Coffee and pastries. A combination so simple (and so satisfying), but it’s not so easy to put together successful coffee and pastry programs. However, Juniper makes it look so effortless.

That’s due to the passion and drive of its co-owners, Lauren and Kevin Bohlin, as well as head pastry chef Amy Chen. You can tell it by hearing them discuss the different coffee and pastry offerings, which are a treat for the senses.

“We want our food to be excellent and we want our coffee to be excellent. We want both to complement each other instead of one being an afterthought,” says Lauren Bohlin.

Juniper comes from the leadership at Saint Frank, which had made a name for itself on gourmet coffee over a decade ago. Ten years later, Juniper debuted in early 2023. The Bohlin’s took time to find the right location, renovate, hire its team and craft its recipes. Chen consulted in the beginning – having trained at the San Francisco Baking Institute – before officially joining on board later to hone the menu.

With French, Asian and Latino influences, the menu is as diverse as it is delicious. Most notable of these products is the Cubano Croissant. Made with mojo-marinated pork, ham, Gruyère cheese, pickle and French mustard, this was one of the croissants Juniper entered in last year’s Best Croissant in San Francisco competition. It was there that the relative newcomer took home almost every award, including Best Croissant, Best Original Creation (for the Cubano) and People’s Choice – the first bakery to sweep all three awards in the competition’s history.

The notoriety gained from those awards led to a huge upswing in business, facilitating the need for more space, equipment and staff.

“When we won the Best Croissant competition, we doubled, almost tripled overnight,” says Bohlin. “There was a lot of trial-and-error in figuring out how to produce more. We had to get a second oven, we doubled our staff, it was a lot to get that going.”

The customer base is particularly fond of these croissants, which Amy Chen has perfected over the years. So, what makes a good croissant that will have people coming back for more? Chen shares that it takes a lot of detail to get this one single product right.

“For me, it’s the consistency, it’s the taste,” she says. “It has to be crispy outside, it has to be flaky. But it’s not crumbly. It has to be very moist inside. It’s like biting into a sweet cloud.”

It has to be adaptable too, because Juniper offers different variations. Among them is the Raspberry Almond Croissant, complete with fresh raspberries, raspberry jam and almond slices. According to Bohlin, people ‘go crazy for it’ and this popularity has made it a mainstay on the menu.

Despite the end of the 2024 holiday season, Juniper experienced a booming period in the late winter months, when business would normally be expected to drop considerably. That success has carried over into the spring and summer, with customers out-and-about, looking to answer their coffee and pastry cravings.