Chicago
Chicago's third-wave scene is mature and underrated. Intelligentsia, Sawada, Ipsento, Big Shoulders, Metric — most cluster in West Loop, Logan Square, and Wicker Park, plus a strong showing along the lakefront neighborhoods.
On the map
Amber = curated · click a dot to open in Google Maps
Curated picks
Editorially verified specialty spots. These are the cafes we'd send a friend to without caveats.
Magnífico Coffee Roasters & Coffee Shop
Curated★ 4.9 · 450 reviews
Metric
Curated★ 4.6 · 506 reviews
Four Letter Word Coffee
Curated★ 4.5 · 304 reviews
Dayglow
Curated★ 4.4 · 381 reviews
Dark Matter Coffee - Osmium Coffee Bar
Curated★ 4.7 · 1086 reviews
Milli by Metric
Curated★ 4.5 · 209 reviews
Tasa Coffee Roasters
Curated★ 4.9 · 538 reviews
Coffee Lab & Roasters
Curated★ 4.8 · 416 reviews
Necessary & Sufficient Coffee
Curated★ 4.2 · 307 reviews
The Wormhole Coffee
Curated★ 4.6 · 2077 reviews
Necessary & Sufficient Coffee - Printers Row
Curated★ 3.9 · 300 reviews
Loba Pastry + Coffee
Curated★ 4.5 · 524 reviews
Algorithm-ranked
Other shops in Chicago our scoring engine rates well. Higher-confidence picks land in the curated list above.
Gaslight Coffee Roasters
★ 4.5 · 782 reviews
Sparrow Coffee Roastery
★ 4.5 · 44 reviews
Mojo Coffee
★ 4.8 · 103 reviews
Sawada Coffee
★ 4.6 · 2202 reviews
Intelligentsia Coffee Monadnock Coffeebar
★ 4.5 · 673 reviews
Groundswell
★ 4.6 · 294 reviews
The Coffee Studio
★ 4.5 · 670 reviews
Big Shoulders Coffee
★ 4.5 · 56 reviews
Blue Bottle Coffee
★ 4.3 · 882 reviews
Dark Matter Coffee - The Mothership
★ 4.8 · 1306 reviews
Big Shoulders Coffee
★ 4.5 · 445 reviews
Caffe Umbria
★ 4.6 · 1097 reviews
Blue Bottle Coffee
★ 3.9 · 344 reviews
Cafe Deko
★ 4.5 · 392 reviews
Chicago French Press at Roosevelt Collection
★ 4.5 · 279 reviews
Side Practice Coffee
★ 4.6 · 324 reviews
Intelligentsia
★ 4.3 · 2095 reviews
Prequel Cafe & Bakery – Wicker Park
★ 4.8 · 20 reviews
Ipsento 606
★ 4.5 · 1145 reviews
Dollop Coffee Co.
★ 4.3 · 292 reviews
Prequel Cafe
★ 4.7 · 269 reviews
Allez Café
★ 4.5 · 431 reviews
Pedestrian Coffee
★ 4.6 · 365 reviews
Ralph's Coffee
★ 4.1 · 550 reviews
Hexe Coffee Co.
★ 4.8 · 998 reviews
Big Shoulders Coffee
★ 4.7 · 22 reviews
Ground Up Coffee + Bites
★ 4.5 · 54 reviews
La Colombe Coffee Workshop
★ 4.4 · 486 reviews
Capital One Café
★ 3.9 · 324 reviews
ReBrewed Cafe
★ 4.8 · 5 reviews