15 Award-Winning Coffee Shops Worth Visiting In The Midwest
Coffee culture is prevalent in every corner of the world and has been drawing coffeeholics and connoisseurs for many centuries. Be it unassuming independent businesses or multinational companies, coffee shops are a fashionable meeting place for catching up with friends, enjoying a laid-back date, or finding inspiration for a work or academic project. Many of these havens are obscure but delightful hidden gems; others have earned widespread acclaim for their premium brews and won some of the industry's most prestigious honors. You can find several award-winning venues in Midwestern cities, including Chicago, Columbus, Milwaukee, Madison, and Traverse City.
The spots that have positively impacted local economies and communities have been duly recognized by their municipalities. Many have also earned national and international honors from U.S. Coffee Championships, the Golden Bean Awards, the Good Food Awards, or the Global Coffee Awards. The Championships, for instance, feature categories that include barista, latte art, roasters, and brewers' cup, while the Golden Bean covers entries like espresso, milk-based, and decaffeinated. As for that much-coveted Good Food badge, it can be earned by different types of items, from coffee to cider and charcuterie, while the bronze, silver, and gold Global Coffee seals span filter coffee, espresso, and flat white with dairy or plant-based milk.
Let's explore some of the excellent coffee joints across the Midwest that have earned major awards as well as continuous praise from online reviewers and notable publications. You'll learn more about our methodology at the end of the article.
Pioneer Coffee Roasters in Dalton and Jackson, Ohio
Pioneer Coffee Roasters offers a wide variety of hot and cold brews prepared from ethically sourced beans to be enjoyed with a small selection of satisfying snacks. For instance, you could grab the aptly named Sunrise Sandwich, filled with eggs, crispy bacon, and melted cheddar cheese, alongside an Americano topped with your flavored cold foam of choice. Or simply dip the signature Derby Bar, which blends roasted pecans, chocolate pieces, and a smooth caramel sauce, in a chai latte elevated with a seasonal syrup.
No matter the combination you opt for, make sure to try the house's award-winning coffees. Indeed, this Ohio-based roaster snagged four medals at the 2025 Golden Bean competition: silver and bronze for its Costa Rica Double Anaerobic, in the Pour Over & Filter and Espresso categories, respectively; bronze for its Gold River Blend in the Espresso category, and bronze for its Colombia Honey Mountain in the Pour Over & Filter. As for the javaphiles who subscribe to the Pioneer Roast Club, they'll receive only the freshest roasts as well as access to the Trade Reserve collection.
Multiple locations
The Roosevelt Coffeehouse in Columbus, Ohio
For the past few years in September, a creative mental health nonprofit organization called The Scatter Joy Project has collaborated with Roosevelt Coffee Roasters on an Ethiopia and Kenya blend to promote mental health awareness. These commendable efforts have resulted in The Scatter Joy Blend, which features orange peel, strawberry, and floral notes. It nabbed a silver award at the 2025 Global Coffee Awards for the U.S. and Canada region.
Some other roasts you could try include the Tanzania Songwe Peaberry, with notes of lime, grape, and roasted hazelnut. There's also the Colombia Sugarcane Decaf, with hints of cocoa, citrus, and hazelnut. Another to consider is the Griffin Espresso, which blends citrus, tobacco, and cherry flavors.
Just bear in mind that when you visit The Roosevelt Coffeehouse or order coffee bags and merchandise from the roaster's store, you'll be helping the company support various causes, such as fighting hunger and unclean water. You might also want to try the house's seasonal coffee drinks (the cinnamon roll cappuccino is quite irresistible in the fall), vegan Pop-Tarts, and donuts. See the one ingredient that enhances the flavor of Pop-Tarts.
Multiple locations
Crimson Cup Coffee and Tea in Akron, Cincinnati, and Columbus, Ohio
If there's a coffee brand in the Midwest that has amassed multiple prizes and honors, it's Crimson Cup. Established in 1991, it earned the Associate of the Year Award from the Ohio Grocers Association in 2014 and was named Roast Magazine's Macro Roaster of the Year in 2016. The Better Business Bureau Center for Character Ethics bestowed it the 2017 Torch Award for Ethics, and it nabbed several Good Food Awards in 2017, 2020, and 2024. Crimson Cup also won Double Gold awards at the 2023 Aurora International Taste Challenge. Finally, it was named the Overall Small Chain Store/Franchise champion of the 2019 Golden Bean North America and the Overall Champion of the 2025 Golden Bean World Series.
Whether ordered online or at one of the six Ohio coffee shops, the house's roasts cater to a wide range of tastes. These include flavored coffees, such as cinnamon hazelnut, tiramisu, and French vanilla; signature products like the full-bodied, slightly smoky Friend2Farmer Dark Blend, and the 1991 Blend, which features hints of chocolate-covered raisins and toasted marshmallow (see roasting tips). You could also enjoy seasonal specials, like the candy cane latte and frosted sugar cookies, as well as signature drinks like the iced chai latte topped with pumpkin cold foam and sprinkled with nutmeg and cinnamon.
Multiple locations
Necessary and Sufficient Coffee in Chicago, Illinois
With its eclectic culinary and drinking scenes that span excellent deep-dish pizza joints, brewpubs, romantic venues, Mediterranean restaurants, and highly coveted upscale tables, Chicago is a foodie's and a coffeeholic's haven. This comprises small, independently owned places like Necessary and Sufficient Coffee, which has gained popularity for many good reasons. These include offerings like the delicious seasonal scones, a practical walk-up takeaway window, friendly staff, sustainably sourced brews, organic and whole ingredients, a pay-it-forward coffee program, and happy hour on weekdays.
Then, we have the menu, which is quite extensive. It includes gluten-free savory biscuits, super-large, locally made empanadas, ham and cheese croissant, and Portuguese custard tart. There are also customer favorites like the blackberry matcha and the Olympia Cold Brew Nitro-infused coffee. It's no wonder, then, that Necessary and Sufficient Coffee won the Best of Chicago Award in the Coffee Shops category in the Chicago Award Program in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Multiple locations
Pedestrian Coffee in Chicago, Illinois
Pedestrian Coffee won the 2023 Good Food Award for its light-medium Colombia Washed Laboyano coffee, which offers notes of guava and sugar cane. This specialty shop only uses ethically sourced, premium beans, which means that many of its products and menu items are more expensive than others. This is because it sources its coffee from local growers and importers aligned with its beliefs, and they earn up to three times the industry-set price.
Customers, for one, seem to agree that the quality of their orders is worth their dime. This appears true for every item, be it the lavender iced latte, the affogato, the Nutella latte, the bacon, cheddar, and chive biscuit, or the cardamom rose latte. They also enjoy flavorful seasonal specials, such as the peppermint mocha in winter.
Multiple locations
Big Shoulders Coffee in Chicago, Illinois
Big Shoulders Coffee is another Midwestern brand that has collected many honors over the years. For instance, in 2022, it won several prizes at the Golden Bean Awards: North American Small Chain-Store champion of the year; the gold and silver medals for its Colombia Gesha Anaerobic coffee, and the bronze medal for its Ecuador Maputo Honey, 1848 Espresso, Ecuador Sidra Honey, and Mexico Honey Bourbon products. Moreover, this brand was named the Golden Bean Overall Large Chain Champion twice, most recently in 2025.
Its head roaster, Diego Guartan, was also crowned the 2025 U.S. Coffee Roasting Champion at the U.S. Coffee Championships. Big Shoulders Coffee offers many delicious all-day breakfast items to enjoy alongside your coffee. You'll find the al pastor-marinated pork burrito, the chewy toffee cookie, the cinnamon caramel and bacon-jalapeño scones, and the satisfyingly moist walnut coffee cake.
Multiple locations
Goshen Coffee Roasters in Glen Carbon and Edwardsville, Illinois and Saint Louis, Missouri
Headquartered in Edwardsville, the family-owned Goshen Coffee Roasters has three cafés in Illinois and Missouri. It is committed to offering customers handcrafted, farm-to-cup coffee that is freshly prepared through an energy-efficient roasting process. The Edwardsville and Glen Carbon locations offer comfortable seating, a sunny outdoor patio, and a convenient drive-through. On the other hand, the Soulard branch has a pleasant garden and balcony seating.
As for menu highlights, they include house-made sauces and syrups like lavender, caramel, peppermint, and sugar-free vanilla; cold brew with freshly squeezed lemonade; seasonal double-shot espressos; egg burritos, and a fruit-and-yogurt parfait. You'd particularly want to try the bright and rich Burundi Gahahe Cima Natural coffee and the floral and tropical Bolivia Los Rodriguez Select Lots, which earned the brand the Good Food Award in 2023 and 2024, respectively. More recently, the roaster was awarded the title of the 2025 Overall Champion by the Golden Bean Awards.
Multiple locations
Pilcrow Coffee in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Founded in 2016, Pilcrow Coffee is a welcoming, spacious, and comfortable venue with a minimalist design that features a full-service café bathed in natural light, a tasting room, brewing equipment, and a retail display. The house specializes in gourmet nitro drinks on tap with flavors that include salted caramel, lavender, and almond cookie, as well as monthly, seasonal, and time-limited specials like the Bananas Foster latte and the pumpkin and apple caramel cold brews. The brie and apricot scone, rotating cold brew flights, and sausage and gravy pocket are especially recommended by customers.
Pilcrow Coffee is widely acclaimed across the state. It has earned many honors, from topping Milwaukee Magazine's Cold Brew Bracket in the July 2017 issue to winning America's Best Cold Brew Competition in 2017. The company also won the America's Best Espresso award at Coffee Fest Indy in 2019.
416 W Walnut St, Milwaukee, WI 53212
JBC Coffee Roasters in Madison, Wisconsin
First established in 1994 as a coffee cart at the Dane County Farmer's Market, JBC Coffee Roasters offers sustainable coffee sourced directly from producers, not to mention highly coveted monthly tasting events that conclude with a Q&A. This brand has earned many honors over the years. Its Finca La Mula Panama Geisha coffee, for instance, ranked first on Coffee Review's list of the 2015 Top 30 Coffees, not to mention grabbing the Good Food Award in 2016. As for its Gedeb Lot 83 Ethiopia natural coffee, it received a Good Food Award seal in 2018, while it was the Ardent Ethiopia Natural and Las Margaritas Sudan Rume's turn in 2021, 2022, and 2025.
Coffee Review named the brand's Wilton Benitez Pink Bourbon Colombia the No. 1 coffee of 2023, describing it as "wildly expressive, richly compelling ... with its mesmerizing aromatics and addictively complex cup with notes like blackberry jam and frankincense." Meanwhile, happy customers keep returning to JBC for the quality beans, friendly and knowledgeable service, and informative coffee cupping class.
(608) 256-5282
5821 Femrite Dr, # H, Madison, WI 53718
Madcap Coffee Company in Grand Rapids, Detroit, and Leland, Michigan
Established in 2008 and headquartered in Grand Rapids, the Madcap Coffee Company is another multi-award-winning coffee haven with a stellar reputation in the Midwest. It earned the Good Food Award in 2011 for its Los Lobos blend from Costa Rica and became a finalist in 2014 and 2015 for its Ethiopia Yukro blend and Reko coffee, respectively. As for the brand's founder, Trevor Corlett, he has also received many accolades in the industry, including winning third place at the 2014 United States Barista Championship, as well as placing in the top 10 in 6 annual cycles. He also won second place at the 2012 South East Regional Barista Competition.
The Madcap Coffee locations are particularly praised by regulars for their spotless, comfortable, and inviting interior, knowledgeable and engaging staff, balanced flavors, smooth espresso drinks, non-dairy options, and overall relaxed vibe. You'll have an even cozier experience when you order seasonal drinks like the S'morelette, topped with vegan marshmallow foam, or the Autumn Palmer, prepared with fresh local apple cider and nitro cold brew.
Multiple locations
Espresso Elevado in Plymouth, Michigan
Located on Plymouth's Main Street, Espresso Elevado is an acclaimed artisan coffee roaster and brew bar, offering fair-trade and organic beans that are roasted on-site. Voted Best Independent Coffeehouse in Metro Detroit for 2019 and the #1 favorite Coffee Shop in the area for 2020, this welcoming venue has been featured in various outlets. The brand also nabbed a double bronze medal in 2016 and a bronze medal in 2017 at the Golden Bean Awards.
The sauces and syrups are all prepared in-house, using three brewing methods: hand-pour, cold brew, and Japanese-style iced (which comprises pouring hot water over ground coffee, which is then filtered directly onto ice). Lavender vanilla bean, coconut lemongrass, curried honey, and espresso cream soda are some of the creative specialty drinks you can order. You could also opt for seasonal items like the peanut butter honey cold brew in autumn.
(734) 904-8323
606 S Main St, Plymouth, MI 48170
Higher Grounds Coffee Bar in Traverse City, Michigan
Famous for its cherries, wines, and lake views, picturesque Traverse City also boasts its fair share of acclaimed coffee joints, including the Higher Grounds Coffee Bar. Established in 2002 in a historic warehouse within The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, this bright, plant-filled, and dog-friendly venue features a large outdoor patio and offers a free roastery tour with tastings every other Friday. For the latter, keep in mind that places are limited and registration is mandatory.
The Higher Grounds Trading Co. won Good Food Awards in 2017 and 2022 for its Yirgacheffe Idido and Organic Apex Karla Portillo Honduras Microlot, respectively. At the time of writing, the brand's best-selling organic roasts are Highland Humanity (with caramel and cocoa notes), the bold and nutty Funky Mamacita, Justice (vanilla and citrus traits), and the smooth Mayan Magic Espresso (with hints of caramel and berries).
(231) 922-9009
806 Red Dr, Traverse City, MI 49684
Ember Coffee Co. in Big Lake, Minnesota
Founded in 2021, Ember Coffee is a family-owned roaster and coffee shop that prides itself on only using ethically sourced beans, but also enlisting a rare air-roasting method that is purportedly kinder to the body. Currently, the brand's most popular roasts are the El Jefe Espresso blend, which features notes of molasses and milk chocolate, and the lightly spiced Young Lions, which has hints of berries and smoky cocoa. The former earned 91 points from Coffee Review in 2025.
Located right off Highway 10, the café also offers quality syrups and baked goods prepared from scratch as well as a reservable private space that can accommodate six guests. For all these reasons, Ember Coffee was voted by The Minnesota Star Tribune in 2023, 2024, and 2025 as Minnesota's Best Coffee and Best Coffeehouse. It has also been hailed as the Best Minnesota-Made Product in 2025.
(763) 207-8558
450 Jefferson Blvd, Ste 1, Big Lake, MN 55309
Spyhouse Coffee Roasters in Minneapolis, Rochester, and Saint Paul, Minnesota
Established in 2000 in Minneapolis' Whittier neighborhood, Spyhouse Coffee Roasters has opened six other cafés and a roasting facility. In 2019, it became a Good Food Award winner with its Duromina. Similarly, its Organic Decaf was bestowed the MistoBox Golden Mug Award in 2023.
The house's retail coffees are all roasted fresh to order, including the Orion Signature Tri-Blend, which has notes of chocolate and sweet fruits, and the Colombia/Finca Monteblanco – Reserve Series, which offers hints of pink lemonade, lemon blossom, and ginger. The same goes for the light-and-sweet Star of the North, which combines orange, sweet tea, and rye.
As for the menu's standout items, they include the Spygirl, a delicately flavored latte with lavender and honey, and the stimulating Solid Gold latte, prepared from oat milk, turmeric, ginger, and maple syrup. You'll also find funky seasonal favorites like Sage Against the Machine, which uses house-made sage and pecan syrup. Then, there's a wide array of savory goodies like the focaccia pizza and the scrambled egg, provolone, and potato wrap.
spyhousecoffee.com/pages/cafes
Multiple locations
Coffea Roasterie and Espresso Bar in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Established in 2009, Coffea Roasterie and Espresso Bar has three cafés and one roasting lab in charming and scenic Sioux Falls. You might even catch its mobile coffee van at various events across the city, offering a selection of drip coffee, hot and iced lattes, cold brew, hot chocolate, and iced tea. The in-house menu also offers a selection of freshly baked treats, such as coffee cake and signature drinks, like the hazelnut latte.
In 2020, thanks to its light Ethiopia Dimtu Tero blend, which combined notes of black cherry, ripe berry, vanilla, and grape, the brand won the Good Food Award. This earned it a prominent place on the radar of Sioux Falls' specialty coffee aficionados. Overall, customers seem to enjoy the coffee shops' pleasant background music, fast service, and clean interior, not to mention freshly prepared snacks like the chorizo and egg sandwich and the Nutella scone.
Multiple locations
Methodology
Here's how I came up with this carefully curated list of highly acclaimed coffee shops across the Midwest that are definitely worth your time and dime. First, I made sure to cover as many of these states as possible, especially cities renowned for their lively coffee scenes. I then narrowed the list to roasters that use only high-quality beans, organic, and/or fair trade sourcing.
These cozy places have been featured in notable magazines and digital outlets and have been honored by the likes of the U.S. Coffee Championships, the Golden Bean Awards, and the Good Food Awards — not to mention various accolades bestowed by local communities. Finally, my last two criteria were high ratings and predominantly positive feedback on platforms like TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Google Reviews, as well as tempting signature and/or seasonal menu items.