Starbucks may have locations all over, but independent coffee shops hold their own keeping locals caffeinated and happy. What makes the best ones great? Is it the quality of the beans, a daily roasting, some flavorful espresso-based experiments, the latte art, pastries, or maybe food, live music or overall mood? Or some mysterious combination of the above.
Hoodline filtered the numbers to find the top five coffee shops around the city, using both Yelp data and our own blend of analysis to produce a data-driven breakdown of where coffee drinkers go out of their way to get the city’s best cup(s) of coffee.
Chattahoochee Coffee Company
Riverside/Westside
Tucked away inside the Walton apartments, the Chattahoochee Coffee Company has been serving residents strong, delicious coffee since it first opened for business in 2009. The space, complete with book shelves, comfortable sofas and an expansive patio space, offers beautiful views of the river for coffee enthusiasts. The menu, which includes the cafe's motto of 'Drink Coffee Do Good,' boasts caffeinated drinks from Counter Culture, in addition to decaf and tea. In addition to good coffee, Chattahoochee Coffee Company puts aside money to donate to at-risk or disadvantage communities around the world. You can read more about this, on the company's website.
Dancing Goats Coffee Bar
Midtown
Located across the street from the Midtown MARTA station, Dancing Goats Coffee Bar is a great place to get your caffeine fix. The expansive coffee shop, which has floor to ceiling windows on all sides of the building, has a ton of open space, wooden fixtures, lounge chairs and rocking chairs that are located inside and on its outdoor patio. With an expansive menu filled with various coffee blends, espresso, single origin drinks from all over the world and more, this may become your new go-to spot. Due to its popularity, the space gets extremely busy on the weekends so if you're looking for some calm and serenity, the weekday will be your best bet,
Octane
Westside
The small coffee shop, located on the corner of Marietta Street and Howell Mill Road, has been a neighborhood staple since it began its operations 12 years ago. It originally started out as a cafe before the owners, Tony and Diana Riffel, decided to expand their cafe into the roasting and wholesale world in 2011. There are various types of coffee and espresso drinks, which you can add house syrup to, as well as tea, craft beer and cocktails. There is plenty of seating at the bar, or at individual tables, so you won't have to worry about fighting people for a spot.
Taproom Coffee
Kirkwood
Since Taproom Coffee opened for business back in 2014, it has maintained a steady following of coffee enthusiasts, thanks to its great customer service and variety of coffee flavors. The coffee shop, complete with single bulb lights and portraits hung along the back wall, has partnered up with East Pole Coffee Co. and offers a variety of coffee blends from Nicaragua, Colombia, Ethiopia and more. In addition to coffee, there is also craft beer and pastries from Ratio Bakeshop available for sale.
West Egg Café
Westside
The baristas at West Egg Cafe (inspired by The Great Gatsby), take coffee very seriously and pride themselves on their extensive knowledge on the beverage. The eatery works exclusively with Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters, which has been around since the 1908s and has a roastery just two miles away from the cafe. Grab an Americano, a Cubano, or one of its specialty drinks and relax on one of the comfortable couches placed throughout the industrial like space with high ceilings. In addition to coffee, there is also tea, chat milk steamers, soda, fruit smoothies and milkshakes available for purchase. If you come by on the weekend, stick around for the brunch menu, which offers an assortment of dishes like a fried egg sandwich, steak and eggs, banana bread French toast and others.
