Illinois Coffee Roasters

Chicago anchors Illinois's specialty coffee scene with 43 active independent roasters in our directory — and a market that's been fluent in specialty for two decades. Bridgeport Coffee, Big Shoulders, Bae Coffee Co., and C&S Coffee Roasters serve a city where the coffee culture has grown alongside the food, design, and architecture scenes. The Chicago specialty market is dense enough that neighborhood identity matters as much as the roaster's name — Logan Square, Pilsen, West Loop, Andersonville, and Lincoln Park all have their own coffee rhythms. The depth of operators makes the city competitive with NYC and the West Coast capitals on most coffee metrics.

The Chicago suburbs run a serious specialty scene of their own. Evanston's Backlot anchors a college-town corridor along the Northwestern campus. Elmhurst brings Brewpoint and Gigawatt. Naperville has Crema Bean. Wheaton's I Have a Bean is one of the more notable operators in the country specifically — it employs adults with developmental disabilities and has built a national wholesale program around that mission. Warrenville's Two Brothers Coffee Roasters operates as part of the Two Brothers brewing-and-coffee company. Libertyville's Tala, McHenry's Heady Cup, and New Lenox's Gost extend the Chicagoland corridor in multiple directions.

Outside Chicagoland, Illinois's coffee scene runs across the state's smaller cities. Bloomington has Coffee Hound. Champaign — anchored by U of I — brings Columbia Street Roastery. Springfield has Custom Cup Coffee. Peoria has [CxT] Roasting Company. Rockford brings Rockford Roasting Co., extended by Roscoe's Snowdrift Coffee Roasters just north. Decatur has The River Coffee Company. DeKalb's Barb City Roasters serves Northern Illinois University. Edwardsville's Goshen Coffee Company anchors the Metro East side near St. Louis. The 132 active independent Illinois roasters cover a state whose coffee culture extends well past the lakefront.