9 Underrated Coffee Cities In The US

There are lots of tips for brewing a great cup of coffee and gadgets for making better coffee at home, but there's still something special about sipping a properly made cup in a coffee shop or café. What makes a good coffee city is not just the number of coffee shops, but the amount of independent roasters that focus on roasting single-origin coffees. A good roaster is known to source from organic and sustainable farms around the world. Therefore, a good coffee city should have cafés that can not only pull that perfect espresso shot and make a well-balanced latte, but also take pride in brewing the seemingly simple black cup. 

The following underrated coffee cities were chosen based on the writer's personal experience visiting these cities. To determine which cities are worth visiting for their coffee culture, the writer also considered awards that these cities' coffee shops have garnered in recent years coupled with statistical studies. Without further ado, let's begin our caffeine-packed trip around the country.

Known as beach town with a historic boardwalk, Santa Cruz is home to some of the best coffee roasters in the country. For one, Santa Cruz is the birthplace of Verve Coffee Roasters. Verve's success is evident by the fact that it now has multiple locations in California and even Japan. We also like Verve's coffee subscription program with its single origin coffee and curated blends. 

The coffee evolution in Santa Cruz didn't stop at Verve, however. There are newer and smaller coffee roasters like Cat & Cloud, which is ranked among the top 100 roasters in the world, according to a panel study conducted by Roastful. One example of these independent coffee shops is 11th Hour Coffee, a popular stop thanks to both its coffee and plant-filled cafés. Another is Mariposa, opened by a pair of Vietnamese and Cuban women that brings together a unique blend of two cultures, serving both cafecito, a Cuban coffee, and cafe sua da, a Vietnamese iced coffee.

There are many great restaurants and bars in Santa Barbara, but the coastal town is also home to noteworthy coffee shops that keep tourists and students alike fueled up through the day. For example, Dart Coffee not only roasts organic and fair-trade, single-origin coffee beans, but it also donates a percentage of its proceeds to a local artist fund. Then there's Handlebar Coffee, which started as a passion project by two former competitive cyclists but has grown popular enough that it expanded to two locations.

The offerings in Santa Barbara go beyond your standard cold brew or lattes. CAJÉ Coffee takes its offerings up a notch with signature drinks that are both beautifully concocted and well-presented. The drinks are some of the most Instagrammable coffee drinks out there and offer unique flavors, infused with rosemary or combined with bourbon pecan syrup. Finally, with the opening of LOKUM in 2020, you can now find traditional Turkish coffee in downtown.

Home to Wisconsin's largest university, it makes sense that a college town like Madison would have a lot of coffee shops. The city provides plenty of choices to help students and non-students alike get through their day. Some noteworthy shops include JBC Coffee Roasters and Wonderstate Coffee, both roasters with coffees that were listed in the top 30 coffees of 2023 by Coffee Review; in fact, JBC was even named the best in the world at an international competition in 2023. Meanwhile, the organic coffee roaster Wonderstate from nearby Viroqua also opened a café in downtown Madison, bringing crowds to the previously quiet corner with its award-winning coffee and house-made bagels.   

Another coffee roaster to try is Milwaukee-based Colectivo Coffee Roasters, which now has three locations in Madison. Roasters aside, Madison also has coffee shops like Bradbury's and Cafe Domestique that source beans from some of the best roasters around the country; the latter is particularly known for its ever-changing specialty lattes.

Pittsburgh is primarily known for its history of the steel industry and its football team, the Steelers. But what you may not know is that Pittsburgh is actually ranked the 10th best coffee city in America by WalletHub, thanks to the number of coffee shops and cafés per capita. 

There are plenty of diverse options in Pittsburgh, including De Fer Coffee & Tea, which serves classic and seasonal latte drinks and a selection of coffee cocktails, including espresso martinis and Irish coffees. Nearby, Allegheny Coffee & Tea Exchange has a dozen rotating taps of nitro coffee, along with a big retail component that includes offerings of small-batch roasted coffee beans from around the world. Commonplace Coffee is another beloved coffee shop in town that started roasting coffee more than 20 years ago in Indiana, Pennsylvania and has since expanded to a handful of locations in Pittsburgh.

Boston is practically synonymous with Dunkin', but there are actually some great specialty coffee shops to be found in town. First up is George Howell Coffee, founded by coffee industry veteran George Howell, who sold his 24 coffee shops to Starbucks back in the '90s (the Frappuccino was actually first invented in one of Howell's Coffee Connection shops). These days, more craft coffee shops have opened in Beantown. A local favorite is Gracenote Coffee Roaster, which opened in 2015 and now has two locations in the city.

Some of the city's shops bring in coffee culture from around the world. In fact, Boston was the first U.S. location of Ogawa Coffee, an artisanal coffee institution from Japan, a country well known for its coffee culture. There are also locally-owned spots that recently opened with noteworthy global offerings. For example, Yego Coffee brings beans directly from Rwanda and roasts them in-house to use in its well-crafted cappuccinos. Another coffee shop called Cicada in nearby Cambridge offers variations of Vietnamese coffee drinks alongside modernized Vietnamese dishes like smoked salmon bánh mì.

Greenville, South Carolina has been on the rise with the revitalization of its downtown. Greenville's restaurant scene has also seen a major change along with that revitalization, and its coffee scene is following suit. The number of local coffee shops there actually outnumber Starbucks, and there are a number of coffee roasters in Greenville, both larger and micro roasteries.

Of course, it's not just about the quantity of independent coffee roasters and shops. The quality of Greenville's offerings are also well-documented. Methodical Coffee, which supplies coffee for many local cafés like Mountain Goat, is a personal favorite. Bridge City Coffee, on the other hand, is another big winner; it was included in Roast Magazine's list of top rated micro roasters of the year in 2024. Colombian-owned Unlocked Coffee is a newcomer to the scene that has been gaining popularity with its Fair Rrade coffee beans. With so much to explore, there's even a guided coffee tour in Greenville that takes you three different local coffee shops in just under two hours.

Albuquerque, New Mexico is known for chiles, historic Pueblo culture, and perhaps "Breaking Bad." The culinary scene is slowly getting recognition, though, as a few local chefs were recently named semi-finalists for the James Beard award. Of course, part of that growing food scene is its coffee culture.

For example, Cutbow Coffee was started by New Mexico native Paul Gallegos, who gained his experience elsewhere and brought his skills back to Albuquerque. Gallegos, a veteran roaster who worked for Peet's Coffee for almost 30 years, left to open Cutbow Coffee in 2018. Another coffee shop worth checking out is Trifecta Coffee Company — one of the best coffee shops in New Mexico — which donates 5 cents for every pound of coffee purchased to a nonprofit. Albuquerque even has one coffee that is unique to New Mexico: piñon coffee. This special coffee blends Arabica coffee beans with roasted piñon, or pine nuts, for a nutty brew. Any city with a distinctive coffee is worth checking out in our book.

While many tourists come to Las Vegas for the casinos and entertainment, you may be surprised to find that there are gems to be found when you venture off The Strip. Start by heading to downtown Las Vegas, where 2018 U.S. Barista champion Cole McBride runs PublicUS. Around the corner is Mothership Coffee, which also has a location downtown. Another noteworthy coffee destination is Vesta Coffee Roasters, which directly sources sustainable coffee from around the world. Vesta also has four locations around Las Vegas. Nearby, you'll find Bungalow Coffee Co, a spacious place to work or chat while sipping a cup of coffee. Bungalow doesn't roast its own, but does bring in coffee from the award-winning Onyx Coffee Lab. 

In general, good brew can be found all over Las Vegas and its surrounding areas. On Spring Mountain road, just a couple of blocks away from Chinatown, is the Korean-style cafe Gäbi Coffee & Bakery, known for its aesthetically-pleasing specialty lattes made from coffee roasted in-house. Lastly, in neighboring Henderson, Dark Moon Coffee Roasters offers a rotating selection of single-origin coffees as a pour over or espresso every day.

As a flyover state, Oklahoma tends to be under the radar in general, and the same is true with its state capital, Oklahoma City. It began with Elemental Coffee Roasters, which opened in 2008 as the first third wave micro-roaster in the city. After Elemental's opening, the coffee scene has grown at a steady pace with the emergence of new roasters and coffee shops. 

Some of the roasters that have opened since then include EÔTÉ, which started roasting small batch coffee in 2012 and has its own coffee shop offering a variety of hot and cold beverages. Meanwhile, Clarity Coffee Co, which opened in 2015, grew even more when its owner, Steve Willingham, decided to start roasting coffee under the Clarity Coffee label (bringing the skills he learned from working as a roaster for Elemental). Other places, including Not Your Average Joe, go beyond good coffee and give back to the community by employing people with disabilities.

These cities were selected from my personal experience, having traveled extensively around the United States as a food and travel writer. Selection considerations include the number of locally-owned, independent coffee roasters and shops, the roasters' commitment to using sustainable and Fair Trade coffee, and the quality of the coffee itself. In addition, the quality of the drinks crafted by baristas at these coffee shops was also an important consideration. The selection is bolstered by awards that the coffee roasters and shops in these cities have won, including competitions like U.S. Barista Championship, as well as reports and analytic studies from WalletHub and other similar websites. 

Certain cities well-known for their coffee scene were excluded, including Seattle (the birthplace of Starbucks, with its various selection of iced coffees), Portland, and large metropolitan cities such as New York and Los Angeles. Instead, the focus was set more on cities I felt deserve more recognition for their coffee culture.