Coffee Recommendations

I like coffee, especially cappuccinos, so that is mostly what I evaluate. However, what one gets when ordering a "cappuccino" varies wildly; the drink I refer to, ~30-40g espresso with ~150-180 ml steamed textured milk, is often variously called a "cortado", a "flat white", etc.

This page primarily has recommendations for small and independent coffeeshops; if instead you want inexpensive or mass-market coffee, it's not hard to find. For pedants, this page additionally contains recommendations for non-coffee items. There are many medium-to-large-ish chains, with varying levels of consistency and quality, for example La Colombe or Bluestone Lane. The line between "chain" and "small and independent but with multiple locations" is nebulous; I make no promises of semantic consistency. Cities/regions are in rough descending order of how confident I am in the recommendations. Maps on this page are OpenStreetMap data, with tiles served by Carto.

Also, thanks to the various members of my coffee committee (in alphabetical order), Albert, Deepti, Gavin, Panda, Paroma, Pratiksha, Rachee, Sagar, Shoumik, Shriram, Suresh, and Vipul sending in their suggestions! Please get in touch if you have a scouting report to share.

Providence ☕︎


Boston ☕︎


Berkeley ☕︎


SF ☕︎


South Bay ☕︎


New York ☕︎


Seattle ☕︎


Australia/New Zealand ☕︎

Much like in Italy, Australia's base level of coffee quality is generally higher than what one is used to. In Melbourne and Sydney especially, any arbitrary cafe will generally have good espresso. The local drink is the flat white, which is like a slightly less foamy cappuccino. I really do mean arbitrary; places with (perhaps unexpectedly) good flat whites have been a laundromat, a fast food Mexican restaurant in a strip mall, and a mall food court.

Meanwhile, while the base level is generally good, the peak is not much higher; don't expect fancy third-wave coffee with tasting notes.

New Zealand coffeeshops are not as universally good; I liked Common Ground in Johnsonville, Wellington (in the community center/public library), as well as Storehouse in Taupo.

NorCal (and Southern Oregon) ☕︎


SoCal ☕︎


New Haven ☕︎

Atticus Bookstore/Cafe/Market is a good option. The Bookstore/Cafe (📍) is downtown, and the Cafe/Market (📍) is in the East Rock neighborhood near Yale. The Cafe/Market also offers New Haven style pizza by the slice on some days.


Hawai'i ☕︎

Hawai'i (the state) has a coffee growing industry, thanks to the volcanoes. Most of the growing happens on Hawai'i (the island), in particular Kona coffee. It's certainly possible to get mass-market coffee (Starbucks, Lavazza, etc) here, but it's worth sampling the local product.

O'ahu

  • The best coffee I had in Honolulu was at Honolulu Coffee, with locations including the lobbies of the Prince Waikiki and Moana Surfrider hotels. They roast Kona coffee.
  • Other places near Waikiki, including Island Vintage Coffee and Kona Coffee Purveyors, though promising, were too crowded to evaluate properly.

Hawai'i ("Big Island")

  • HiCO serves Hawai'i (state)-grown coffee from a rotating series of local roasters. This was my favorite cappuccino on the island (but not by much).
  • Kona Coffee and Tea roasts and sells Kona coffee. They also sell Hawaii-grown natural wine.
  • Scouting Report: Close to South Point, across from the famous Punalu'u Bake Shop, is Ka Lae Coffee, which is a promising place for Ka'u coffee, another big coffee growing region on the island.

Kaua'i

Java Kai, in Kapa'a, is the best cappuccino on the island (but I prefer their cafe latte). You might also be interested in the Kaua'i Coffee Plantation, but they serve only drip coffee.


London ☕︎


Amsterdam ☕︎

Coffee District was my favorite in Amsterdam. Two doors down from the location in Zuid, the bakery Le Fournil de Sébastien is also quite nice.


Germany Rhein-Main Area (incl. Frankfurt) ☕︎

Mainz

In Altstadt, Après is good.


Atlanta ☕︎

I will leave you in the hands of the Atlanta Coffee Shops project.

Italy ☕︎

Note: Italian coffee culture is somewhat different than the other places on this page. For example, Italians don't drink heated-milk drinks such as cappucinos after 11:00. Also, the standard price one should expect for an espresso is €1, and a cappuccino should be €1.50 (this is when standing at the bar; table service is more expensive). If the place is charging more than this, you either have no other option or are rich (airports, fancy hotels, etc).

As a result, my recommendation is a cappuccino in the morning and a cafe macchiato (espresso with a bit of foamy milk) in the afternoon. Italian espresso is much more drinkable than most other places on this list, so this plan wasn't an issue for me. You can still request milk drinks in the afternoon, but be prepared for some eye-rolling.

Also, I have only listed the places that especially stood out to me in some way. It is in almost all cases perfectly fine to walk into an arbitrary "caffetteria" for coffee.

Now, my actual recommendations:

  • In Milan, I enjoyed "La Caffetteria" ("coffee shop") at Mercato Centrale which is attached to Milano Centrale railway station. They also have good "Maritozzi".
  • In Florence, I liked Cafe Gilli which is an existence proof that even fancy cafes ("since 1733") adhere to standard Italian espresso pricing.

Spain ☕︎

Barcelona

  • Nomad Roasters seem to dominate the coffee scene. I unfortunately could not visit one of their own cafes, but have heard a positive report (thanks, Shiori!). I did get to visit CafeCosmo (which uses Nomad beans) which is also an art gallery, and I saw people working there as well.
  • Also, Forno Suca'l in the Eixample is a nice little pastry shop.
  • Scouting Report: Pratiksha reports Fresh Roasted Coffee is good.

Madrid

In Madrid, Martin Tostador near Atocha Station and also near Embajadores, is good.

Andalusia


Chicago ☕︎


Portland ☕︎


Austin ☕︎

Medici Roasting is a good option near the UT campus.


Philadelphia ☕︎


India ☕︎

Note: Indians mostly drink filter coffee. You can get this basically anywhere, so this list focuses on fancier and more westernized (i.e., cappuccino) places.

Chennai

  • Backyard in Gandhi Nagar is a co-working space which includes unlimited filter coffee and chai.
  • Scouting Report: Shriram recommends Beachville Coffee in Alwarpet.

Mumbai

  • KC Roasters in Bandra is the best cappuccino I have had in Mumbai.
  • Blue Tokai is a good default option, with cafes in a few cities around India. There are six Mumbai locations.
  • In Kala Ghoda, Kala Ghoda Cafe has good lunch options as well as coffee.

Montreal ☕︎


Toronto ☕︎

Dineen Coffee Co and Bulldog Coffee are good options in downtown Toronto. Bulldog offers a (presumably Instagram-optimized) "rainbow latte", which I didn't bother with.


Vancouver ☕︎

Scouting Report: Rachee and Sagar recommend Medina Cafe.


Budapest ☕︎


Salt Lake City ☕︎

Scouting Report: Gavin recommends Salt Lake Roasting Co. (roasting dot com!), Blue Copper, Three Pines Coffee, and Alchemy Coffee


Zurich ☕︎

Scouting Report: from our Zürich coffee correspondents, Gavin and Albert:

  • Collective Bakery and Mame which are both affiliated with former world barista champions.
  • Miró a roaster with a cafe, including two in Zurich HbF, and roving coffee carts.
  • Near ETH, Cafe Leonhardstreppe Near Google (and Zürich HBF), Bean Bank gets an honorable mention from Gavin, but a demerit for being too snobby.

Bonus scouting report from Gavin for other European cities: