Starbucks is EVERYWHERE, but so is McDonald’s. And not many people say it has the best burger.
Here are the coffee shops that true coffee lovers swear beat Starbucks.
We limited this list to multi-city chains, but let us know if we’ve missed your favorite shop in the comments. Maybe it’ll make a future list!
Let’s get caffeinated…
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Locations Starting in Portland, it has five locations in its home city, three in NYC, one in LA, and one in Japan.
Why the coffee’s better than Starbucks: A pioneer of coffee’s “third wave” (e.g. Peet’s and Starbucks were second wave) with an intense focus on quality (e.g. stories of Stumptown paying well above fair trade prices for its coffee beans).
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Locations 3 in Chicago (where it’s based), 4 in Los Angeles, 1 in New York, 2 in Boston, 1 in Austin, and 3 in Korea.
Why the coffee’s better than Starbucks: Beyond the high-falutin’ name, Intelligentsia also claims to “deliver the world’s best coffee.” Starting in 1995, it’s also a great example of “third wave coffee.”
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Locations Nearing 300 locations across the U.S. but still mostly in San Francisco.
Why the coffee’s better than Starbucks: The coffee is so good that Starbucks originally used Peet’s roasted coffee beans.
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Locations More than 13,000 locations worldwide.
Why the coffee’s better than Starbucks: True to its Boston area roots, Dunkin’ is branded as the simpler, lower-frills alternative to Starbucks. Its coffee is milder and doesn’t have that burnt taste.
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Locations Close to 1,000 locations, mostly on the West Coast, but expanding rapidly.
Why the coffee’s better than Starbucks: Starbucks is famous for its tremendous number of customizations, but Dutch Bros is hard to beat on variety. In addition to the classics, Dutch Bros has protein coffees, nitro, and more dessert-y options like its blended freezes.
And if you need a break from coffee, they also have their Dutch Bros Rebel energy drinks (Shark Attack!),
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Locations Over 5,000 locations, mostly in its home country of Canada, but still hundreds in the U.S.
Why the coffee’s better than Starbucks: Kinda like Dunkin’ for folks in New England, Canadians will swear by Tim’s. And like Dunkin’s coffee, it’s smoother than Starbucks.
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Locations Over 1,000 locations, mostly centered around its home in the Philly area in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. But it’s continuing to spread from there.
Why the coffee’s better than Starbucks: Yeah, OK, we get that a convenience store/gas station doesn’t scream “Good Coffee Here!” But give it a chance. You self-serve from pre-made coffee pots and get a wonderful selection of milks and creamers and sweeteners. Ground cinnamon, anyone? You can also order a fancier coffee if you don’t want to mess with the self-service station. And, yes, Wawa has a RABID group of fans!
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Locations Over 750 across 11 countries. Almost 300 in its home state of Minnesota and heavy in the Midwest.
Why the coffee’s better than Starbucks: This chain feels like a warm winter lodge, and boasts “handcrafted drinks” from beans that are “roasted by one person, on one machine, one batch at a time.”
Pro tip beyond coffee: Their hot chocolate is AMAZING! Even better than Dunkin’s, which is also quite good.
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Locations Dozens of locations across the US plus some international cafes.
Why the coffee’s better than Starbucks: OK, purists will point to Nestle owning a majority stake these days and accuse it of becoming more style than substance, but coffee nerds do seem to love its actual, you know, coffee.
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Locations Almost 40,000 worldwide.
Why the coffee’s better that the competition: Whether you love it or loathe it, Starbucks’ signature “burnt” taste is distinctive and makes many other coffees feel “weak.”
Add in the convenience of so many locations and flawless mobile app ordering, and it’s no wonder Starbucks is the place so many of us go even if we prefer the coffee at other coffee shops.
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So there you have it – nine coffee spots that genuinely have a good argument for being better than Starbucks.
And each of them has a good point to make!
But a question remains…
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What’s your go-to for coffee?
Are you a Starbucks stan or do you prefer one of the other cafes we’ve listed?
Relatedly, do you have an “everyday” coffee place and a “special occasions” cafe?
Let us know in the comments section!
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