America's Best Coffee Bars

Co-owner Jamie McCormick and his baristas make some of the city’s strongest and finest espresso drinks while chatting away with regulars at this standing-room-only café. The space only fits a handful of customers at a time, but there’s a sidewalk bar outside for lingering over a cortado and fantastically savory black-olive shortbread cookie baked by partner Elizabeth Quijada.

abraconyc.com

Alterra Coffee Roasters rules Milwaukee with 10 shops serving espresso-based drinks, all made with beans roasted at the company’s local plant. The most scenic location, housed in a historic water pumping station, overlooks Lake Michigan and is filled with plenty of nooks to set up camp with a laptop.

alterracoffee.com

Now with 11 locations between the Bay Area and New York, Blue Bottle has become a household name in boutique coffee brands with small batches of organic beans roasted in vintage machines. Freshness is a mantra here — all beans not sold within 48 hours of roasting are put into service as either drip or iced coffee. At the Webster Street facilities, baristas pull shots of single-origin coffees from an impressive La Marzocco Strada espresso machine, while pour-overs feature single-origin roasts and one blended coffee. Unique in-house sweets include such experiments as saffron snickerdoodles and savory shortbread with Parmesan and fennel.

bluebottlecoffee.net

This artisanal espresso bar is literally off the beaten path, surrounded entirely by woods. Espresso drinks are made with beans from Carrboro Coffee Company, and there’s even an in-house humidor for those who want to smoke a cigar on the outdoor terrace with their coffee, beer, or wine.

caffedriade.com

An essential French Quarter stop, Café Du Monde has been serving chicory-spiced coffee, black or au lait, for over 150 years. Chicory, first introduced to stretch coffee supplies during the Civil War era, is still used for its flavor, which enhances the rich chocolate undertones of dark-roasted coffee. Tourists and locals line up at all hours for the specialty coffee, paired with the café’s justly famous beignets.

cafedumonde.com

Grumpy offers a rotating selection of single-origin pour-overs and a seasonally changing house espresso blend known year-round as Heartbreaker. The menu includes detailed tasting notes for every roast, such as the Best of Panama Auction #6, described as having flavors of hibiscus, toffee, and blood orange. The Greenpoint location features tangerine-colored walls, worn wood tables and the company’s roasting facility.

cafegrumpy.com

Most of this café’s notoriety comes from its decades of notable regulars. Beat writers like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg frequented this North Beach coffee shop for its Italian-style coffee when it first opened in the 1950s, and the walls are now peppered with photos of celebrity regulars from over the years. Keeping with tradition, the register still only accepts cash, and most Saturday nights, live musical acts belt out Italian-American ballads accompanied by an accordion player.

caffetrieste.com

There is stainless steel throughout the space, but chartreuse accents and a fun sculpture built out of bicycle rims prevent this "lab" from feeling sterile. Plus, approachable baristas are happy to explain different brewing techniques. The café, which has four more locations in the Phoenix-area, also sells "roaster’s choice" subscriptions, with hand-picked selections from roaster Paul Haworth home-delivered weekly, monthly, or bi-monthly.

cartelcoffeelab.com

Hawaii transplant and former competitive barista Melody Harwell is the person responsible for introducing Oklahoma City to haute coffee culture. Harwell meticulously sources single-origin beans (with a firm shelf life of no longer than 10–14 days) for drinks using classic espresso and French-press techniques.

coffeeslingers.com

In coffee-obsessed Portland, Coffeehouse Northwest is touted as one of the city’s best cafés, offering serious coffee without the attitude. Pop art from local artists provides color to a mostly unfussy backdrop of exposed brick and reclaimed wood. Baristas crank out shots of Sterling Coffee espresso, single-origin pour-overs and rich hot chocolate made with Michel Cluizel Venezuelan dark chocolate and Portuguese sea salt.

1951 W Burnside St.

Unlike most boutique coffee bars, Dose doesn’t have an ideal location (it’s situated in a strip mall along a highway). But inside, an unexpectedly sleek coffee bar outfitted with polished dark wood and slate-colored walls offers hand-poured direct-trade coffees from suppliers such as Counter Culture Coffee and Humphreys Street Coffee.

dosecoffeeandtea.com

One of a handful of U.S. cafés by the world-class espresso brand, illy’s sleek Vegas outpost features coffee drinks made with the signature blend of Arabica coffee as well as a grab-and-go bar with canned espresso, plus a massive selection of traditional European pastries, artisanal gelato, and fresh-made crêpes.

In addition to stocking beans from premium roasters like Cuvee, Counter Culture, Intelligentsia, and Verve, Houndstooth’s in-house training program has coached a handful of local barista champs. Bare concrete floors give this café a modern, minimalist vibe; on "fancy Fridays," baristas dress up in bow ties and other finery, a fun contrast to casual-Friday wear.

houndstoothcoffee.com

Intelligentsia’s roots are in Chicago, but the Silver Lake outpost benefits from a sunny outdoor patio (and the occasional celebrity customer). Meticulously sourced single-origins, like the micro-lot from Santuario, Colombia (with subtle notes of raspberry and black currant), and the trademark Black Cat espresso are executed flawlessly. Expect to wait a few extra minutes as discerning baristas measure the temperature and volume of water used for each cup to consistently highlight the flavors in every roast.

intelligentsiacoffee.com

Opened long-before fair-trade coffee was common, Kaldi’s has been dedicated to responsible sourcing for their signature blends since the early 1990s. There are six locations throughout St. Louis, but the flagship café in the suburb of Clayton still maintains its original Bohemian charm, with bright red walls and mismatched picture frames showcasing the coffee selections of the day. Kaldi’s beans are also stocked by most of St. Louis’s serious coffee shops.

kaldiscoffee.com

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