Eater: The 20 Hottest Coffee Shops Across the US Right Now

Welcome to back to Eater's Coffee Heatmap, a guide to the hot new coffee bars of the moment across America. Rather than feature the perennial favorites, this guide focuses on places that have opened or been significantly updated over the past year.

It's been just over a year since the last coffee heatmap, and this year has been one of tremendous expansion by some big name roasters. The Portland-based Stumptown made two huge highly anticipated moves into both the New York City and Los Angeles markets, while Chicago's Intelligentsia had a big year in its hometown at the same time as it invaded New York City for the first time. Boxcar Coffee expanded from Boulder to Denver with not one but two buzzy outposts, while Atlanta's beloved Octane Coffee also opened two locations in Birmingham, Alabama. Chicago also welcomed another location of Philadelphia's La Colombe.

It wasn't just cities being taken over by giants of the coffee world, though: independent shops opened as well. San Francisco saw the opening of a collaboration between coffee expert Andrew Barnett and restaurateur Anthony Myint (Linea Caffe) as well as an airy newcomer from United States Barista Championship competitor Kevin "Tex" Bohlin (Saint Frank). Raleigh restaurateur Ashley Christensen opened up her first coffee bar offering an insanely comprehensive menu (Joule Coffee), and restaurateur Brooke Humphries is behind one of the hippest coffee bars in Dallas (Mudsmith).

This list had to end somewhere — no city got more than two entrants — which means Eataly in Chicago, Menotti's in LosAngeles, Tierra Mia in San Francisco, and several other well-loved coffee bars are not to be found. But never fear: just nominate them in the comments.

16 Slate Coffee Bar

When it was just two-months-old, Eater Seattle declared that Slate Coffee had already become the Cheers of Seattle, though noting that its regulars actually draw from all across the city. Slate Coffee has a menu of espresso and regular coffee drinks, though locals recommend you let the barista choose your brew like a Japanese omakase menu. This is the first brick-and-mortar from a team of roasters that got their start pouring coffee out of an Airstream. [Photo: S. Pratt/Eater Seattle]