Paper Son

The drinks list is where this counter declares itself: a matcha latte, a Thai tea cloud, and coffee bought in from several roasters rather than roasted in the back. The bakes follow the same instinct, with ube salt bread and kimchi furikake chorizo scones sharing a case with sesame toffee chocolate chip cookies.

Asian American drinks, coffee from several roasters

Paper Son runs a multi-roaster programme, so the espresso and filter change with whatever the bar is pouring instead of settling into one fixed house profile. That makes the coffee worth asking about rather than assuming, since what is on espresso this month may be gone the next. Beside it sit the drinks the shop is known for: matcha, poured as a latte, and the Thai tea cloud, which brings a familiar Thai tea flavour into a specialty coffee format. The operation is low-key and counter-served, busy at the usual hours but efficient with it, and the room reads as a neighbourhood fixture rather than a destination bar.

The bakes

Pastry comes from Tano SF, and the case is not a standard croissant lineup. Ube salt bread brings purple yam into a soft roll, the kimchi furikake chorizo scone stacks three savoury ideas into one bake, and the sesame toffee chocolate chip cookie does the same trick on the sweet side. It is a counter that rewards ordering the thing you cannot immediately picture.

How to order

Start with the matcha latte, the drink most often named as the reason to come, then take one bake you recognise and one you do not. If the visit is about food rather than caffeine, the kimchi furikake chorizo scone is the most substantial thing on the counter. Paper Son appears in Eater's 2026 coffee guide and in The Infatuation's 2026 matcha guide, which is the company it keeps: a small San Francisco counter that people cross town for.