Best Independent Coffee Shops in the Midwest

Omaha-based Archetype’s motto is “Fastidious Roasts. Punctilious Brews. Ridiculous People.” In other words, they pay attention to accuracy and detail while roasting, calculate and care for each cup of coffee brewed and shot of espresso pulled, and don’t take themselves too seriously. They roast a wide variety of coffees from around the world and sell it at their shops and also through a popular monthly subscription service. Offerings include Rossana Emperatiz Zelaya from Honduras, Nduruti AA from Kenya, and Chelbesa Lot #6 from Ethiopia, as well as blends including a “Super Luxury Blend” that retails for $42 per bag, more than double their usual price.

Founded by Lee Carter and Caleb Garn in 2014, Five Watt Coffee has four Minneapolis locations, each of which has become a beloved local gathering place (one location even has what they call “a rent-by-the-hour unicorn stable”). Their lineup of coffee drinks is inspired by craft cocktails. For example, the Busy Beaver is made with maple syrup, blackstrap bitters, espresso, milk, cinnamon, molasses, and black pepper, and the Big Easy has cold-press coffee, chicory nutmeg syrup, black walnut bitters, and cream. They also sell a wide variety of whole bean blends.

Long-time friends Jonathan Moore and Nicholas Pidek chose an appropriate name for the coffee shop they founded in 2014: its mission is to foster its community by partnering with other local businesses, civic leaders, and non-profit organizations and hosting events, concerts, conversations, reading and discussion groups. It’s expanded from Owosso to Flint and East Lansing, bringing a positive impact wherever it goes. They’re roasting their own coffee in-house, and selling a wide variety of blends and single-origins for every taste.

With parquet floors, elegant leather chairs, and a long copper bar, Chicago’s Four Letter Word more resembles a fine dining restaurant or cocktail bar than a coffee shop, and that elevated approach carries over into their offerings. They partner with growers worldwide and roast beans at their own roastery, and each bag has its own creative label. An example of their coffees include Roberto Figueroa from Honduras, Kesem Aba Gero from Ethiopia, and Sitio Kisbong from the Philippines, and serving them in only a handful of expertly-made styles: drip, pour-over, espresso, Turkish, and iced. Pastries which include goat cheese knots and calamansi meringue tarts, are not-to-miss.

Fox in the Snow is a bakery and coffee shop serving rustic-style baked goods and hand-poured drinks out of three quaint shops in the Italian Village, German Village, and New Albany neighborhoods of Columbus. Founded by a pair of former Blue Bottle baristas in 2014, these cas are large and inviting, with plenty of natural light, and expertly-brewed coffee and espresso drinks including pour-over, mocha, and New Orleans-style iced coffee. The baked goods, which include salted dark chocolate brownies, croissant morning buns, and pecan sticky buns, are also truly exceptional and worth a visit in their own right.

This cozy coffee shop only offers coffee to-go, but it’s worth seeking out while strolling through downtown Indianapolis. Founded by Justin Jones in 2016 (the lines haven’t let up since), Georgia Street Grind serves only coffee from local roasters, blended in-house and turned into some truly stunning coffee creations, including Café Miel (with honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla), Blended Caramello (mocha, espresso, and caramel sauce), and Honey Lavender Latte. Justin also recently opened a larger place, Bovaconti Coffee, nearby.

Howlin’ Hounds proudly claims to serve “the best cup of coffee in Omaha,” and it’s hard to argue with that. Owned and operated by Greg Sechser and named after his two dogs (with whom he lives upstairs), the shop boasts hardwood floors, brick walls, and a long bar with soda fountain stools. Sechser brews coffee from Gimme! Coffee, based near Ithaca, New York. If there’s a coffee drink, they’ll make it; their offerings are expansive and each is made with care. Oatmeal and pastries from local bakeries are also offered, and art from local artists lines the walls.

Josiah’s isn’t just a place to duck into for a coffee to-go; it’s also a bright and cheery gathering place for the Sioux Falls community and a full bakery and restaurant serving house-made baked goods as well as flatbreads, hot focaccia sandwiches, soups, salads, wraps, breakfast items, and even scratch-made biscuits and gravy. Their coffee drinks are all made to order with freshly-ground coffee.

With large windows, a relaxed vibe, and plenty of greenery, Leslie Coffee Co. is exactly the type of place where you’ll be perfectly comfortable whiling away an afternoon with a good book or a good friend. Coffee comes from Oakland, California-Based Mother Tongue and espresso from New York-based Gimme! Coffee, and they’re being made into all the classics. If you’re hungry, don’t miss their variety of creative toasts as well as eggs, oats, and salads.

Roasting coffee in small batches since 2008, Madcap Coffee was founded by longtime friends and coffee lovers Trevor Corlett and Ryan Knapp. The duo spend more than a third of their time traveling the world, tasting more than 3,000 coffees every year and selecting only a few that they find truly special. They pay premium prices for the beans, roast them in their own facility, and brew or ship them within 24 hours of roasting. The end result is some truly great blends as well as single origins including ones grown by Samuel Degelo in Ethiopia and Nelson Moreno in Honduras.

Mocha Lounge has been serving top-notch coffee and espresso drinks since first opening its doors in 2004, and nowadays it’s a Fort Wayne institution. There’s a huge selection of hot, cold, and blended drinks on offer, including house specialties like Snickers mocha, graham cracker chai, and cinnamon honey latte, and there’s also plenty to eat, including cake pops, scones, quiche, made-to-order breakfast sandwiches, and gluten-free cookies.

Founded in Cincinnati by brothers Tony and Austin Ferrari in 2015 and dedicated to their mother, Theresa, Mom ‘n ‘Em Coffee & Wine is a neighborhood café located inside an old brick-walled house. It serves great coffee drinks and pastries as well as high-end teas, wines by the glass or bottle, sandwiches, fresh-baked bread, and tinned fish. Coffee comes from Ferrari Bros., which (as the name might imply) is also in the family – Tony and Austin are roasting it in-house and also selling it to local cafés and restaurants. The duo also owns a popular farm-to-table restaurant, Fausto, at the city’s Contemporary Arts Center.

Kansas City’s bright and inviting Monarch Coffee was opened by husband and wife Tyler and Jaime Rovenstine in 2017 inside the historic Ambassador Building. Tyler has more than 10 years of coffee experience, is Q-grader-certified (kind of like being a sommelier for coffee), and is a national barista competition finalist; Jamie oversees the creative direction. They’re roasting their own coffee and brewing a simple menu of coffee and espresso drinks, all made to order, along with cocktail-inspired seasonal specials like The Alexandria, made with coffee, cranberry, star anise, cinnamon, cardamom, and aromatic bitters and served in a coupe.

Morning Bell Coffee Roasters buys only Fair Trade and organic-certified green coffee beans, as well as some Smithsonian Bird Friendly certified coffees from Selva Negra in Nicaragua – and roasting them all in-house. The whole operation is computer-free, for a truly “made by humans” coffee experience, and social and environmental sustainability is central to what they do. Founder Nadav Mer recently sold the business, which is transitioning into Iowa’s first workers’ cooperative.

Located in the heart of downtown Springfield, Mudhouse Coffee roasts all of its beans in-house, fresh weekly. Coffee is made via French press or drip (the drip coffee is generously bottomless), and along with all the classic coffee drinks they’re also getting creative with offerings like blackberry sage lattes, toffee lattes (with vanilla, caramel, and butterscotch), and the Mudskipper (a latte with Ghirardelli chocolate and hazelnut). They also offer plenty of fun frozen coffee options, smoothies, and killer breakfast burritos and sandwiches.

After forging a cooperative relationship with a community of coffee farmers in Santa María de Jesús, Guatemala, a group of friends founded Deeper Roots Coffee in Cincinnati in 2011. Since then, they’ve continued to collaborate with like-minded coffee producers from diverse regions, exploring taste, quality, and sustainability. Deeper Roots started as a roastery, but they’ve since opened three coffee bars in town, and each is quaint and charming. For aspiring coffee aficionados, they also offer a variety of classes from cupping to espresso making to manual brewing methods.

“Coffee With a Cause” is the motto at Pure Bean, a boutique roastery that sources beans from each of the world’s four major coffee regions and roasts them using a high-tech process called air roasting, which results in a supremely clean-tasting and aromatic cup. And as for that “Cause?” Ten percent of all profits go to charities that help orphans and children living in extreme poverty around the world.

“Qahwah” is the Arabic word for coffee – which reportedly originated in Yemen in the 14th century. The founder, Ibrahim Alhasbani, also hails from Yemen, and that’s where he’s sourcing all his coffee from; in fact, his family owns the coffee farm. His shop is spacious and decorated with Yemeni relics, and the coffee is available in custom blends as well as medium, dark, and espresso roast. If you stop in, be sure to try the sabaya, a flaky, layered traditional Yemeni pastry.

Reverie roasts a variety of small-batch coffees, led by expert coffee roaster Oscar Pineda. Coffee is sourced from around the world and, after roasting, brewed with care, and served in this charming coffee bar or sold wholesale to local businesses and restaurants. Popular blends include Bone Shaker (orange zest, chocolate, and caramel notes), Moonless Midnight (dark chocolate, dates, and pecan notes), and 24K Goat (with notes of chocolate, baking spices, and nuts), and lots of single-origin options are available, too.

Ann Arbor native John Roos carefully sources coffee beans from around the world (primarily Central and South America), and he roasts and sells them at this charming coffee bar and at local farmers markets, coffee shops, and groceries. The shop sells whole beans, a variety of coffee drinks, half-gallons to go, and food options including burritos, coffee cakes, and pastries. The most popular blend is the Sumatra-based Lobster Butter Love, which is smooth and creamy with low acidity and nutty aftertones.

Back in 2013, Jared Linzmeier started roasting coffee beans at his family home in rural Wisconsin and shipping them to cafés and individuals nationwide, and the endeavor proved to be so successful that two years later he converted a nearby warehouse into a roastery and tasting room; a full café and restaurant opened in nearby Stevens Point in 2019. It’s comfortable and thoughtfully-designed, and along with superb coffee guests can buy house-made scones, sweet and savory crêpes, salads, soups, and more. Their coffees rotate frequently and there are always plenty of whole beans on offer; the current single-cup brew is a single origin Gesha Village from Ethiopia.

Making the Windy City swoon since 2015, Two Hearted Queen was founded by Cassandra Andrewson and Cely Garcia on the first floor of an old house. Each room is filled with quirky furniture, making the place fun and comfortable for hanging out. The enterprise was founded with a mission to support sustainable coffee farms, and they roast signature blends in-house with fun names including Love Potion #222 (juicy and velvety) and Witchcraft (dark chocolate with a nutty finish). A variety of pastries and teas round out the menu.

Wesley Andrews is a minimalist, brick-walled coffee shop and roastery that serves fresh-roasted coffee in direct partnership with upstanding farmers and co-ops and tea imported directly from China’s Yunnan Province. Their offerings rotate regularly, but examples include Othaya Chinga from Kenya and Chelbesa from Ethiopia,. Most of their coffees are processed anaerobically, meaning that oxygen is removed for a period of time during fermentation to bring out more fruity and nuanced flavors in the cup.

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.

Youngblood was founded as a grassroots operation in 2016, serving house-roasted coffee in a cool, modern, white-walled space. They offer ethically-sourced, fully-washed Arabica beans, which are roasted in a top-of-the-line Probat roaster to accentuate each coffee’s unique character and flavor. Coffees on offer include Cajamarca from Peru, Yirgacheffe Adado from Ethiopia, and San Agustí­n from Colombia.