The Best Coffee Shops in the United States

Concrete walls, a neutrals-only palette, and an LA sensibility that landed in Wedgewood-Houston: Cafe Babu is a coffee shop that knows exactly what it looks like and leans into it. The chai runs strong and spicy, and the signature latte gets a hit of cardamom syrup. Pastries and sandwiches carry the daytime shift; by evening the menu pivots to cocktails and small bites, which makes the patio, a Nashville Scene Best of Nashville winner, work a little harder.

Retrograde is a bright, tidy coffee shop on Dickerson Pike that has quietly become the new gathering spot for Nashville's remote workers, who roam in search of an outlet and a flat white. The toast does some of the work: whipped feta and prosciutto, with spice and olive oil, the sort of thing a Germantown brunch charges extra for. Expect laptops, low stakes, and a very full table of people who are definitely about to reply to that email.

Retrograde is a bright, tidy coffee shop on Clifton Ave that has become the new headquarters for West Nashville's remote workers, who migrated here after a beloved spot in The Nations closed. The laptops outnumber the pastries, but the whipped feta and prosciutto toast, finished with spice and olive oil, tastes like brunch from a pricier neighborhood without the wait. Nashville Scene named it Best Thing on Toast.

Pablo's Coffee on Sixth Avenue has no wi-fi, a policy that feels radical in 2024 and probably felt radical then too. This indie coffee shop has been roasting its own beans since before Denver caught the craft-coffee bug, and the room still has the lived-in feel to prove it: couch-filled corners, a small bar top facing the baristas, and the ambient noise of people who are, against all odds, talking to each other.

The drinks here are built on Mexican dessert flavors, cajeta and horchata and mazapán, which makes the menu feel like someone raided a very good grandmother's kitchen. This Mexican coffee shop on Grand Avenue runs warm in every sense: conversations in Spanish and English spill across colorful tables, and the owner greets everyone like company she was expecting. A useful antidote to the laptop-and-Edison-bulb variety of café down the block.

A café in the old Astro space that kept the soufflé egg sandwich on brioche on the menu, because the neighborhood would have revolted. Coffee comes from Anthology in Eastern Market and Grand Coffee Roasters in San Francisco, and the café de olla, made with piloncillo and canela, is the kind of order that makes you feel slightly smug about your choices. Handmade journals from a local printmaker line the shelves for those who pretend they'll journal more.

A to-go window alongside a cozy dining room and patio signals exactly what this Gainesville breakfast-and-lunch spot is about: casual, unhurried, and made from scratch. The all-day menu runs comforting American classics with a slightly modern hand, and the coffee comes from their own roast, which is a nice detail when you're still deciding if you're a person yet. The Michelin Guide has it on their radar.

Patrick O'Connell of the Inn at Little Washington running a casual cafe and bakery in a converted garage is either very charming or very on-brand, and it turns out to be both. The space has a marble bar, wood tables, and a stone fireplace doing a lot of work to warm what is essentially a very pretty lunch spot. The menu leans French country, the pastry case is serious, and the whole thing is far too polished to feel accidental.

A light-filled New York-style Jewish deli in Atlanta, which already sets the scene. Black-and-white photos on the walls, display cases lined with cheesecake, and both a market counter and a proper sit-down room. The matzoh ball soup and smoked Nova platters read like they've been on the menu forever. Transplanted New Yorkers tend to show up looking slightly too relieved.

The coffee here traveled from a family farm in Colombia to a mural on the wall mapping the whole journey, and eventually into your cup. This Tempe coffee shop serves arepas and pandebono alongside the usual avocado toast, and regulars at the counter tend to get greeted by name. The seasonal menu turns over often enough to reward repeat visits, and the vibe leans comfortably toward long mornings with homework or nowhere particular to be.

A coffee shop tucked among antique stores and auto garages in Old Town Peoria, which tells you something about the neighborhood and something about the owners' confidence. Driftwood keeps things bright and unhurried, pulls from both local and national roasters, and runs a menu that ranges from straightforward espresso drinks to things called Cereal Killer Lattes. A small shelf of local ceramics and art lines one wall, in case the matcha wasn't enough.

Baby pink tiles and floor-to-ceiling windows set the mood at this Mexican coffee shop inside Tempe's car-free Culdesac community. Daytime runs on carajillos, mazapan lattes, horchata, and breakfast bites; Thursday through Saturday it pivots to wine, amari, and ceviche. The team behind Tacos Chiwas brought the same ease here, and the cozy booths fill with people who seem in no particular hurry to leave.

A roll-up garage door on a repurposed corner house sets the tone for this tiny Old Town Scottsdale coffee shop, which doubles as a weekend car show venue. The counter fits maybe two people standing, but a shaded patio and a quiet garden out back absorb the overflow. Weekend mornings bring themed gatherings of Porsches or vintage off-roaders, which pairs better with a lavender honey latte than you might expect.

A three-level, sunlight-flooded cafe in uptown Phoenix that also runs a full cocktail program, which makes the brunch crowd's priorities refreshingly transparent. Provision is a modern coffee shop doing the classics alongside seasonal lattes and mocha with Oreo crumbles, with quiche, pastries, and sandwiches filling out a menu that gives people a reason to stay well past the first cup.

Two-thirds of this coffee shop's floor space belongs to the roasting operation, not the tables, which tells you everything about where the priorities are. Bags of beans, multiple roasters, all the gear, and baristas who actually want to talk through the difference between a washed process and an unwashed one. The website specifies that specialty coffee newcomers are in a safe place here, and they mean it.

Loaves lined up on shelves like a carb library, pastries under glass, and a window straight into the breadmaking operation: Backhaus is a downtown San Mateo bakery and coffee shop that takes laminated dough seriously. The croissants lean toward the ornate, one arrives garnished with pistachios and raspberry as a preview of what's inside. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the Bay Area's best bakeries and best coffee.

Good Voyage is a South Park coffee shop near the Duwamish Waterway that reopened after a fire kept it shut for over a year. The floral vintage light fixtures and mismatched plates give it a gently bohemian air, the Dorothea coffee runs light and fruity, and the seasonal galettes take the place of the usual croissant. Eater called it Seattle's best comeback, which is a lot of pressure for a pastry case.

Spam musubi sits by the register for grab-and-go, which tells you exactly what kind of place this is. Diamond Head General Store is a Hawaiian plate-lunch counter in San Bruno where the mochiko fried chicken arrives craggy, peppery, and portioned for two people with ambitions of feeding one. Shave ice rounds out a menu that runs on comfort and not much pretension. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the Bay Area's best fried chicken spots.

This is a small bakery-cafe on Woodward where Filipino pastries, ube cookies, and pandesal stuffed with coconut or cream cheese share a counter with longganisa biscuits and gravy. Doughnuts show up on a schedule, so Saturday bomboloni with a rotating monthly filling are a loose appointment you have to keep. About ten seats, a few espresso drinks, and a calamansi soda that makes your usual lemonade feel underdressed. Eater has named it among Detroit's best coffee shops and doughnut shops.

Yellow Light is a neighborhood doughnut and coffee shop on Jefferson Avenue in Jefferson Chalmers, with a drive-thru that does real work once winter sets in. The glazes get inventive, including one made with Faygo Red Pop, and the biscuit breakfast sandwiches keep the savory side honest. It's cheap, casual, and eaten in a parked car about as often as at a table. Eater has put it on both its Detroit doughnut and coffee lists.

Stonewashed walls, seating in every configuration known to humanity, and enough plants to make a botanist emotional set the scene at this coffee shop on East 12th. The front half runs buzzy and social while the back stays quieter, so you can choose your own adventure. The menu covers the usual cafe drinks alongside a few specialty brews, plus breakfast sandwiches and housemade pastries. You can also buy the ivy you've been staring at all morning.

A tiny black box of a coffee shop on SE Stark, Puff Coffee comes with a Stumptown pedigree and the occasional line of devoted early arrivals out front. The focus is single-origin beans, served as drip or a tight espresso, with the shop's clean, minimal interior quietly offset by an E.T. figurine nestled among vintage coffee makers. For the less orthodox, shroom lattes with lion's mane and chaga round things out.

The Scuffin, a scone-muffin hybrid, is what most people order right after their coffee at this specialty coffee shop in Kaka'ako's SALT complex. 9Bar HNL runs a multi-roaster pourover bar with rotating guest coffees alongside seasonal drinks that lean creative without tipping into gimmick. The banana bread latte and cold brew chai have both made appearances, and the coffee flight is a nice way to kill an afternoon.

The roaster sits right behind the bar where you can watch it, which tells you most of what you need to know about this small-batch coffee shop on Coast Highway 101. The roll-up garage door, the metal finishes, and a few tables inside and out keep things tight and unhurried. The owner sources beans across Latin America and Africa and often pulls the shots himself. Old Woodys drifting past on the 101 supply the rest of the ambiance for free.

The back lounge is velvet, laptop-free, and clearly the whole point. Melting Cups is a Black-owned coffee shop a short walk from Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside, pouring Sey Coffee with pastries by day and pivoting to wine and beer come evening. A few tables out front catch the street; the cozy back room is for books, crosswords, or actual conversation, which is a quietly radical offer in 2024.

Tucked into a residential pocket on the Encinitas-Leucadia border, this coffee shop shares a building with an art studio and has the accidental-discovery feel to match. Inside, polished concrete meets warm wood and pops of pink. The coffee program leans into mocktail-style signature drinks alongside seriously sourced Colombian and Ethiopian beans. Baristas will walk you through either side of the menu without making you feel like a philistine for asking.

The vibrant pink walls are visible before you even open the door, which sets the tone for what Nirvana Soul is: a specialty coffee shop that also functions as a neighborhood living room. The mezzanine overlooks the floor, open mic nights fill the calendar, and the sidewalk seats are prime for people-watching. You go in to get work done and leave having met half the block instead.

The pink walls hit you first, then the smell of specialty coffee, then someone at the next table already talking to you. This is a coffee shop in San Jose's SoFa District, set among Black-owned businesses, with a mezzanine good for reading above the hum below. Open mic nights and live music fill it after dark, and the sidewalk seats are ideal for watching the neighborhood do its thing.

The pink walls hit you before the espresso does. This coffee shop in San Jose's SoFa District sits among a row of Black-owned businesses and runs like a neighborhood living room, with a mezzanine overhead for anyone who came to read and stayed for three hours. Open mic nights and live music fill the place regularly, and the sidewalk seats are good for people-watching. Strangers here tend to introduce themselves unprompted, which is either charming or a lot, depending on your mood.

The room bends at odd angles under the Pulaski Bridge, which sets the tone for this coffee shop that has always done things its own way. Sweetleaf roasts its own beans and bakes its own pastries, with a well-stocked case that runs heavily vegan and gluten-free. Choose your corner: a quiet laptop nook, the social bar, a long bench out front, or the back room with a turntable you're free to use.

The room bends at a wacky angle at the foot of the Pulaski Bridge, and the vibe inside reads AC/DC, not ambient folk. Sweetleaf is a coffee shop that roasts its own beans and does its own baking, so the pastry case is stocked and the coffee is strong. A laptop nook sits near the entrance for the heads-down crowd, while the back has a record room where you're welcome to spin something while you drink.

The room bends at a wacky angle where Jackson Ave meets the Pulaski Bridge, which sets the tone for this coffee shop that plays AC/DC instead of something earnest. Sweetleaf roasts its own beans and does its own baking, so the pastry case is stocked and the coffee hits hard. A laptop-only alcove keeps the workers corralled, the main bar is for lingering, and the back room has a turntable you're welcome to use.

A former gas station on the road to Waimea Bay, now a multi-roaster coffee shop where surfers and day-trippers fuel up before the beach. The cold brew concentrate is a house signature, and single-origin offerings lean heavily on Sweet Bloom out of Denver. Sourdough kolaches rotate with the seasons, and a macadamia nut latte squares the "we're in Hawaii" circle neatly. The whole operation started out of a 1966 Ford Econoline, which feels about right for Haleiwa.

A pour-over coffee shop tucked inside BoxJelly, a co-working and arts hub in Ward Village, where the rotating single-origin lineup has included Cup of Excellence and World Barista Competition coffees. The team archives every coffee they've ever served on their website, which is either obsessive or reassuring depending on your relationship with spreadsheets. Local bakers and chefs pop up regularly, so the counter scene shifts.

Cadinho is a sunny Portuguese bakery and cafe in McKinley Park, and the tarts are the whole conversation. There's the pastel de nata, vanilla-scented custard in flaky pastry, sometimes wearing a little chocolate shell like a tiny hat. There are also palm-sized passionfruit pies with a crust that gives up immediately. The other baked goods are perfectly pleasant, but you'll see people leave carrying a box of tarts and nothing else.

Good Ambler is a Fulton Market bakery tucked into the lobby of a snack-food conglomerate's headquarters, and the pastry case has the good manners not to mention it. Macarons, kouign-amann, petit gateau and handmade chocolates line up behind the glass, but the plain croissant is the one doing the heavy lifting. It's a counter-service stop, so nobody needs a reservation or a dress code.

A shaded patio tucked behind a corner cafe on Grand Avenue is a good argument for slowing down on a weekday morning. Malegria is an all-day Latin cafe drawing on Mexican, Guatemalan, and Salvadoran cooking, so the coffee comes sweetened with piloncillo or horchata, and the breakfast sandwich arrives on bolillo bread with fried plantains and crema verde. The crowd tends to linger, which the patio quietly encourages.

Peanut milk in your latte is either a bold call or an obvious one, depending on how you feel about Charleston. This counter-service cafe on Meeting Street leans casual: pastries, sandwiches, salads, and a small market stocked with cheese, wine, and specialty goods worth a slow browse. The patio is easy to settle into. Caviar is, in fact, on the menu if the morning calls for it. Two other downtown locations run the same show.

A bright blue truck parked outside a rock climbing gym is perhaps the least likely setting for a serious coffee program, and yet here we are. Akhanay is a specialty coffee truck drawing on Thai and Southeast Asian tradition, pouring drinks like a coconut cold brew and a mango sticky rice matcha. Orders go in online, and you collect them curbside, ideally before someone asks if you're there to climb.

A sculpted amethyst rock anchors the coffee bar, a gold nugget juts from the back wall, and a mural covers the entire side of the room, which is a lot to take in before your first sip. This Johns Creek coffee shop looks like a strip-mall afterthought from the parking lot, so the interior earns its surprise. Specialty lattes use beans from Cafe Campesino, and Dutch coffee and waffles round out the menu.

A coffee shop that moonlights as a cocktail bar Wednesday through Saturday, Bellwood Coffee is also a working roastery, so the smell alone does some of the selling. The Glenwood Avenue location draws a neighborhood crowd for daytime espresso drinks and, come evening, craft cocktails alongside occasional jazz and open mic nights that keep things loose enough that nobody feels overdressed or underdressed.

The rotating pour-over menu runs five or six options deep, which for a coffee shop is either impressive or a little daunting depending on how early you showed up. Belux started as a micro-roastery before opening this Roswell cafe, and the roasting pedigree shows in the sourcing: Jamaica Blue Mountain and Panama Geisha sit alongside the espresso and matcha standards. Monthly coffee tastings for anyone who wants to go further down the rabbit hole.

The coffee shop on SE Division is painted superhero blue and stocked with Portland Cà Phê beans for Vietnamese-style drinks, pastries from HeyDay next door in the supply chain, and enough vinyl culture in its DNA that the occasional DJ set feels less like an event and more like a Tuesday. The ube coconut cloud, a non-caffeinated iced drink, does a slow cascade inside the glass that will make you stop mid-sip.

The chalkboard by the counter poses a daily trivia question, and a correct answer earns you a quarter off your drink. This easygoing coffee shop on Commercial Street has been around forever, and the staff will probably greet you by name whether you've been coming for years or it's your second visit. The caramel mocha with two shots of espresso is the drink regulars tend to order without looking at the menu.