The Best Independent Coffee Shops in the South

The charming Bandit Coffee Co. is bright and spacious, and has lines out the door nearly every day. The coffee here is carefully sourced and roasted in-house, and is THE place in town for serious coffee drinkers to get their fix. There’s a Staple Blend that’s rich in chocolate and caramel notes, but their single-origins — including Reserva Palmichal from Colombia and Haru Welabu from Ethiopia — are truly spectacular.

Founded by expert roaster Chris O’Brien (and named after his pygmy goat, Butters), Civil Goat Coffee roasts and brews specialty coffee with beans sourced from sustainable farms all over the world. Located in the eclectic Austin neighborhood of Cuernavaca, the shop’s mission is to be a space that promotes the exchange of new ideas, fosters creativity, and encourages locals to slow down and enjoy a cup of coffee. They roast a popular house blend as well as single-origins including Los Encinos from Guatemala and Yirgacheffe from Ethiopia, available by the cup, by the bag, and through a delivery-based subscription service.

Greenville’s family-owned Coyote Coffee has three convivial locations in town. It’s best known for its wide variety of expertly made hot, frozen, and iced coffee drinks; made-to-order smoothies; and wide variety of breakfast items, sandwiches, and salads. There are always plenty of seasonal specialty drinks, but year-round favorites include Birthday Cake Mocha (with which chocolate, cupcake, and vanilla), Cowboy S’More (toasted marshmallow, vanilla, and chocolate), and Javelina Cheesecake Swirl (cheesecake, tiramisù, white chocolate, and butter pecan).

Located in the heart of Nashville, Crema Coffee Roasters opened in 2007 after being (literally) built by hand by owners Ben and Rachel Lehman. Three years later, they finally began roasting their own beans, which they source from farmers they know and trust. Each coffee bag label has origin details down to the farm or mill where the coffee was processed, and they pay above fair trade market value for their beans. It’s also a zero waste and a completely carbon neutral business. Four single-origin coffees are available by the cup at any time; a flight of all four will seriously boost your coffee knowledge.

An Outer Banks mainstay since 2004, the homey Dancing Turtle is located right across from the fishing harbor in Hatteras Village and is an ideal jumping-off point for a day of island adventures. Longtime customers Amber and Malcolm Dawson purchased the shop from the previous owners in 2020, and thankfully kept the place pretty much the same: they offer a house blend as well as more than a dozen other coffees from origins including Sumatra, Colombia, and Tanzania; 25 varieties of tea; well-made espresso drinks; specialty drinks including Mexican spiced cocoa and smoothies; and homemade muffins.

This wouldn’t be a bad place to wait if Doomsday were approaching. Doomsday roasts a variety of coffees including Guatemala Antigua Carmen and Costa Rica Turrazu El Pastora, and they provide useful info for each like the region, growing altitude, and even the milling process. There are also plenty of iced drinks available (try the iced white mocha.) as well as some of the best breakfast tacos in town.

East Pole opened in Atlanta in 2017 with a goal to buck the unfortunate pretentious norms that so often come with specialty coffee culture and to create a warm, inviting environment. Instead of ordering at the counter, guests are served at their seat in an industrial space that is sleek and bright. House-roasted single-origins include Cyimbili Reserve from Rwanda, Santiago Atitlán from Oaxaca, Mexico, and their flagship, Traffic, from Honduras.

Elemental is a small-batch roastery and café in Oklahoma City, on a mission to source, sample, import, roast, and deliver the finest coffees available in the world. Their goal is to serve coffee in its purest form, as it is intended to taste, and they embrace the individuality of every lot. At their bright, minimalist establishment, they serve a full menu of common espresso drinks and pour-over coffees made with serious attention to detail, and their menu of breakfast, lunch, and weekend brunch items uses locally-sourced ingredients and has something for everyone.

Miami’s Eternity Coffee Roasters is meticulous about their coffee. All their coffee is grown on their family-owned farms in Antioquia, Colombia, and it’s processed at a mill they own in Medellín. The green coffee beans are then individually scanned for imperfections, and hundreds of cups are sampled by their Q grader and quality expert before being approved. The green beans are then shipped to the roastery in Miami, where they’re roasted, brewed, and served. It’s one of the few completely vertically integrated coffee operations in the country, and the end result is a truly spectacular cup.

A labor of love for founders Trey and Mallory Woods, Hoboken Coffee Roasters opened its doors inside an abandoned old garage in 2012. The Woods spent years converting it into one of the most welcoming spaces in the historic town of Guthrie, and the daily crowds imply that they must be doing something right. They roast single-origin coffees from Colombia, Ethiopia, and Sumatra, and also crafting several blends.

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.

Lamplighter is a cozy coffee bar that’ roasts a variety of blends and single-origins available as drip coffee or turned into a variety of specialty drinks including cortados, 24-hour cold brew, and even “Turbo Coke” – Coca-Cola with a double shot of espresso added. There are also some seasonal specials and breakfast items, as well as beans by the pound.

LDU may be a grab-and-go business, but the coffee they serve is truly great. It was founded by brothers Mark and Adam Lowes in downtown Perth, Australia, where it earned great acclaim. Ten years after its debut, the two found themselves in Dallas with no options for a strong cup of coffee – so they picked up and moved to America, bringing their unique style of coffee to Texas. Today there are three Dallas locations, all serving up their signature strong, bold, supercharged take on classic Italian espresso. Be sure to try their signature cinnamon swirl loaf and toasted banana bread.

This low-key, tin-roofed coffee shop – unpretentious and unassuming – is the centerpiece of an initiative that started in 2014 to revitalize an unoccupied block of tattered buildings and turn them into community gathering places. The coffee here is top-notch and brewed with love, and it’s also home to the city’s only “toast bar,” using ingredients sourced locally. Drop by on Wednesdays for live music.

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.

Nestled in the picturesque mountain town of Waynesville, between the Great Smoky and Blue Ridge mountains in western North Carolina, Orchard Coffee is the brainchild of award-winning latte artist Cabell Tice, who moved from Ames, Iowa, with his wife Sophie and two kids to make his dream a reality. He brews coffee from Seattle-based Streamline coffee, which he turns into a small variety of classic coffee and espresso drinks and serves in a bright, inviting, modern space. And, of course, the latte art is spectacular.

Also located in Waynesville (a real coffee shop capital!), Panacea Coffee Co. has exposed brick walls, plenty of seating, and a back deck overlooking a scenic creek, and is a great place to while away an afternoon over conversation or with a good book. Opened in a historic warehouse building in 2001, it’s a full-service espresso bar and roastery roasting specialty-grade beans in-house and serving a variety of coffee drinks. They also sell many single-origin whole-bean coffee, and there’s a full menu of sandwiches and salads.

Megan and Wade Preston had spent time working in the non-profit sector and were looking for a way to create a space that cultivated an authentic and diverse community while also improving the lives of their friends in the developing world, and they realized that coffee was the perfect solution. They opened Prevail Union in 2014 and it was such a success that they soon began roasting their own beans. They serve a variety of single origin coffees as well as blends, and each has handy tasting notes (like “strawberry, vanilla, walnut” for their Ethiopian Sidama Legend). They also offer a wide variety of gift subscriptions. They work closely with each of their coffee farmers, and the coffee shop itself is sleek and comfortable.

This Louisville specialty coffee roaster was founded by Nathan Quillo in 2007, and coffee enthusiasts from across the city soon fell in love with its carefully sourced, expertly roasted, and thoughtfully brewed coffee. Coffee shops around the country are also buying their beans wholesale, a testament to just how great this coffee is. Single-origin coffees come from El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, and Mexico, and Quill’s is constantly on the lookout for intriguing new coffees, including one from Tolima, Colombia, processed using anaerobic fermentation.

Located in a converted garage, Rev Coffee has been sourcing and roasting their own beans since 2010. It’s become a beloved local gathering place, serving cult-favorite choices like the best-selling Consensus Blend, a chocolatey, dark-roasted combination of Brazilian Cerrado and Colombian Antioquia. They supply coffee to lots of local cafés and restaurants, and turn them into expertly-crafted coffee drinks in-store. And on a hot day, nothing beats their frozen hot chocolate.

Seeds Coffee was founded by five friends as a nonprofit coffee shop and music venue in 2013. They source high quality beans from around the world and roast them in-house, and if you visit the cute shop on a mission to buy some whole beans, you’ll be greeted with plenty of options including Maragogipe from Guatemala, Hacienda La Esmeralda from Panama, and Abdu Kossa from Ethiopia. At the counter, they sell drip coffee, a rotating single-origin, and made-to-order pour over along with teas, espresso drinks, and breakfast items including a to-die-for sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit.

Going strong inside Atlanta’s Ponce City Market since 2015 with a second location in the city’s Toco Hills neighborhood, the baseball-themed Spiller Park coffee serves coffee from Atlanta-based Portrait Coffee, and while the lineup of coffee and espresso drinks doesn’t stray too far from the norm, each cup is roasted with precision and made with care. If you’re hungry, don’t pass up their signature avocado toast with a fried egg on top.

When tiny Spitfire Coffee opened in 2013, it was one of the first specialty coffee shops in New Orleans, and it remains the best. They source a constantly rotating selection of the best-quality single origin beans they can find, and four to five of them at a time are brewed via pour-over. The beans are also turned into classic espresso-based drinks as well as specialty offerings including a Brown Butter Mocha and Las Tres Flores with lavender milk, orange blossom syrup, and rose petals.

Vice City Bean is a fun and funky Miami coffee shop with locations in the city’s Arts & Entertainment District, at the Citadel Food Hall in Little River, and in Brickell’s Sabadell Financial Center. A community-oriented coffee shop, Vice City serves coffee from Michigan-based Madcap Coffee and San Francisco-based Four Barrel Coffee as well as tea from Miami’s own JoJo Tea. Murals from local artists line the walls, locally-picked flowers decorate the rooms, and all baked goods are made in-house or sourced from local vendors like Fufi’s Empanadas.

The husband and wife duo of Brandon and Nicole Wells grew up loving coffee, and after being gifted with a small coffee roaster, they became obsessed. Coffee boot camp, an origin trip to Colombia, and a successful Kickstarter campaign soon followed, and Wells Coffee Company was born in 2013. They source their beans from the best growing regions on earth, roast them daily on-premises, and sell both single-origin coffees and expertly crafted blends. The café itself is welcoming, with plenty of seating, and one sip of their coffee will tell you how seriously they take it.