Coffee Roasters

Let’s settle something right up front: Sydney takes its coffee seriously. Not in a fussy, look-at-me kind of way — in a roll-up-to-the-counter-in-thongs, order-a-flat-white-by-name, and-yes-the-barista-remembers-it kind of way. This is the city that helped give the flat white to the …

Let’s settle something right now: Washington, D.C. is not just a town of think tanks, motorcades, and people speed-walking in sneakers with their dress shoes in a tote bag. It is a serious coffee town. It just doesn’t brag about …

Let’s settle something right up front: San Francisco didn’t just hop on the specialty coffee train. This city laid the track, fueled the engine, and then casually invented the words everybody else uses to sound smart about it. The term …

Let’s settle something right now: Los Angeles is a coffee town. Not a “we have a few decent spots” town — a sprawling, sun-drunk, traffic-cursed, gloriously serious coffee town that quietly turns out some of the best roasters in the …

Let’s settle something right out of the gate: Portland didn’t stumble into great coffee. This city built it, bean by stubborn bean, back when the rest of the country still thought “dark roast” was a personality. Rain nine months of …

Let’s settle something right now: Chicago is not a coffee afterthought. This is the city that gave the country its first serious direct-trade roaster, the city where a chef in a garage with a popcorn popper turned roasting into a …

Let’s settle something right now: Boston is not a Dunkin’ town. I know, I know — the orange-and-pink cups are practically a state bird around here, and there’s a drive-thru on every other corner from Southie to Somerville. But underneath …

Let’s settle something right now: New York doesn’t do anything halfway, and coffee is no exception. This is the city that runs on caffeine and conviction, where a $7 pour-over and a 99-cent bodega cup somehow coexist on the same …