Washington state loves its coffee. So much so that many years ago we created our own brand and called it Starbucks. Back then Instead of saying I’m going to go out and get some coffee all you would have to do is say I’m going to Starbucks, and everybody knew what you were going for? 

Well, coffee has its own National day now. 

National Coffee Day is Tuesday, September 29th. “Copilot” says it’s the world’s most popular hot drink, but I’m not sure if that’s true. I’m guessing people celebrate the day the way they basically start every day, with a hot cup of coffee. 

All of my coworker’s drink coffee. I honestly think I am the only person in this building that does not drink coffee.  

When I was much younger, I traveled the country and I’m wound up meeting a family in Pittsburgh, PA. They loved their coffee so much that they would brew coffee every day and any coffee that was leftover went into a pitcher and then into the refrigerator. When the pitcher was full, they would use it to make coffee flavored Jello. Their idea of a great after dinner dessert, coffee flavored Jello and a nice dollop of whipped cream on top. 

Back here in Wenatchee. 

Some my coworker’s favorite coffee vendors in Wenatchee are Aut-to-moka, Mela Coffee Roasting Company, Java Dog, and don’t forget Starbucks and Dutch Bros.

wallethub.com, an Internet source for all things financial, likes to provide interesting statistics for us from time to time. And this time they’ve created a list of the best coffee cities in America. 

According to WalletHub com. 
‘Some local coffee scenes are stronger than others, though. To determine the best among them, WalletHub compared the 100 largest cities across 12 key indicators of coffee lover-friendliness. Our data set ranges from coffee shops, coffee houses and cafés per capita to the average price per pack of coffee to the share of residents with coffee makers at home.’ 

You will note the most shocking thing on this list is that Seattle is not the number one best coffee town in the United States. How did this happen?  

The study was done using 12 key metrics. Each one with a score possible of 100 points possible per metric. The higher the score, the better the rating. The average score creates the overall ranking. (No, nobody got a 100-point rating.) 

Seattle actually shows up #5 on the list with an overall rating of 64.27. 

Running down the rest of the top five. 

#4 Long Beach, CA. With a 65.53 rating. 

#3 Miami, FL. With a 65.74 rating.
Miami has a large number of highly rated coffee shops and also has the 10th highest number of donut shops. 

#2 Portland, OR. With a total score of 66.74.
I don’t know why I thought this, but it seems obvious to me that Portland would be in the top five. They have the eighth most coffee shops per capita. Most of them offer free Wi-Fi. And of course Portland has Voodoo Donuts, which for my money should make them #1. 

# 1 Orlando, FL. With a total score of 68.55.
Orlando’s coffee loving households spend an average of $154 a year on the beverage. The town also has the most donut shops per capita. I have no evidence to prove this, but I think part of its coffee supremacy might be due to the Cuban coffee influence in their culture. 

Who winds up dead last on this list? 

100 U.S. cities were rated in this study and the town that came up at 100 was Laredo, TX. No reasons were given for Laredo, TX. Showing dead last on this list, but I think part of it has to do with the fact that it’s Laredo, TX.

 

 

Best Coffee Cities in America in 2026