In 2006, the Massachusetts-based Dunkin’ Donuts chain (now rebranded to simply Dunkin’) introduced a new slogan: “America runs on Dunkin’.” That may have been more aspirational than factual — but it wouldn’t be unfair to say that America runs on coffee, whether from Dunkin’ or not.
According to a survey conducted this month by the market research company DriveResearch, some 73% of Americans drink coffee daily, 36% of those consume three to five cups a day, and 51% buy coffee from a coffee shop at least once a week. Collectively, we drink at least twice as much coffee as tea.
The chain that serves the most coffee, by far, is Starbucks, which currently has about 16,390 locations operating in the United States. Dunkin’ is No. 2, with about 9,575 units pouring java.
There are said to be about 40,000 coffee shops around the country in all, counting those two mega-chains, smaller chains like Peet’s (which pioneered the sale of single-origin coffees and custom blends) and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, so-called third wave purveyors (Intelligentsia, Stumptown, Counter Culture, and the like), and the independents — small operations, either single stores or modestly sized regional operations, often dedicated to ethical and sustainable sourcing practices and typically refining a variety of brewing methods to provide unique coffee experiences to their customers.
To determine which independent coffee shops are the most popular, 24/7 Tempo reviewed a study recently conducted by Betway Insider, the editorial blog published by the sports betting site Betway. The site assembled a seed list of 345 independent coffee shops from around the world, then ranked them according to an index based on three metrics: the number of TikTok views using the coffee shop hashtag, the number of Instagram images posted under that hashtag, and annual global search volume for each shop, computed with the aid of the Google Keyword planner.
We extracted the top 15 U.S. coffee shops from the international list. It should be noted that two of them were ranked in the top 10 worldwide by the study — No. 1 Sightglass Coffee at No. 7 and No. 2 Fox in the Snow at No. 9. (Here are 18 reasons to drink coffee for your health.)
Here are the 15 most popular independent coffee shops in America:
15. Sambalatte
- Location(s): Las Vegas, NV
- TikTok views: 8,904
- Instagram hashtag use: 9,158
- Annual global search volume: 109,896
- Score: 1.52
14. Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters
- Location(s): Westminster, Lakewood, and Arvada, CO
- TikTok views: 9,301
- Instagram hashtag use: 2,341
- Annual global search volume: 28,092
- Score: 1.56
13. Sky Coffee
- Location(s): Santa Fe, NM
- TikTok views: 686,700
- Instagram hashtag use: 4,102
- Annual global search volume: 49,224
- Score: 1.59
12. Barista Parlor
- Location(s): Nashville, TN; Louisville, KY; Indianapolis, IN
- TikTok views: 146,900
- Instagram hashtag use:
- Annual global search volume: 0
- Score: 1.69
11. Function Coffee Labs
- Location(s): Philadelphia, PA
- TikTok views: 1,000,000
- Instagram hashtag use: 1,431
- Annual global search volume: 17,172
- Score: 1.76
10. Heart Coffee Roasters
- Location(s): Portland, OR
- TikTok views: 1,321
- Instagram hashtag use: 5,068
- Annual global search volume: 60,816
- Score: 1.79
9. Quills Coffee
- Location(s): Louisville and Prospect, KY, and Indianapolis, IN
- TikTok views: 51,600
- Instagram hashtag use: 5,501
- Annual global search volume: 66,012
- Score: 1.83
8. George Howell Coffee
- Location(s): Boston, MA
- TikTok views: 19,400
- Instagram hashtag use: 3,490
- Annual global search volume: 41,880
- Score: 2.04
7. Mostra Coffee
- Location(s): San Diego, CA
- TikTok views: 122,100
- Instagram hashtag use: 11,233
- Annual global search volume: 134,796
- Score: 2.09
6. Spyhouse Coffee
- Location(s): Minneapolis, MN
- TikTok views: 85,500
- Instagram hashtag use: 9,296
- Annual global search volume: 111,552
- Score: 2.29
5. Devoción Coffee
- Location(s): New York City, NY
- TikTok views: 1,400,000
- Instagram hashtag use: 2,103
- Annual global search volume: 25,236
- Score: 2.57
4. Felix Roasting Co
- Location(s): New York City, NY
- TikTok views: 930,600
- Instagram hashtag use: 2,238
- Annual global search volume: 26,856
- Score: 2.57
3. Communal Coffee
- Location(s): San Diego, CA
- TikTok views: 475,500
- Instagram hashtag use: 11,240
- Annual global search volume: 134,880
- Score: 2.61
2. Fox in the Snow
- Location(s): Columbus, OH
- TikTok views: 36,000
- Instagram hashtag use: 3,187
- Annual global search volume: 38,244
- Score: 3.15
1. Sightglass Coffee
- Location(s): San Francisco and Los Angeles, CA
- TikTok views: 197,000
- Instagram hashtag use: 14,249
- Annual global search volume: 170,988
- Score: 3.65