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The Best Coffee Cities in the U.S. to Get Your Fix

Best Cities for Coffee

The Boston Tea Party didn't just start a revolution. It alone drove Americans to become coffee drinkers, since drinking tea had become unpatriotic. The National Coffee Association has since discovered that 62 percent of Americans have a cuppa Joe every day — with the average actually being three cups a day!

WalletHub recently analyzed the 100 biggest cities in the U.S. and ranked them on the average price of coffee, average household spending on coffee, number of coffee shops and donut shops, Google search for "coffee" and more to determine which cities are the biggest coffee cities in the U.S.

Is yours on the list? Read on, and also find out which coffee shop is the best in each respective city, according to TripAdvisor reviewers.

30. Anaheim, California

Best coffee shop: Starbucks Downtown Disney

The city famous for being home to Disneyland lands on the list for being a coffee city. Surprised? Consider 18 million people walk through the entrance of Disney every year (pre-COVID, of course) and you have people from around the world who love their coffee and need a fix. 

And what better place to grab a cup of Baby Yoda Frappuccino?

29. Scottsdale, Arizona

Best coffee shop: Press Coffee Roasters

According to WalletHub, Scottsdale scores in the top 30 for having some of the highest prices for cappuccino, highest average spending on coffee per household and one of the highest percentages of households that own coffee makers.

They love their coffee so much they can enjoy Coffee 101 tasting classes every other Saturday at Press Coffee Roasters.

28. Dallas

Best coffee shop: Flying Horse Cafe

As Food & Wine reported in 2018, "You can’t be one of America’s fastest-growing cities without lots of caffeine."

The Dallas-Fort Worth area is the fourth-largest metro area in the country, and it's experiencing a coffee renaissance, with small shops like the Flying Horse Cafe challenging national chains.

27. New York

Best coffee shop: Frisson Espresso

There is no doubt New York is a coffee city filled with workers who heavily rely on caffeine to help them survive the city that never sleeps.

NYC has some of the highest percentages of adult coffee drinkers and some of the highest number of donut shops per capita in which to drink coffee. Yes, please!

26. Las Vegas

Best coffee shop: Sambalatte

If you're going to party the night away in Sin City, you'll need some coffee to wake you up the next day and keep the party going.

Also, a city like Anaheim filled with tourists is bound to appease the masses — and the masses want caffeine.

25. Chicago

Best coffee shop: Intelligentsia Coffee

One of the three biggest metropolitan areas in the U.S., like New York, Chicago's citizens need coffee. When a writer for the Chicago Tribune attempted to round up all the local coffee suppliers, he discovered more than three dozen local roasters in Chicago proper alone.

He asked if there were too many. What kind of crazy question is that?

24. Philadelphia

Best coffee shop: La Colombe

Philly may be more renowned for its cheesesteaks, but it turns out Independence City also has one of the highest concentrations of donut shops per capita.

After all, the people need somewhere to sit and discuss the Eagles on Monday morning.

23. San Jose, California

Best coffee shop: Philz Coffee

The largest city in Silicon Valley is filled with techies who will probably never admit how many actual cups of coffee they drink per day.

WalletHub found that this NorCal city is one with the highest average spending on coffee per household.

22. San Diego

Best coffee shop: Better Buzz Coffee

Leave it to the coffee-loving people of San Diego to try to make a go at growing coffee. In 2017, Frinj began growing coffee in San Diego and Santa Barbara counties across 35 private farms.

They are the first continental U.S. coffee farms!

21. Plano, Texas

Best coffee shop: 1418 Coffeehouse

Coffee didn't make it to Mexico until the end of the 19th century, thanks to the Spanish, and they brought their coffee into the land that is now Texas.

Hipsters in Plano, just outside of already-featured Dallas, makes the city's populations one of the highest percentages with coffee makers.

20. Jersey City, New Jersey

Best coffee shop: Choc O Pain

With views of Manhattan clear from its waterfront and commuters popping into the city daily, Jersey City lands higher on the list for its coffee rating.

Do they know the secret of keeping their coffee warm in the winter? Add cream — it will stay warm 20 percent longer than when it's black.

19. Austin, Texas

Best coffee shop: Mozart's Coffee Roasters

Austin likes to keep things weird, and since its favorite coffee shop is named for the composer Mozart, it seems apropos to provide a weird fact about another famous composer: Beethoven counted 60 coffee beans per cup before he would brew his beloved.

18. New Orleans

Best coffee shop: French Truck Coffee

NOLA has one of the most coffee manufacturers per capita, according to WalletHub. The city rich in Creole culture is known for its chicory coffee, which uses the root of a chicory plant instead of beans to make a drink much like coffee.

When blending the ground chicory root into coffee, it is known to enhance the flavor and make the coffee a bit more mellow.

17. Irvine, California

Best coffee shop: Portola Coffee Lab

Since Irvine has one of the highest average spending rates on coffee per household, we wonder if its favorite coffee comes from one of the Big Four: Kraft, Nestle, Proctor & Gamble and Sara Lee.

These giants produce 50 percent of the world's coffee.

16. Los Angeles

Best coffee shop: Tiago Coffee Bar & Kitchen

One of the most donut shops per capita (keeping actors employed until they hit it big, perhaps?), Los Angeles is known as the donut capital of the U.S.

There are nearly 1,500 donut shops in L.A. And you know what goes well with a donut? You got it: coffee.

15. Long Beach, California

Best coffee shop: Cuppa Cuppa Artisan Coffee Bar

Anaheim, Irvine, Los Angeles ... Long Beach has these SoCal hotspots beat.

They may even spend more than the average "Joe" (pun intended) on coffee, which is $1,410 a year.

14. Boston

Best coffee shop: Thinking Cup

The love Bostonians have for coffee runs deep.

From throwing tea into the Boston Harbor to practically being born with Dunkin' coffee in their veins, it's no wonder Boston has one of the highest concentrations of donut shops per capita.

13. Washington, D.C.

Best coffee shop: Baked and Wired

The District of Columbia is a melting pot of cultures with not only embassies from around the world but also diverse neighborhoods of cultures from Asia, Africa, South America and the Caribbean.

This diversity gives the leg up on having some of the best coffees in the world in one city.

12. Orlando, Florida

Best coffee shop: Dunkin'

Orlando has more coffee shops per capita than most cities, and the city of theme parks loves their Dunkin' the most.

Dunkin's drive-thru could have come in handy to save marriages in ancient Arabic times. Women were able to divorce their husbands for not serving them fresh coffee in the morning. (This is still "grounds" for divorce in Saudi Arabia.)

11. Minneapolis

Best coffee shop: Five Watt Coffee

It can drop well below zero in Minneapolis, with a recorded low of -60 degrees Fahrenheit recorded in 1996.

It's no wonder the city has one of the highest numbers of coffee shops — how else are the residents going to thaw out?

10. Atlanta

Best coffee shop: Chattahoochee Coffee Company

In Georgia, the peach is the most popular fruit grown in the clay soil, but the most popular fruit consumed just may be the coffee bean.

Yup! Coffee beans are actually berry pits! Has anyone ever created a drink so great out of roasted peach pits?

9. Oakland, California

Best coffee shop: Blue Bottle Coffee Company

WalletHub found this Northern California city to have one of the highest average prices per pack of coffee and most coffee manufacturers per capita. 

Good thing it's on the West Coast — that means faster access to the coffee grown in Hawaii.

8. Denver

Best coffee shop: Pigtrain Coffee Co.

Coffee is rumored to have been first made in 800 A.D. after a monk saw goat herders dancing after eating the coffea plant's fruit. (Much like some folks in Colorado dancing after trying other edibles!)

The monk made a drink out of the fruit and discovered its ability to keep him awake all night, and, just like that, the addiction to caffeine began.

7. Honolulu

Best coffee shop: Kona Coffee Purveyors

Hawaii is one lucky state. It is here where the elements are ripe for growing coffee, and the islands' second-biggest crop after sugarcane is coffee.

Despite the local bean growth — Kona Coffee! — it still has some of the highest prices for a cappuccino and packs of coffee.

6. Pittsburgh

Best coffee shop: Prestogeorge Coffee & Tea

Pittsburgh may have one of the highest concentrations of coffee shops, but its Prestogeorge Coffee & Tea is the oldest and certainly one of the most unique. There are more than 200 coffees and 300 loose teas available in this shop, including Ethiopian beans.

It is believed coffee originated in Ethiopia, so these beans could even be related to the first cup of coffee ever produced.

5. Tampa, Florida

Best coffee shop: Buddy Brew Coffee

Coffee was introduced to Cuba in the 1700s, and the island's dark, strong coffee is often referred to as Cuban espresso. This coffee uses a raw brown sugar in its blend, which creates a thicker drink.

In Tampa's Ybor City, a National Historic Landmark District, the Cuban influence and culture is strong and gives the residence on the West Coast of Florida more chances to find this flavorful coffee.

4. Miami

Best coffee shop: Panther Coffee

Of course, you'll also find Cuban coffee in Miami, which has the largest population of Cuban-Americans in the country.

It also features some of the lowest prices per pack of coffee and has one of the highest percentages of adult coffee drinkers. 

3. Portland, Oregon

Best coffee shop: Stumptown Coffee Roasters

The Pacific Northwest is credited with launching the coffee phenomenon we know of today. Before the area introduced the coffee culture, many Americans were still drinking coffee out of a can and missing out on fresh roasts.

Portland remains a coffee mecca. It has the most coffee manufacturers per capita and some of the most affordable 4.5-star coffee shops.

2. San Francisco

Best coffee shop: Caffe Trieste

The beatnik counterculture of San Francisco stemmed from the writers of the 1950s and '60s that included Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. Focusing on individualism and drinking coffee as they discussed life and poetry, San Francisco became autonomous with these early hippies.

To this day, San Francisco welcomes literary, educated, free-thinkers to gather and discuss the meaning of life over coffee, ranking as the No. 2 coffee city in America. Here, residents spend more on coffee than most cities and have the most affordable 4.5-star coffee shops per capita.

1. Seattle

Best coffee shop: Storyville Coffee

Well, well, well. There is no surprise here that Seattle landed at No. 1 on the list of coffee cities in the U.S. This is the birthplace of Starbucks, after all, which now operates 31,256 cafes around the world.

But coffee was already making a name for itself here in the 1960s, and today, Seattle is considered the coffee capital of the U.S.


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