Coffee

I like coffee, especially cappuccinos, so that is mostly what I evaluate. 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.

Also, thanks to the various members of my coffee committee (in alphabetical order), Albert, Deepti, 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.

Ogawa Coffee is the best Boston cappuccino I've had thus far (as an added bonus, the baristas make elaborate latte art designs). George Howell Coffee is also great: the flavor is well balanced, and the baristas pour excellently.
Bakey is a bakery + coffee shop. They have great pastries, especially babka ("Ovens Always On"), but their coffee is a first-class part of the shop (their roaster is Seattle's Caffe Umbria).
Barismo and Broadsheet are good options in Cambridge. Curio in East Cambridge has not just good coffee, but also excellent liege-style waffles. Elmendorf nearby is a good bakery and baking materials supply shop (but Curio's coffee is better).
Area Four and Vester are good options near the Stata Center.
Pavement is a good option if you're in Back Bay (there is now also a Pavement location in Harvard Square, in the student center). Flat Black is operated by Australians and thus has flat whites (the one near Downtown did not survive the pandemic; the remaining cafe is close to the Red Line's Mattapan Trolley extension near Ashmont).

Highwire, CoRo, and Artis are good options if you've just had lunch at Vik's (or are otherwise near the Fourth Street area).
Guerilla Cafe uses Artis beans in a more easily accessible near-downtown location.
The old favorite near Soda Hall, Nefeli Cafe, is now closed, as has Brewed Awakening. Instead, Mind is probably the best option.
Philz is good at non-espresso coffee. There are several locations, including in the South Bay. Their Shattuck Ave. location is now closed. People are sad about this.
Asha is, as far as I'm concerned, the One True Boba Place.
Scouting report: Vipul recommends Timeless in Oakland and Ain't Normal in Rockridge.

Ritual Coffee Roasters is probably my favorite cappuccino in San Francisco.
Dandelion Chocolate may have chocolate in its name, but they serve great coffee! I recommend the Mission Hot Chocolate or Mission Mocha (they use Four Barrel beans).
At SFO airport, T1 has a Ritual Coffee and T2 has an Equator.
Scouting report: The SF coffee scene has seen a lot of evolution since the above two recs (which are still good). Rachee likes The Mill, which serves Four Barrel beans. Vipul likes Golden Goat, in SoMa.

Cafe Venetia is my favorite in Palo Alto, and Verve is also good. Manresa Bread is primarily a bakery, but serves coffee with Verve beans. On the Cal. Ave. side, Backyard Brew is good (thanks to Pratiksha for the recommendation!). Boichik has great bagels which rival New York's. Within Stanford, Coupa Cafe is close to Gates Hall and decent.
Coffeebar and Saint Frank, in nearby Menlo Park, are also great options. Saint Frank has locations in SF as well.
Backhaus, in San Mateo, has good bread and bakery items in addition to coffee.
Red Rock Coffee is my favorite in Mountain View. Midwife and Baker, a bakery that supplies many Bay Area cafes, also has good coffee (note May 2024: coffee service at Midwife and Baker has been temporarily suspended - they are working on getting it back). Voyager is a good (though often crowded) option in Cupertino.
Devout is a decent option in Fremont.

Bolt Coffee inside the RISD Museum is really nice and near Brown University (thanks to Theo for taking me!). Ceremony is also good, though it is primarily tea-focused. Nearby, Coffee Exchange on Wickenden St. is similarly good and has an extensive selection of beans.
Small Point Cafe is a good option downtown. There are also two other Bolt locations in downtown Providence.
Seven Stars Bakery has George Howell Coffee and also good pastries, bread, etc.
Scouting report: Suresh reports that Hazel Origin Coffee near Brown is a promising new option. A bit farther, but also near Brown, Brown Bee Coffee is also a promising newcomer.

In Greenwich Village there is La Cabra, a cafe with Danish origins. There is also 787 Coffee (787 has multiple locations, including in lower Manhattan and midtown) and Third Rail.
Near Grand Central, Black Fox Coffee is quite good. They also have locations in lower Manhattan, Hudson Yards, and near Penn Station (this is probably the best coffee near Penn Station).
Near Madison Square Park, Stumptown is a good option. There is also a Black Seed Bagels around the corner.
On the Upper West Side, there is Black Press Coffee.
Caffe Panna has good affogato, but don't get their coffee.
In Brooklyn (Dumbo), Butler is good. In Williamsburg, Lion's Milk is good.
At JFK airport, the TWA Hotel at Terminal 5 has an Intelligentsia, which is the best (pre-security) coffee at the airport (the primary competition is various Dunkin Donuts throughout the airport). The hotel was once an airport terminal for TWA airlines, and is architecturally interesting.

Espresso Vivace has a founder who apparently invented latte art. This has been my first stop after multiple red eye flights.
I'm writing this from Floret, in SeaTac Airport near the A gates, which has Stumptown beans and a La Marzocco espresso machine and surprisingly good coffee for an airport. It's also a great option for vegetarian food at the airport.
In Bellevue, Cafe Cesura and Third Culture Coffee are good options. Third Culture additionally has Indian-inspired options like filter coffee and chai.
In Renton, Boon Boona Coffee is the best option. The cappuccino is not great; I recommend a cafe latte instead.
Five Stones in Redmond will make you a cappuccino freddo, which is not something you usually see.
Scouting reports: Panda reports that Ada's Discovery Cafe (also in Capitol Hill) and Santo (a bit north of the U-District) are good. Rachee recommends Victrola, with locations in Capitol Hill, downtown, and on Pike St.

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 ☕︎

In Redding, Theory is a good option.
In Crescent City (near the north border of Redwoods National Park), Paragon is good.

SoCal ☕︎

In UCLA/Westwood, Espresso Profeta is a good option. Saffron and Rose is a good ice cream place nearby.
All the way out in Fullerton, Dripp is good, but expensive.
In the San Diego area, Lofty is a good option with locations in Carlsbad, Encinitas, La Costa, Solana Beach, and San Diego itself. Bird Rock is another good option closer to San Diego. Also in the area is Prager Brothers bakery.

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, though promising, were too crowded to evaluate properly.

Hawai'i ("Big Island")

HiCO, with locations in Kona and Captain Cook, serves Hawai'i (state)-grown coffee. They serve coffee from a rotating series of Hawaiian 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 ☕︎

Prufrock Coffee in Farringdon has (somewhat shockingly) table service at very reasonable prices. The coffee is excellent; they have a rotating selection of single-origin filter brews also.
Ideal Espresso in Greenwich Market has an old-school lever machine, and brews good Italian-style dark-roasted espresso. Note that their stall can move around within the market.

Amsterdam ☕︎

In Zuid, Coffee District is good. Two doors down, the bakery Le Fournil de Sébastien is also quite nice.

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.

Chicago ☕︎

Intelligentsia is from Chicago and has multiple locations there, including in the Loop, in addition to a few others around the US (including the aforementioned one at JFK airport).
Metric is a good option further west.
Sparrow is a good option in Naperville.

Portland ☕︎

Stumptown is probably the most famous Portland coffee, with locations in not only Portland, but also New York, LA, and Kyoto.
Oblique is located in an old Victorian warehouse, in accordance with the Portland aesthetic.
Scouting report: Shoumik and Paroma recommend Case Study Coffee.
Forage is a good option in Medford, OR.

Austin ☕︎

Medici Roasting is a good option near the UT campus.

Philadelphia ☕︎

Across from City Hall, there is the chain La Colombe, which is decent.
In "historic" Kennett Square (the mushroom capital of the world), Philter is good.
List from a local expert.

Zurich ☕︎

Scouting report: Albert (our Zurich coffee correspondent) recommends Mame, affiliated with two former world barista champions, as the best coffee in Zurich, and ViCafe as a good take-away place with locations all over the city. Near ETH, he recommends Café & Conditorei 1842.

Vancouver ☕︎

Scouting report: Rachee and Sagar recommend Medina Cafe.

Montreal ☕︎

My Little Cup is inside the McGill metro station (where else in North America will you find this nice a cafe inside a metro station??).
Crew Collective is a cafe located within an old bank building, which also contains a coworking space.
Scouting report: In Quebec City, Deepti recommends Cafe Olive.

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

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

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.
In Churchgate, where there used to be the long-running Tea Centre, there is now Queen's Deck (neither has a website I can link to). I have visited the Queen's Deck incarnation and can say the tea is good (especially the Assam selections), but I am told it's not quite as good as the old version, especially in the food department. I didn't like the pre-mixed chai; get a black tea and add the milk yourself.

Spain ☕︎

In 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. They have another location, CafeCometa, which I have not visited.

Also, Cloudstreet in the Eixample is a nice little pastry shop.
Scouting report: Pratiksha reports that Fresh Roasted Coffee in Barcelona is good. Pratiksha also recommends:
- In Seville, Ringo Banana.
- In Cadiz (actually near, in Puerto de Santa Maria), Factoria 77 Coffee Roasters.

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.

Budapest ☕︎

Scouting report: Shriram recommends Cafe Gerbaud and Central Cafe.
Arioso is colocated with an interior decorations store and flower shop. There's also a Langos place right around the corner.
Fekete has a great interior courtyard to sit in, and they serve brunch.

Coffee Recommendations

Boston/Cambridge ☕︎

Berkeley ☕︎

SF ☕︎

South Bay ☕︎

Providence ☕︎

New York ☕︎

Seattle ☕︎

Australia/New Zealand ☕︎