Where to Find the Best Coffee in America

In your quest for a great coffee-drinking experience, you may wonder where to go. Today you can probably find a good, maybe even great, cup of coffee in your local coffeehouse. But what if you want more than just a flavorful beverage? If you’re seeking a great coffee experience in America with historical context or cultural connections, you may have to travel. Try these four coffee meccas in America.

Best coffee in San Francisco and the Bay Area

San Francisco and the Bay Area have been central to today's coffee industry. And because that history is more recent, many of the original people are active, running great coffee shops.

A coffee-centered visit to the Bay Area wouldn’t be complete without checking out the original Peets Coffee, Tea, and Spices in Berkeley at 2124 Vine Street. Virtually all specialty coffee for consumers can be linked to Alfred Peet and his vision, and this shop was where it all began. To this day, you have a good chance of scoring a fine coffee beverage or beautiful roasted beans.

In San Francisco you can find coffee almost everywhere; every neighborhood you've heard of is home to terrific shops. My favorites reflect global trends:

• Caffe Trieste
• Equator Coffees
• Ritual Coffee
• Sightglass Coffee
• Verve Coffee
• Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters

While you're in the area, check out Oakland-born Blue Bottle Coffee in the Ferry Building.

No trip to the Bay Area would be complete without visiting Tartine and exploring some of its Coffee Manufactory offerings. Christopher Jordan, another unsung hero of specialty coffee, formerly of Starbucks, Technoserve’s East Africa Coffee Initiative, and Verve Coffee Roasters, has joined the Tartine team. He's not only bringing consumers some wonderful coffees and great foods, but also helping guide the industry into a more sustainable future.

And if a trip to the Bay Area isn’t in your plans, you can get these coffees online.

Best coffee in Portland, Oregon

A trip to Portland, Oregon, is a must for the coffee lover.

I suggest you start in the Pearl District at Barista. The space is tiny, but the coffee experience is grand. The baristas at Barista are some of the most personable and knowledgeable, and the coffees are always unique and tasty. Barista serves coffees from roasters all over the United States, and now the shop is roasting coffees as well.

For your second stop, head to Coava Roasters, owned by Matt Higgins. Beginning in a garage in North Portland in 2008 and now located in a beautiful shared space with a bamboo furniture showroom, Coava Roasters has a friendly space where great coffees and a humble, welcoming, and savvy barista team make it all happen.

Well-caffeinated as you may be at this point, continue on to:

• Heart Coffee
• Sterling Coffee Roasters
• Stumptown Coffee Roasters—Portland-born and globally recognized
• Water Avenue Coffee Company

Best coffee in Seattle, Washington

Seattle finishes the West Coast leg of this coffee tour. Not only is Seattle the home of Starbucks, but it also shines in the broader history of the birth and growth of specialty coffees. Today Seattle is still home to innovation and almost unrivaled coffee passion.

A visit to Seattle must include a wide array of coffee shops:

• Espresso Vivace: Begin your day at Espresso Vivace with an espresso, a macchiato, or a Caffe Nico (a macchiato flavored with orange zest and cinnamon). David Schomer and Geneva Sullivan started Vivace in 1988. If your timing is good, you just may encounter him in one of the three locations.
• Starbucks Pike Place Market: Starbucks Pike Place Market store is something to behold; little has changed physically since the 1970s when it was built as a dry goods, coffee, tea, and spices merchant. Of course, the experience has changed with the times; today it’s all about beverages, whole bean coffee, and souvenirs, all delivered by a talented, multicultural, extraordinarily affable barista team.
• La Marzocco’s KEXP Café: Head toward the Space Needle, built for the 1962 World’s Fair. Right below it you’ll find KEXP Radio. La Marzocco, the famed Italian espresso machine manufacturer, has built a museum and café steps away from the DJ booth and the station’s reception desk. What makes this spot unique is that each month a different roaster from somewhere in the world is the host. The host roaster has full control over the menu so you might encounter anything from a traditional Mexican café de olla (spiced coffee made with coffee, cinnamon, and raw dark sugar called piloncillo) to a lighter-roast, expertly hand-poured Norwegian roaster’s best single pour-over.
• Milstead Coffee: A trip to Seattle would be incomplete without a visit to the Fremont neighborhood where Milstead Coffee has been blowing guests away since opening in 2011. Milstead always features an amazing selection of splendid coffees brewed by a superb team of baristas.

Seattle has no shortage of good coffee. Here are a few other places you may want to visit:

• Analog Coffee
• Elm Coffee Roasters
• Olympia Coffee Roasters
• Tougo Coffee
• Victrola Cafe
• Zoka Coffee Roaster and Tea Company

I’d be remiss if I didn’t guide you to Starbucks Reserve Roastery. The first of the six Starbucks Reserve Roasteries in the world (Seattle, Shanghai, Milan, New York City, Tokyo, and Chicago), this striking and lively spot provides visitors with an up-close look at the process of roasting small batches of coffee. It couples that experience with a chance to enjoy some innovative coffee and tea creations and some terrific food, served by an expert and personable team.

Best coffee in New York City

New York City is a fertile destination for coffee. Every block seems to have multiple coffeehouses, lunch counters, sidewalk carts, and groceries that brew coffee; your choices are abundant. One recent article counted more than 3,000 coffee shops in the city.

On your next trip to Big Apple, check out these places:

• Cafe Grumpy
• Devoción and Toby’s Estate Coffee: Both of these spots have a familiar, neighborhood ambiance. Located in Williamsburg in Brooklyn, the espresso and drip are great.
• Everyman Espresso
• Felix Roasting Co.
• Sey Coffee

New York also has plenty of West Coast coffeehouses. You can try Portland’s Stumptown at the Ace Hotel, Oakland’s Blue Bottle, and Seattle’s Starbucks Reserve Roastery.