savings time creates the great shift for early morning risers. For about one month, all of the sudden, the sun comes up around 6:30, thus my morning walk is alight with an early dawn glow even when I start my walk at 6:00 am. Of course, as winter approaches, the sun will avoid sunrise until later and later, until around my birthday, December 23, when the days will start to get longer.
This morning I woke up fairly early, around 5:30, adjusting for the new time change. Biologically, that is 6:30, sleeping in by my weekday standards. I had planned a walk to the Mission District for coffee, and proceeded to make it to Ritual before it got too busy. On my way there along Valencia, I walked by several coffee houses that I have reviewed in the past - Javalencia, Borderlands, Tartine, Four Barrel.
Just a block north of Ritual - I saw its iconic hammer and sickle morphed coffee cup silhouette on a red background - I saw Blue Fig Cafe. I walked by this smaller store front before. It has a parklet out front and a patio in the back. I ordered a cappuccino and sat indoors. The set list that pumped through the stereo was entirely Zero 7, a late 2000s breakout jazz fusion band (big fan, I own all of their albums).
About half way through my cap, I decided to move out back. The patio is of the high walled variety, surrounded by the four story victorian flats that line most of San Francisco. Assuming the day will be in the high seventies, a scorcher by SF standards, I assumed that the patio would be just right for the t-shirt I was wearing - it is still a slight chill out of the sun. The cap was exceptional - dark roast, with chocolate overtones. I strongly suggest this location, as long as it is not raining, for the patio and parklet options.
