10 Top Cities for Coffee in the United States

Matcha, coffee and donuts on a wooden and blue metal table at Intelligentsia Coffee in Los Angeles, CA — Photo:
Courtesy of Intelligentsia

Last April, the National Coffee Association announced that daily coffee consumption in the U.S. is up 37% since 2004. Whether considered coffee connoisseurs or coffee dependent, Americans just love coffee.

It’s deep within our roots as a nation. Colonists drank coffee as an act of defiance during the Boston Tea Party. President Theodore Roosevelt is claimed by Maxwell House to have coined their slogan “good to the last drop.” Audrey Hepburn sips coffee out of a paper cup in the opening scene of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. In Twin Peaks, Kyle MacLachlan’s Agent Cooper famously took a sip from a diner mug and proclaimed it a “damn fine cup of coffee.” And Lauren Bacall’s High Point instant coffee commercials have become the stuff of legend (not to mention a Saturday Night Live sketch and popular voiceover on TikTok).

From coast to coast and Hawaii to Puerto Rico, here are the United States' top 10 cities for coffee culture right now.

01 of 10

Winner: Los Angeles

People lining up to enter Mandarin Coffee Stand in Los Angeles. — Courtesy of Mandarin Coffee Stand

Los Angeles tops this year’s list with a creative and diverse café scene where coffee and espresso drinks are served in iconic architectural spaces, relaxing lounges, and tiny shops. Espressos are extracted by scientist turned coffee superstar Jack Benchakul at Endorffeine in Chinatown, café de olla lattes have a devoted following at Picaresca Barra de Cafe in Boyle Heights, while pineapple espresso tonics turn heads at Mandarin Coffee Stand in Pasadena. Cream tops have recently taken center stage at several cafés that include 2024 U.S. Barista Champion Frank La’s Be Bright Coffee and at Maru’s three popular cafés.

02 of 10

New York City

Busy New Yorkers count on local cafés and corner shops for their morning bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich alongside piping cups of coffee on the way to school or work. The Big Apple is home to some of the best specialty cafés in the country. Coffee Project New York has seven locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens where its holistic approach to coffee sourcing is on display. Denmark darling La Cabra has opened two shops in Manhattan, as well as a roastery in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood, near fellow coffee purveyors Dayglow and Sey. Head to Abraco in the East Village for an espresso and a slice of olive oil cake. WatchHouse, Partners, Cafe Grumpy, and many more are staples of the fast-paced life in this bustling city.

03 of 10

Seattle

Seattleites love a warm beverage. An active year-round lifestyle and wet and foggy winters have contributed to coffee’s well-documented rise in the Pacific Northwest. The original Starbucks opened in Pike Place Market in 1971. In 2014, about a mile away from that hallowed ground, the first Starbucks Reserve Roastery opened. But despite the city’s association with the now-ubiquitous chain, a Seattle coffee crawl still offers many excellent independent options, from Push X Pull to Sound & Fog, Olympia, and Espresso Vivace. Caffe Vita has six locations that include an outpost inside the home of legendary independent radio station KEXP, while Sea Wolf bakery serves as the location for small-batch specialty roaster Hyacinth Coffee.

04 of 10

Portland

The Rose City is known for lavish gardens, but also for its passionate coffee fans. National darling and third-wave coffee pioneer Stumptown opened in Portland 25 years ago. But ask any Portlander, and they are sure to have an opinion about the best cafés and shops. Some will say Heart for pristine pour-overs and cortados. Others swear by Cathedral for a rotating menu from shakeratos to vanilla pine lattes. For cozy vibes, relative newcomer Hypnos channels Parisian café culture. Good Coffee has turned heads with its Grand Cru program that aims to highlight the unique provenance of their beans. Visitors can also seek out expertly prepared pours from mainstays like Capitola, Prince, Never, and Upper Left. In short, Portland’s vibrant coffee scene remains an endless adventure.

05 of 10

New Orleans

Is a trip to New Orleans complete without a café au lait served with a beignet covered in powdered sugar at Café du Monde? This sweet, creamy coffee with chicory has become an essential experience, and it’s also the inspiration for Blue Bottle’s New Orleans-Style Iced Coffee. Embodying the city’s culinary and cultural tradition, NOLA’s coffee scene is multilayered. Mammoth Coffee Company is the place to go for cozy vibes and warm drinks in cooler months, and espresso tonics on a hot day. Its "New" Old Fashioned combines espresso with a housemade bourbon maple syrup, a splash of Peychaud’s bitters, and a lemon twist. Pond Coffee is a small café in the lovely Faubourg Marigny neighborhood, while Lowpoint serves coffee alongside an impressive wine and beer program in the Bywater.

06 of 10

San Francisco

Paulette Baker, a longtime regular of Caffe Trieste, sips an Americano espresso in front of the venerable North Beach institution in San Francisco, California. — Paul Chinn / San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

San Francisco offers deep coffee heritage. The original Irish Coffee was created at The Buena Vista, where it’s still poured into cocktail glasses lined up across the bar top to keep pace with unending demand. Caffe Trieste opened in North Beach in 1956 and was the first espresso-focused coffee shop on the West Coast that became a local hub for the city’s beat poets. San Francisco’s modern coffee scene remains strong with Saint Frank, SPRO Coffee Lab, The Coffee Movement, Andytown, and Ritual Coffee Roasters offering multiple locations around the city. Equator Coffees, founded in a garage in nearby Marin County and with outposts around California, is also now the coffee provider in the iconic art deco Round House at the Golden Gate Bridge.

07 of 10

Boston

So many colleges, so many cups of coffee and campus-goers are in luck with Pavement shops set up at Harvard, Berklee, and Boston University. Elsewhere, George Howell sets the bar for fantastic roasts and beautiful cafés serving high-quality, single-origin espressos and Boston Honey Blossom Lattes. There are four locations in Beantown, including at Boston Public Market. Elsewhere, Broadsheet, Gracenote, Kid Dream, and the adorable Tiny Arms, each offer plenty of options that make Boston an excellent city for coffee.

08 of 10

Miami

Miami is a colorful town, from the vibrant murals that cover its buildings’ walls to the blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean. And with a thriving Cuban community, it's fitting that Cuban cortaditos and coladas remain massively popular, as are café con leches found at iconic locations like Little Havana’s Versailles. Specialty roaster Panther Coffee has six locations that serve single-origin coffee espressos paired with tasting notes and inventive creations like a rosemary maple latte. Baker and Barista, Breezeblock, and Vice City Bean cafés are also local standouts. One of the more unique experiences can be found at Sky Coffee Buenos Aires, a café on an airplane where its Glacier Perito Moreno is served with a toasted marshmallow, while the Tierra del Fuego is topped with edible 24-karat gold.

09 of 10

Honolulu

Many of Honolulu’s best coffee experiences can be found at roadside trucks and homey shacks like Holoholo Drive-Thru Espresso. From Haupia lattes to drinks that utilize poi or local honey, popular creations celebrate Hawaiian culture and cuisine. Hawaii is also the only U.S. state with a major coffee growing region, and many shops that feature local coffees grown in Kona on the Big Island. The Curb Kaimuki, Morning Glass Coffee, Neko Koneko, and Cowrie Coffee are among the many places showcasing the best of the region.

10 of 10

San Juan, Puerto Rico

While café con leches continue to be a popular order in San Juan, Abner Roldan and Karla Quiñones of Café Comunión also love to share Miel de Avenas, inspired by chichaito, an artisanal Puerto Rican beverage. The traditional drink is transformed into a honey latte with cinnamon, anise, allspice, and clove. Hacienda San Pedro, one of the first coffee shops in Puerto Rico, sources beans from its own farm in Jayuya. Dosis Café, Habitante Café, and Café Regina are all standout venues to experience the city’s coffee culture. El Horno de Pane, a renowned bakery, offers an amazing bread and coffee program. A trip to a coffee-growing region can be as close as San Lorenzo, a 45-minute drive from San Juan, but some of the best farms to visit are about two hours away: Hacienda San Pedro in Jayuya, Centro Tanamá in Adjuntas, and Hacienda Moraica in Orocovis.

To uncover the best food and drink experiences for travelers, Food & Wine polled over 400 chefs, travel experts, food and travel writers, and wine pros from across the globe for their top culinary travel experiences. We then turned the results over to our Global Advisory Board, who ranked the top nominees in each category. For the full list of all 165 winners, visit foodandwine.com/globaltastemakers.

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