Coffee is an inherently subjective experience, and all of my opinions are largely based on my own personal flavor palette.
My personal tastes are acidic and fruit-hinted coffees, oat milk for milk-based drinks, and in general, my personal preference for single-origin beans is oriented towards Latin America.
Generally, I prefer pourovers for my home brews, and flat whites (or cappuccino, depending on whether a flat white is available) when I'm out. In the summertime, I am a huge espresso tonic fan, and also like cold brews and occasionally straight shots of espresso.
I tend to enjoy most coffees, at least to some level. Ratings are, to some extent, arbitrary, which is why I have a custom rating scale that incorporates these additional factors. It's certainly not mathematically sound, but it tries to convey my overall impression of a place and its coffee. The ratings are as follows:
6
Memorable
Coffee that goes beyond excellent - to the point where I still actively think about it. The greatest coffee I've had.
5
Excellent
Excellent coffee that is flavorful, served by a café with an excellent vibe. These are the best of the best.
4
Great
Great coffee that had excellent flavor. These are the places I would want to actively re-visit.
3
Standard
A solid coffee. The type of coffee I wouldn't mind getting again, and that I have no complaints about.
2
Not Great
Coffee that was fine, and that I could get by, but that I wouldn't be returning to again.
1
Bad
Coffee that I cannot even pretend to have enjoyed, because it genuinely was not a good experience.
—
Permanently Closed
Gray shading indicates a place that is no longer open. It is kept here for historical reference.
The coffee spots I stop at on a day-to-day basis will usually be a 3 or a 4, while the best coffees are a 5. To earn a 6, a spot either needs to have life-changingly good
coffee, or another part of the experience may elevate it to legend status. There aren't a lot of 1s and 2s on here - I only report bigger chains or shops that I didn't like; if
it is a local shop with coffee I didn't enjoy, it is usually just not included here. This rating once went from -2 to 7, so I've tried to consolidate it to something I feel is a bit
more reasonable.
Coffee Types
These signs distinguish coffee shops based on the type of coffee (or other type of drink, such as matcha), that they serve. There are many types of drinks and
methods of preparation for coffee, so it is useful to distinguish places based on their specialties. After all, how does one compare a good espresso to a good pourover?
Coffeelogue
Some cities have a CL button next to their name.
Clicking it will take you to the Coffeelogue, and the trip on which I visited that spot.
This is for cities I visited while on a larger trip, where there was an underlying coffee theme connecting all of the spots
I visited on that trip. Clicking the button will take you to the part of the Coffeelogue that gives some more context about the trip.
Disclaimer:
All of the reviews and photos on this page are my own, and not sponsored or affiliated with any coffee shops or roasteries. Feel free to use the information here to guide
your own coffee adventures, and always give any shop a try - no matter what you've heard. The photos here are all taken by me, and may not be used without permission.
Additionally, while I've tried to be as informative as possible in my recommendations, this site also to some extent exists to document my own personal coffee experience, so
there is naturally a lot of somewhat unrelated information in the longer reviews (and lots of em dashes - a trend which I was on before LLMs made them popular).
If you have any questions, interests, or recommendations, please feel free to visit the Contact portion of my main website and send me a message.