Best Independent Coffee Shop in Every State

Located in northern Virginia’s Arlington Village, Indio serves top-notch coffee from Philadelphia-based La Colombe, along with tea, breakfast items, sandwiches, salads, and flatbreads in a warm and inviting atmosphere. All the classic coffee and espresso drinks are made with care, and they also offer nitro cold brew and lattes on tap.

It’s no small feat to be the best coffee shop in a city as coffee-obsessed as Seattle, but Elm Coffee Roasters, going strong in Pioneer Square since it was founded by Brendan Mullally in 2013, has a fair claim to the title. Mullally partners with producers and importers from around the world to source the highest-quality green beans on earth and roasts them on-site. Brewed to order, the results are served with a smile in an inviting, high-ceilinged space. Offerings include Kenya Nyeri Gatugi AB (cranberry, baking spice, molasses), Colombia Adelino Urbano (apple raspberry, dulce de leche), and Guatemala Lazaro Costanza (lemon lime, stone fruit, caramel).

Located inside Charleston’s historic Capitol Market, the low-key, cosmopolitan Mea Cuppa is about as unpretentious a coffee shop as you’ll find anywhere, with knowledgeable baristas more than happy to guide customers through their wide variety of coffee drinks and brew methods. Their coffees are natural, organic, and directly traded whenever possible, and they also offer Charleston’s widest selection of whole bean coffee sourced from five to eight premier small-batch roasters. All their coffees are grown on small, fair-trade farms and arrive within two to three days of being craft-roasted in small batches.

Wilson’s sources the best coffee from around the world and experiments with a variety of roasting techniques before settling on the perfect style that brings out the best characteristics of each. All of their coffees are sold by the pound or the cup, and there’s also a full espresso bar serving cappuccinos, lattes, and mochas, blended drinks, and more, along with fresh, made-from-scratch baked goods. The coffee selection is massive, with more than 20 single-origins and custom blends usually available at any time.

Founded by the mother-daughter team of Kendra Chorniak and Abby VanValkenburg in 2017 inside a former gas station just outside Casper, Buckin’ Brew Espresso serves a full menu of hot, iced, and frozen espresso drinks, iced coffee and tea, cold-brewed coffee, hot chocolate, fruit smoothies, and other custom drinks (including the popular white chocolate mocha with caramel drizzle), as well as baked goods from a local bakery. For those really looking for a caffeine kick, there are also several specialty drinks made with Red Bull and flavored syrups.