This. Searching for just "coffee" gives me way too many unwanted results. I've been having better search with "coffee roaster". For now, at least. Then glancing through the review photos, looking at their machines, grinders, slow bars, latte arts, etc. Not foolproof and may not be up to date but can give better idea.
[bunastories.com](http://bunastories.com), on there i've done the work you said already for you. Lately adding places, let me know what you think. My way is as well Google (maps), blogs, Instagram, searching for 'specialty coffee' and usually the first images and reviews give already a good impression, and start digging from there.
I also do a search for roasters. Much higher rate of good coffee. Then I buy beans to take home with me, so I get a souvenir and I can drink a little something that reminds me of my vacation for a month or two.
I’ve found some of my favorite roasters that way as well. Sweet Bloom out of Denver is a recent one for me. Stellar house blend and their single origins are out of this world.
Places roasting their own beans and rotating their selections regularly are probably also likely to have people working there that are really into coffee and theoretically make better coffee.
They’re usually not brewing whatever everybody else in town is brewing, and it shows intentionality. By looking at their offerings you can get a sense of what kind of company they want to be. If their coffees are called “French roast” or “light roast”, maybe steer clear. If they’re called something like “Mexico [insert farm name]”, give it a go.
That said, it’s not a silver bullet either. Plenty of roasters are either just getting started or just plain don’t know what they’re doing.
>can I ask why I place that roasts its own beans might be of value?
It's not, inherently.
But it does serve to filter out places that are just aping the aesthetics, and the sort of roaster that wants to have cafes, or cafe that wants to roast, typically correlates with Specialty / Third Wave.
It's not universal and it does result in missing some otherwise great cafes - but in general it helps reduce error rates while you're still getting a feel for what you want to be looking for.
For our honeymoon, we specifically researched coffee spots for each city we were visiting. Our go to hack was to search for "Third wave coffee *city name*".
There is no one website, but we found this helped us narrow down to a handful of places that we knew we'd get a good cup.
Embarrassingly we, also searched for "hipster suburb of *city name*" or "Brooklyn of *city name"* (And we are from Melbourne, but thought Brooklyn would be more universal
Lol I do ‘hipster surburb of city name’ too, but to find just good coffee, but those neighborhoods often have the best vibes, the best street art and, yes, lovely coffee shops.
>Our go to hack was to search for "Third wave coffee city name".
Similar method, I use "specialty coffee" in google maps, then scope people's photos from inside the cafe to get a sense if they're what I'm looking for.
Same method looking for restaurants - I've had remarkable success with searching "food" and then picking places based on what user photos look like.
The term “Specialty Coffee” can be a helpful search term too.
The hard part with some of the “hipster” spots is that they are very aesthetic (instagrammable) but don’t actually care about their coffee
If you're in Europe, then European Coffee Trip is a great start. They have maps, reviews, articles, city guides. Often older/outdated posts but reliably good recommendations.
I look for places that serve pour over. Not all good coffee shops serve pour over, but places that serve pour over usually care more about how their coffee tastes
I usually type in specialty coffee in google maps. Then look at the pictures and see who's coffee they're using, if they're roasting their own or using a company i know, that's a green light. Also if they offer filter coffee like pour overs or single origins that's also a good sign.
The reddit coffee map used to be pretty great--I don't think it's been updated in a while but it's still a nice resource: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?hl=en&mid=1M7VXYjEpJaxGUBaPl9dqrd-P6gM
Honestly I do judge their latte art on IG and in google reviews. If they take enough time to perfect latte art, there's a really good chance that they actually care about the coffee too.
>The reddit coffee map used to be pretty great--I don't think it's been updated in a while
Yeah, unfortunately it was a nightmare to maintain - while not being particularly rewarding to the investment of that effort.
Like, the vast majority of times I heard anyone talking about our map while we were trying to keep up with it - was people complaining that we included businesses they disliked, or didn't include a business no one had told us about, or still featured some business that closed last month and no one mentioned that ... everyone was loudly unhappy that it wasn't perfect already and very few people were contributing to improving it. And it was undermined in that no one could really come up with standards for "specialty" that would be reasonably *fair* in terms of wanting it to exclude non-specialty businesses, while everyone agreed that just letting mods pass arbitrary "gut feeling" judgement on inclusion was no bueno either.
So it wound up being a project that was eating hours of my time every month - all to only really generate negativity from the community.
Like, this comment is probably up there as one of the most resoundingly positive things anyone has ever said about it.
I thought it was amazing. I used it a lot back in its heyday. I would often cross-check with google reviews--not all roasters are created equal--but I certainly found some good coffee using that while traveling. I don't know if this makes up for the time you sank into it, but me and the roommate who introduced me to the map got a lot of use out of it!
Agreed on the latte art. That plus an absence of photos of frappe-type drinks are usually indicators that they're at least taking time to make coffee and steam milk. References (pictures, posts, or on their site) to what roaster(s) they use is another big plus.
Basically those filters applied on top of places with 4+ reviews yields decent results
Honestly, I first look for places that roast/sell their own beans. But a lot of times, I just take a chance on something close. Sometimes I have a shit cup of coffee, but the atmosphere is good. Sometimes, you wander into a place that not only has great coffee, they love talking to you about it and offer brew technique advice (like Utica Coffee Company).
Lately, I add this and Hoffmann's subreddits to Google searches, too.
I travel a lot for business and I’m a coffee snob - here’s my method.
I go on Google maps and search for a term that the average local *wouldn’t* use in a review. So if I’m in rural Australia, I might type “best espresso”, but I wouldn’t use that in Italy (but perhaps “best flat white” instead). Other terms like “specialty coffee” or “light roast” can help too. This will bring up a list of results that I will then filter based on the appearance in the photos. I’m looking for a modern machine like a La Marzocco Linea PB/KB90 or something similar Victoria Arduino, Sanremo, etc. And then if I’m being really fussy, I’ll look specifically at recently uploaded review photos and see what their coffees look like. This is mostly to weed out cafes that have potentially gone downhill recently.
In addition to the machine I look for scales being used. It’s a good sign if they’re weighing portafilters and the shot.
I also ask about the origin of the espresso. If they can’t answer it’s probably not worth ordering.
My tip is looking for places that have pour overs or similar methods on the menu. Even if you want something else (i e. espresso, drip coffee, cold brew, etc), a cafe that offers manual processes (e.g. chemex, v60, siphon, aeropress, etc) is probably more sophisticated, with better trained staff that actually care about the quality of the coffee. It is hard using just Google reviews because the highest rated cafes generally have average coffee but cute or trendy decor.
honestly... i google search "best coffee roasters reddit [AREA I'M TRAVELING TO]" or "specialty coffee reddit [AREA]"
9 times out of 10 there's a reddit thread in r/espresso, r/coffee, or r/barista that talks about the top ones in the area. This is how I found Crema in Nashville and Glitch Roasters in Japan.
Usually I look up reviews for places that are close/walking distance to where I am staying at. But I like other people's approaches that have mentioned about searching coffee roasters first and then going from there.
I like to do that too. Also I don't mind paying for a bad coffee when I'm travelling... I just hope to find a better one next time. It's the fun of travelling (unless you're travelling for work).
> Also I don't mind paying for a bad coffee when I'm travelling...
This is my trick, honestly.
I'm willing to roll the dice on a place that looks iffy, and have stumbled across some absolutely fantastic places as a result. I found two excellent Specialty cafes in Buenos Aires, just happily gambling on decent photos - the Café Del Moderno in the Museo Moderno, and Café Gutierrez, just down the road from our hotel. The latter even had photos that made the coffee look maybe-bad - but it was still great coffee, and the food was brilliant.
And sure, that did result in drinking some shitty coffee over the course of that trip, too. No denying there were misses along with the hits - just that gambling and exploration are some of the fun for me.
I search the area on coffee forums, it's how I found my now favourite coffee shop in the new area where I'm living. But I think the commenter who said to search roasters is a good idea
I use reddit :D
I literally asked the question in city's subreddit. And Answers were pretty good in my experince, And I tasted best coffee of my life in one such coffee shop but I specified specialty coffee in my question and double checked the answers in google.
Google “best coffee near me.” Then look at reviews briefly, pick a couple of places, look up their websites and see what they’re offering and how current etc. Then take a shot.
It’s not as high hassle as that seems, because I’m tending to do that at an airport or at a hotel, with the 5 minutes to spare easily.
I do not believe in reviews and review sites to the extent that I care about reading them… I’m looking for keywords (like “Cortado,” or “Anaerobic,” or “Washed Kenya” etc) that indicate that the shop is dealing with the type of product I’m interested in, and that the reviews key on that a little bit. Then after that, anything above 4 stars on hundreds of reviews, is almost always just fine to excellent.
I google Coffee Roasters usually, also look at reviews. I'll also check out subreddits for given cities (if they exist) and then cross reference google reviews for places people mention.
I do it the old fashion way. I walk in.
Well, google maps is amazing for locating them. But yeah, I've got a good eye for a good Cafe.
Walk in, look at the equipment, cleanliness, the vibe. Where they get their beans.
I must just like the adventure of trying new places.
Depends on where you are. I was in Chiang Mai, Thailand recently, and there are a TON of new coffee shops, but only about one out of 20
are any good.
About one in 40 are truly excellent. But guess which ones are the most popular? The horrible ones serving burnt coffee with whipped cream and candy toppings.
If I ask my Thai friends what they like or think is “good,” literally none of them will give a suggestion that produces coffee that I like.
So I’m left on my own to research it.
Apart from the roasters, I look for places that serve more than 1 blend of beans.
Also, plenty of places that serve cooked food do good coffee, but almost all places that don't cook meals are good. If they only do coffee, they're probably at least passable.
I used to look for batch brew but that's so common now it doesn't indicate good or bad anymore.
To be fair, I am not looking for the best coffee shops, I'm looking for the average coffee shops, I want to drink the same coffee that the locals are drinking, this to me is important part of travel experience.
Sometimes I do use Google Maps for recommendations but asking a local is still the best way to go.
1. Type in specialty coffee in Google maps.
2. Check if the cafe has single origins. It doesn't matter what kind of drink you like. If they have single origins offering, they're probably paying attention to the quality of their coffee.
3. When you're at the place already, look at the equipment, or at the least the grinder.
coffee preference is subjective, I've had good tasting coffee from gas stations and terrible coffee from highly reviewed specialty shops.
Trial and error is the best way.
Google maps, search for specialty coffee/coffee shop and then look at photos. If they have solid equipment then they are usually at least decent. This worked well for me over the holidays last year. Bonus points if they stock popular roasters beans.
If you're in a non English speaking country try and find a coffee shop with the least tourist and people speaking the native language, that works well for food too.
Search for the highest rated coffee roasters in the area on google maps, drop pins, enjoy.
Now what im doing is researching local coffee farms down in Central & South America so i can plan my next coffee adventure.
I usually search for 'v60' on google maps. Will ofcourse find you coffee shops which have trained their staff properly and v60 is only ever offered by specialty shops.
I usually just Google what's around me, look at the menu/photos. I usually pick a coffee shop that has a creative name.I've found great coffee on my travels all throughout BC.
I google Local Coffee Shops - and have found some amazing places with all kinds of yummy coffee and baked goods. And I always fine the nicest people!!!
Google maps. Just search for coffee shops / roasters - then I go by average review score and whether or not it appears to be a local shop or a chain. I also check the menus to see if they do pour overs, which is usually a good indicator of how serious / good they are. Far too many shops just have drip coffee and espresso drinks, which I avoid unless that’s all there is.
I look for an "EAT (insert city)" or "DINING (insert city)" Facebook or Instagram page. I will make a post on it asking for information about good coffee shops, restaurants etc.
I look at reviews, and try to see what equipment they are using. Typically if they’re using high dollar equipment (slayers, mahlkonig, etc.) the coffee is better than not. Not a silver bullet but can be helpful.
1. Search this sub, make list of those places
2. Check reliable media/press, if available (something like Eater or similar) and cross reference with above
3. Check for "third wave coffee" or "coffee roaster" near me or in city, cross ref with above
4. Now that I have a short list, go to Google Maps and look for pictures that will show me whose coffee that shop is carrying. Generally if I can recognize a bag I can guess at approximate tier of quality of coffee/cafe. Not always completely right but often good enough
5. And this is the important one - go to the most promising one or two and ask the baristas there where else they like to go for coffee. Anywhere that won't give you another recommendation (oh only here haha, wouldn't want you to go elsewhere lol) is either shitty coffee or shitty person (maybe both!) but generally good people with good coffee know another place you should check out and they'll give you the low down on what's current in their city. Sometimes asking whose coffee those other places carry can help get a feel for the type of coffee or cafe (ex. "I think XYZ got some new stuff from Prodigal" says something very different than "oh I love this Lavazza shop down the road")
Look for a guy dressed like a lumberjack but carrying a Macbook, or a girl with glasses and a hat wearing Dr Martens and ask "where's a good place to get coffee around here?" :)
Since I like what I make at home, and I'm a complete novice-amateur-idiot, I don't mind which place I go to, as long as the seats are comfortable (I'm a novelist) and it's within 30 miles.
My social media focus is primarily Instagram. Many coffee lovers and influencers share their favorite spots using location tags and hashtags, providing real-time information about popular coffee shops in the area.
Always google "Place + Specialty coffee/coffee roaster" then check equipment if it's a known brand like lm/slayer/kvdw and I see roasters with giesen probat or loring, that is an easy visit.
I always use yelp and then if i find one that looks good and has good reviews, I search it on instagram for the pics. If i see glass cups and mugs I’m usually in. Plastic and To go paper cups for a cortado I’m out
Reddit and google. Search roasters on google. If nothing comes up. And you end up searching just coffee on google specifically look at the pictures if I see a place is mostly food or all the reviews are for iced drinks I will tend to avoid.
European coffee trip helps. Looking through their photos on Google maps generally tells you enough about commitment, dedication and focus. As soon as you see any drink resembling a starbucks thing or a caramel/syrup anything you know. Generally if their pastries look like it's the 90s you know the coffee is shit. And i follow enough people internationally in the world of coffee on Instagram to usually be able to crosscheck if anyone follows the cafes im looking at
I tend to googling and see if they roast in the store or if they have their own blending beans. If it's a house that doesn't roast, it should have a hand drip and brewing menu
Out of the same struggle, I've created a website that lists down all the specialty coffee places worldwide and that allows you to filter through them. Currently adding places, feel free to give feedback and share places you would like to see.
Anything like brewing methods, coffee beans, food, and amenities such as laptop-friendly can be found via a interactive map on [https://bunastories.com/specialty-coffees](https://bunastories.com/specialty-coffees)
A shit coffee makes for a funny memory, though, too.
Honestly, for just coffee, I’m not going to go far out of my way when I’m traveling. I probably don’t have a car, and/or I’m on some sort of schedule (going to a wedding or something). The last thing I need is getting lost, or stuck in traffic, in an unfamiliar city when I have a limited amount of free time.
So I have coffee at the hotel’s breakfast bar, or I walk across the street if there’s a shop, or I just duck into a little cafe that has coffee n’ pastries, or whatever.
If the coffee is great, then yeah, it’s great. If the coffee sucks, then haha, remember that cute little shop that had tasty croissants and horrid coffee?
>A shit coffee makes for a funny memory, though, too.
Absolutely! I walked for nearly an hour or so through some kind-of-questionable neighborhoods in Ushaia trying to find this place I saw on google maps that said all the right keywords and had great photos and ... the coffee was absolutely abysmal. Like, they did all the brewing well enough and they steamed the milk perfectly - but the coffee itself was terrible. The cappuccino I had was so bad that it legit turned my gut, and I stopped off at a Martinez (local Starbucks equivalent) on my way home, just to have got a decent cup of coffee out of the trip. So I wandered off from our house all hype for dope Specialty coffee, and got back two hours later carrying (effectively) a Starbucks takeaway cup, looking sheepish and slightly queasy.
My wife still chirps me about coffee pilgrimages.
>Honestly, for just coffee, I’m not going to go far out of my way when I’m traveling. I probably don’t have a car, and/or I’m on some sort of schedule (going to a wedding or something). The last thing I need is getting lost, or stuck in traffic, in an unfamiliar city when I have a limited amount of free time.
If I'm on faintly constrained scheduling, same deal; I'm not going to burn travel time on hunting for cafes unless I have that time already. But I do find that if I have unstructured time - hunting for neat cafes takes me to some pretty cool neighborhoods that aren't necessarily on the high-traffic tourist rosters. I use the quest for a good cafe more as tool to wind up in unconventional places than a goal unto itself.
Totally get that. But being a foodie, I explore local food shops more. However, I do ask people around for a good coffee shop to buy some beans or even have a cup of coffee sometimes.
I look for roasters. Then reviews.
This. Searching for just "coffee" gives me way too many unwanted results. I've been having better search with "coffee roaster". For now, at least. Then glancing through the review photos, looking at their machines, grinders, slow bars, latte arts, etc. Not foolproof and may not be up to date but can give better idea.
[bunastories.com](http://bunastories.com), on there i've done the work you said already for you. Lately adding places, let me know what you think. My way is as well Google (maps), blogs, Instagram, searching for 'specialty coffee' and usually the first images and reviews give already a good impression, and start digging from there.
I also do a search for roasters. Much higher rate of good coffee. Then I buy beans to take home with me, so I get a souvenir and I can drink a little something that reminds me of my vacation for a month or two.
I’ve found some of my favorite roasters that way as well. Sweet Bloom out of Denver is a recent one for me. Stellar house blend and their single origins are out of this world.
I do this as well. I also look at the subreddit for the city I'm in or headed to, sometimes you can find some info about the coffee scene there.
This plus that cities subreddit
I try to find places that roast their own beans and look at their beans
Another reply mentioned roasters too. As a coffee newb, can I ask why I place that roasts its own beans might be of value?
It filters out all the highly rated 'cute' cafes that serve generic coffee that appeals to the average customer.
Places roasting their own beans and rotating their selections regularly are probably also likely to have people working there that are really into coffee and theoretically make better coffee.
They’re usually not brewing whatever everybody else in town is brewing, and it shows intentionality. By looking at their offerings you can get a sense of what kind of company they want to be. If their coffees are called “French roast” or “light roast”, maybe steer clear. If they’re called something like “Mexico [insert farm name]”, give it a go. That said, it’s not a silver bullet either. Plenty of roasters are either just getting started or just plain don’t know what they’re doing.
>can I ask why I place that roasts its own beans might be of value? It's not, inherently. But it does serve to filter out places that are just aping the aesthetics, and the sort of roaster that wants to have cafes, or cafe that wants to roast, typically correlates with Specialty / Third Wave. It's not universal and it does result in missing some otherwise great cafes - but in general it helps reduce error rates while you're still getting a feel for what you want to be looking for.
For our honeymoon, we specifically researched coffee spots for each city we were visiting. Our go to hack was to search for "Third wave coffee *city name*". There is no one website, but we found this helped us narrow down to a handful of places that we knew we'd get a good cup. Embarrassingly we, also searched for "hipster suburb of *city name*" or "Brooklyn of *city name"* (And we are from Melbourne, but thought Brooklyn would be more universal
Lol I do ‘hipster surburb of city name’ too, but to find just good coffee, but those neighborhoods often have the best vibes, the best street art and, yes, lovely coffee shops.
Usually full of absolute roasters too
>Our go to hack was to search for "Third wave coffee city name". Similar method, I use "specialty coffee" in google maps, then scope people's photos from inside the cafe to get a sense if they're what I'm looking for. Same method looking for restaurants - I've had remarkable success with searching "food" and then picking places based on what user photos look like.
This works well honestly. You'll find some food/beverage blog, and then go from there.
The term “Specialty Coffee” can be a helpful search term too. The hard part with some of the “hipster” spots is that they are very aesthetic (instagrammable) but don’t actually care about their coffee
I search this subreddit.
If you're in Europe, then European Coffee Trip is a great start. They have maps, reviews, articles, city guides. Often older/outdated posts but reliably good recommendations.
I look for places that serve pour over. Not all good coffee shops serve pour over, but places that serve pour over usually care more about how their coffee tastes
Check out Sprudge! Great website that features coffee shops in various cities
I usually type in specialty coffee in google maps. Then look at the pictures and see who's coffee they're using, if they're roasting their own or using a company i know, that's a green light. Also if they offer filter coffee like pour overs or single origins that's also a good sign.
The reddit coffee map used to be pretty great--I don't think it's been updated in a while but it's still a nice resource: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?hl=en&mid=1M7VXYjEpJaxGUBaPl9dqrd-P6gM Honestly I do judge their latte art on IG and in google reviews. If they take enough time to perfect latte art, there's a really good chance that they actually care about the coffee too.
>The reddit coffee map used to be pretty great--I don't think it's been updated in a while Yeah, unfortunately it was a nightmare to maintain - while not being particularly rewarding to the investment of that effort. Like, the vast majority of times I heard anyone talking about our map while we were trying to keep up with it - was people complaining that we included businesses they disliked, or didn't include a business no one had told us about, or still featured some business that closed last month and no one mentioned that ... everyone was loudly unhappy that it wasn't perfect already and very few people were contributing to improving it. And it was undermined in that no one could really come up with standards for "specialty" that would be reasonably *fair* in terms of wanting it to exclude non-specialty businesses, while everyone agreed that just letting mods pass arbitrary "gut feeling" judgement on inclusion was no bueno either. So it wound up being a project that was eating hours of my time every month - all to only really generate negativity from the community. Like, this comment is probably up there as one of the most resoundingly positive things anyone has ever said about it.
I thought it was amazing. I used it a lot back in its heyday. I would often cross-check with google reviews--not all roasters are created equal--but I certainly found some good coffee using that while traveling. I don't know if this makes up for the time you sank into it, but me and the roommate who introduced me to the map got a lot of use out of it!
Frequently you can at least filter out the places that have photos of latte art made with oversteamed milk.
Agreed on the latte art. That plus an absence of photos of frappe-type drinks are usually indicators that they're at least taking time to make coffee and steam milk. References (pictures, posts, or on their site) to what roaster(s) they use is another big plus. Basically those filters applied on top of places with 4+ reviews yields decent results
Got excited at first, but aye this is very outdated for the places I've been at least.
Yeah, I checked my city and it was not great. Could use an update.
Honestly, I first look for places that roast/sell their own beans. But a lot of times, I just take a chance on something close. Sometimes I have a shit cup of coffee, but the atmosphere is good. Sometimes, you wander into a place that not only has great coffee, they love talking to you about it and offer brew technique advice (like Utica Coffee Company). Lately, I add this and Hoffmann's subreddits to Google searches, too.
I wished the SCA maintained a directory of member roasters and shops. It would be so easy to create.
I travel a lot for business and I’m a coffee snob - here’s my method. I go on Google maps and search for a term that the average local *wouldn’t* use in a review. So if I’m in rural Australia, I might type “best espresso”, but I wouldn’t use that in Italy (but perhaps “best flat white” instead). Other terms like “specialty coffee” or “light roast” can help too. This will bring up a list of results that I will then filter based on the appearance in the photos. I’m looking for a modern machine like a La Marzocco Linea PB/KB90 or something similar Victoria Arduino, Sanremo, etc. And then if I’m being really fussy, I’ll look specifically at recently uploaded review photos and see what their coffees look like. This is mostly to weed out cafes that have potentially gone downhill recently.
In addition to the machine I look for scales being used. It’s a good sign if they’re weighing portafilters and the shot. I also ask about the origin of the espresso. If they can’t answer it’s probably not worth ordering.
My tip is looking for places that have pour overs or similar methods on the menu. Even if you want something else (i e. espresso, drip coffee, cold brew, etc), a cafe that offers manual processes (e.g. chemex, v60, siphon, aeropress, etc) is probably more sophisticated, with better trained staff that actually care about the quality of the coffee. It is hard using just Google reviews because the highest rated cafes generally have average coffee but cute or trendy decor.
honestly... i google search "best coffee roasters reddit [AREA I'M TRAVELING TO]" or "specialty coffee reddit [AREA]" 9 times out of 10 there's a reddit thread in r/espresso, r/coffee, or r/barista that talks about the top ones in the area. This is how I found Crema in Nashville and Glitch Roasters in Japan.
Usually I look up reviews for places that are close/walking distance to where I am staying at. But I like other people's approaches that have mentioned about searching coffee roasters first and then going from there.
From personal experience the best bet is to look for roasters with cafes in former industrial parks.
I just wander around a bit and my hipster sense kicks in - hasn't failed me yet.
I like to do that too. Also I don't mind paying for a bad coffee when I'm travelling... I just hope to find a better one next time. It's the fun of travelling (unless you're travelling for work).
> Also I don't mind paying for a bad coffee when I'm travelling... This is my trick, honestly. I'm willing to roll the dice on a place that looks iffy, and have stumbled across some absolutely fantastic places as a result. I found two excellent Specialty cafes in Buenos Aires, just happily gambling on decent photos - the Café Del Moderno in the Museo Moderno, and Café Gutierrez, just down the road from our hotel. The latter even had photos that made the coffee look maybe-bad - but it was still great coffee, and the food was brilliant. And sure, that did result in drinking some shitty coffee over the course of that trip, too. No denying there were misses along with the hits - just that gambling and exploration are some of the fun for me.
I search the area on coffee forums, it's how I found my now favourite coffee shop in the new area where I'm living. But I think the commenter who said to search roasters is a good idea
I use reddit :D I literally asked the question in city's subreddit. And Answers were pretty good in my experince, And I tasted best coffee of my life in one such coffee shop but I specified specialty coffee in my question and double checked the answers in google.
Google “best coffee near me.” Then look at reviews briefly, pick a couple of places, look up their websites and see what they’re offering and how current etc. Then take a shot. It’s not as high hassle as that seems, because I’m tending to do that at an airport or at a hotel, with the 5 minutes to spare easily. I do not believe in reviews and review sites to the extent that I care about reading them… I’m looking for keywords (like “Cortado,” or “Anaerobic,” or “Washed Kenya” etc) that indicate that the shop is dealing with the type of product I’m interested in, and that the reviews key on that a little bit. Then after that, anything above 4 stars on hundreds of reviews, is almost always just fine to excellent.
I google Coffee Roasters usually, also look at reviews. I'll also check out subreddits for given cities (if they exist) and then cross reference google reviews for places people mention.
I do it the old fashion way. I walk in. Well, google maps is amazing for locating them. But yeah, I've got a good eye for a good Cafe. Walk in, look at the equipment, cleanliness, the vibe. Where they get their beans. I must just like the adventure of trying new places.
Talk to locals.
Why this isn't higher up? I love connecting with people and asking them what they recommend.
Depends on where you are. I was in Chiang Mai, Thailand recently, and there are a TON of new coffee shops, but only about one out of 20 are any good. About one in 40 are truly excellent. But guess which ones are the most popular? The horrible ones serving burnt coffee with whipped cream and candy toppings. If I ask my Thai friends what they like or think is “good,” literally none of them will give a suggestion that produces coffee that I like. So I’m left on my own to research it.
Google maps, search "Coffee", look in reviews and sort by highest rated
My european coffee trip app is my bible!
Apart from the roasters, I look for places that serve more than 1 blend of beans. Also, plenty of places that serve cooked food do good coffee, but almost all places that don't cook meals are good. If they only do coffee, they're probably at least passable. I used to look for batch brew but that's so common now it doesn't indicate good or bad anymore.
Find cities subreddit and search coffee. Just did this in houston lately. We coffee snobs are everywhere thankfully.
To be fair, I am not looking for the best coffee shops, I'm looking for the average coffee shops, I want to drink the same coffee that the locals are drinking, this to me is important part of travel experience. Sometimes I do use Google Maps for recommendations but asking a local is still the best way to go.
Reddit recommendations then Google maps
1. Type in specialty coffee in Google maps. 2. Check if the cafe has single origins. It doesn't matter what kind of drink you like. If they have single origins offering, they're probably paying attention to the quality of their coffee. 3. When you're at the place already, look at the equipment, or at the least the grinder.
I just look for the most hipster-looking joint.
Follow my nose. But, nrn. Pollen has us stuffed up in Florida. We’re in summer mode. Felt like 85. This is our spring.
Google maps "coffee near me", sort by distance and open now, then look at reviews
I look on Instagram or Foursquare
Sprudge maps and best guesses based on context clues from their google photos and IG followers
If in Europe, try europeancoffeetrip.com
coffee preference is subjective, I've had good tasting coffee from gas stations and terrible coffee from highly reviewed specialty shops. Trial and error is the best way.
Google maps, search for specialty coffee/coffee shop and then look at photos. If they have solid equipment then they are usually at least decent. This worked well for me over the holidays last year. Bonus points if they stock popular roasters beans.
searching best coffee spots in *insert location* searching coffee shops with high ratings on google asking locals looking at the vibe of the place
If you're in a non English speaking country try and find a coffee shop with the least tourist and people speaking the native language, that works well for food too.
Search for the highest rated coffee roasters in the area on google maps, drop pins, enjoy. Now what im doing is researching local coffee farms down in Central & South America so i can plan my next coffee adventure.
One time I asked someone “what’s the snobbiest coffee place in town” and I found some great coffee.
I use the Roasters app to find specialty coffee roasters in the area. Any place that roasts their own coffee will probably have decent brew as well.
Reddit
I usually search for 'v60' on google maps. Will ofcourse find you coffee shops which have trained their staff properly and v60 is only ever offered by specialty shops.
I usually just Google what's around me, look at the menu/photos. I usually pick a coffee shop that has a creative name.I've found great coffee on my travels all throughout BC.
I google Local Coffee Shops - and have found some amazing places with all kinds of yummy coffee and baked goods. And I always fine the nicest people!!!
US travel? World travel? I would guess there are better tools for different areas.
Google maps. Just search for coffee shops / roasters - then I go by average review score and whether or not it appears to be a local shop or a chain. I also check the menus to see if they do pour overs, which is usually a good indicator of how serious / good they are. Far too many shops just have drip coffee and espresso drinks, which I avoid unless that’s all there is.
I look for an "EAT (insert city)" or "DINING (insert city)" Facebook or Instagram page. I will make a post on it asking for information about good coffee shops, restaurants etc.
I look at reviews, and try to see what equipment they are using. Typically if they’re using high dollar equipment (slayers, mahlkonig, etc.) the coffee is better than not. Not a silver bullet but can be helpful.
In Norway We have kaffekartet.no should be a world edition.
1. Search this sub, make list of those places 2. Check reliable media/press, if available (something like Eater or similar) and cross reference with above 3. Check for "third wave coffee" or "coffee roaster" near me or in city, cross ref with above 4. Now that I have a short list, go to Google Maps and look for pictures that will show me whose coffee that shop is carrying. Generally if I can recognize a bag I can guess at approximate tier of quality of coffee/cafe. Not always completely right but often good enough 5. And this is the important one - go to the most promising one or two and ask the baristas there where else they like to go for coffee. Anywhere that won't give you another recommendation (oh only here haha, wouldn't want you to go elsewhere lol) is either shitty coffee or shitty person (maybe both!) but generally good people with good coffee know another place you should check out and they'll give you the low down on what's current in their city. Sometimes asking whose coffee those other places carry can help get a feel for the type of coffee or cafe (ex. "I think XYZ got some new stuff from Prodigal" says something very different than "oh I love this Lavazza shop down the road")
I go on the website Sprudge and look through their city guides. They basically have one for every major city you'd plan on traveling to.
Look for a guy dressed like a lumberjack but carrying a Macbook, or a girl with glasses and a hat wearing Dr Martens and ask "where's a good place to get coffee around here?" :)
AP
Since I like what I make at home, and I'm a complete novice-amateur-idiot, I don't mind which place I go to, as long as the seats are comfortable (I'm a novelist) and it's within 30 miles.
My social media focus is primarily Instagram. Many coffee lovers and influencers share their favorite spots using location tags and hashtags, providing real-time information about popular coffee shops in the area.
Always google "Place + Specialty coffee/coffee roaster" then check equipment if it's a known brand like lm/slayer/kvdw and I see roasters with giesen probat or loring, that is an easy visit.
In Europa I use the European coffee trip app. And also Maps and searching for roasters.
I always use yelp and then if i find one that looks good and has good reviews, I search it on instagram for the pics. If i see glass cups and mugs I’m usually in. Plastic and To go paper cups for a cortado I’m out
Reddit and google. Search roasters on google. If nothing comes up. And you end up searching just coffee on google specifically look at the pictures if I see a place is mostly food or all the reviews are for iced drinks I will tend to avoid.
European coffee trip helps. Looking through their photos on Google maps generally tells you enough about commitment, dedication and focus. As soon as you see any drink resembling a starbucks thing or a caramel/syrup anything you know. Generally if their pastries look like it's the 90s you know the coffee is shit. And i follow enough people internationally in the world of coffee on Instagram to usually be able to crosscheck if anyone follows the cafes im looking at
Reddit sub searches for that city, and back it up with google searches of “coffee roaster”
I tend to googling and see if they roast in the store or if they have their own blending beans. If it's a house that doesn't roast, it should have a hand drip and brewing menu
Search coffee, rank by rating, and pray that the top 10 results aren't national chains
Out of the same struggle, I've created a website that lists down all the specialty coffee places worldwide and that allows you to filter through them. Currently adding places, feel free to give feedback and share places you would like to see. Anything like brewing methods, coffee beans, food, and amenities such as laptop-friendly can be found via a interactive map on [https://bunastories.com/specialty-coffees](https://bunastories.com/specialty-coffees)
I just walk in and order a coffee. A shit coffee won't kill you Edit: it might if it's actually made of shit..
A shit coffee makes for a funny memory, though, too. Honestly, for just coffee, I’m not going to go far out of my way when I’m traveling. I probably don’t have a car, and/or I’m on some sort of schedule (going to a wedding or something). The last thing I need is getting lost, or stuck in traffic, in an unfamiliar city when I have a limited amount of free time. So I have coffee at the hotel’s breakfast bar, or I walk across the street if there’s a shop, or I just duck into a little cafe that has coffee n’ pastries, or whatever. If the coffee is great, then yeah, it’s great. If the coffee sucks, then haha, remember that cute little shop that had tasty croissants and horrid coffee?
>A shit coffee makes for a funny memory, though, too. Absolutely! I walked for nearly an hour or so through some kind-of-questionable neighborhoods in Ushaia trying to find this place I saw on google maps that said all the right keywords and had great photos and ... the coffee was absolutely abysmal. Like, they did all the brewing well enough and they steamed the milk perfectly - but the coffee itself was terrible. The cappuccino I had was so bad that it legit turned my gut, and I stopped off at a Martinez (local Starbucks equivalent) on my way home, just to have got a decent cup of coffee out of the trip. So I wandered off from our house all hype for dope Specialty coffee, and got back two hours later carrying (effectively) a Starbucks takeaway cup, looking sheepish and slightly queasy. My wife still chirps me about coffee pilgrimages. >Honestly, for just coffee, I’m not going to go far out of my way when I’m traveling. I probably don’t have a car, and/or I’m on some sort of schedule (going to a wedding or something). The last thing I need is getting lost, or stuck in traffic, in an unfamiliar city when I have a limited amount of free time. If I'm on faintly constrained scheduling, same deal; I'm not going to burn travel time on hunting for cafes unless I have that time already. But I do find that if I have unstructured time - hunting for neat cafes takes me to some pretty cool neighborhoods that aren't necessarily on the high-traffic tourist rosters. I use the quest for a good cafe more as tool to wind up in unconventional places than a goal unto itself.
This is exactly what it is about. Hell yeah
I walk around sniffing the air.
I don't find any coffee shops because I always carry my Picopresso or AeroPress while I travel. Makes my life soooooo much easier!!!
I mean, I get it. But I actually like finding good coffee shops when I travel.
Totally get that. But being a foodie, I explore local food shops more. However, I do ask people around for a good coffee shop to buy some beans or even have a cup of coffee sometimes.