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
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 · 511 reviews
Four Letter Word Coffee
Curated★ 4.5 · 309 reviews
Dayglow
Curated★ 4.4 · 381 reviews
Dark Matter Coffee - Osmium Coffee Bar
Curated★ 4.7 · 1100 reviews
Milli by Metric
Curated★ 4.5 · 209 reviews
Tasa Coffee Roasters
Curated★ 4.9 · 553 reviews
Coffee Lab & Roasters
Curated★ 4.8 · 433 reviews
Necessary & Sufficient Coffee
Curated★ 4.2 · 309 reviews
Pedestrian Coffee
Curated★ 4.6 · 371 reviews
The Wormhole Coffee
Curated★ 4.6 · 2077 reviews
Necessary & Sufficient Coffee - Printers Row
Curated★ 3.9 · 300 reviews
La Colombe Coffee Workshop
Curated★ 4.4 · 486 reviews
Loba Pastry + Coffee
Curated★ 4.5 · 524 reviews
Ratings and review counts from Google Maps
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 · 787 reviews
Sparrow Coffee Roastery
★ 4.6 · 46 reviews
Mojo Coffee
★ 4.8 · 103 reviews
Sawada Coffee
★ 4.6 · 2202 reviews
Intelligentsia Coffee Monadnock Coffeebar
★ 4.5 · 673 reviews
Groundswell
★ 4.6 · 296 reviews
The Coffee Studio
★ 4.5 · 670 reviews
Big Shoulders Coffee
★ 4.5 · 56 reviews
Blue Bottle Coffee
★ 4.3 · 893 reviews
Dark Matter Coffee - The Mothership
★ 4.8 · 1311 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
Side Practice Coffee
★ 4.6 · 324 reviews
Bad Owl Coffee Roasters
★ 4.4 · 239 reviews
Prequel Cafe & Bakery – Wicker Park
★ 4.8 · 26 reviews
Intelligentsia
★ 4.3 · 2095 reviews
Ipsento 606
★ 4.5 · 1156 reviews
Dollop Coffee Co.
★ 4.3 · 292 reviews
Ctrl Z Coffee
★ 4.5 · 91 reviews
Prequel Cafe
★ 4.7 · 280 reviews
Allez Café
★ 4.5 · 446 reviews
TOC Coffee Roasters, LLC.
★ 4.8 · 178 reviews
Sputnik Coffee Company
★ 4.9 · 541 reviews
Stivers Coffee
★ 5.0 · 63 reviews
Nomad-Chicago
★ 4.4 · 240 reviews
AURA COFFEE & ROASTERY
★ 4.9 · 155 reviews
Kismet Coffee Roasters
★ 5.0 · 55 reviews
Ralph's Coffee
★ 4.1 · 557 reviews
Ratings and review counts from Google Maps