Hi All. As I travel I appreciate people's lists of favorite coffee shops in their area. So I thought I'd list my own favorites in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul. This is a list of simply what I like but I'd welcome others to chime in, not least of all so I'll know what to hit next or give a better shot to. I drink exclusively lattes with whole milk and nothing added so take that into account... And I'll put them in tiers, subject to change.

Here is a link to them on a Google Map, color coded by my tiers. Find their websites there.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid= ... sp=sharing

Tier 1 - Worth the drive. Good everything including setting and staff.
Spyhouse - 3 locations all very busy. The Broadway one is the one with the roaster. Quite hipster but I guess nothing is perfect. Their standard espresso blend, Orion, is very chocolate - too much for me so I get the S.O. and they are always good. (Edit: as noted below, they have cool Spyhouse cups for sale with Minnesota on them which would make for a good souvenir, imo)

Dogwood - 2 locations (the Callhoun Square one is more like a walk-up coffee bar but the best) + served well at Rustica, a bakery with great breads.

Angry Catfish - My favorite though it's not all about the coffee (they also sell bicycles). Black Cat espresso and a S.O. usually from Ruby. Plus it's next door to The Baker's Wife which has really great American Teacakes.

Up! Coffee - more a roaster which now has a shop out front. I like it. I'm moving them up due to the comments below and because I have been frequenting it more now. They are just installing a new lime green MVP Hydra so we'll see how that works out for them.

Wesley Andrews Coffee and Tea A friend just took me to this new shop and I really like it. Maybe my #2 in town right now. Nice balanced drink in a nice shop with nice people. And a Slayer which is always fun. http://www.wesleyandrews.cc/

The Bachelor Farmer Cafe attached to the über-trendy restaurant, this place serves very good pastries and wee-prepared Dogwood espresso. Fanciest place on the list for sure. http://www.thebachelorfarmer.com/cafe/

Tier 2 - Also very good! Arguably these could be Tier 1 but hey, let's have some differentiation.
Kopplin's - Getting less snobbish so that is good. Probably should be in Tier 1.

Vicinity Coffee (formerly Bull Run Coffee changed its name to differentiate from the non-affiliated roaster) - 2 locations, not fancy but pretty good. http://vicinitycoffee.com/

Five Watt - Ok, this one I actually haven't tried but is worth putting on the list. They do fancy stuff in their drinks which I'm not sure I'm into, which is why I haven't gone. Maybe I will tonight. Look at their website and if that sort of thing appeals, by all means go and let me know what you think!

Rustica in Eden Prairie (Edited) - Formerly a Dunn Bros but now a Rustica serving their pastries and Dogwood Coffee. In an historic farmhouse. A few of their Barista's are great but you can get a novice. Alex is often there though and I think he does a good job getting things right for the others.

Black Sheep Coffee - this and Quixotic were some of the first 3rd wave coffee in the TC and have resisted the hipster aspect of it. Black Sheep would be a place I could take my kids or mom and all would be fine.

Quixotic

Tier 3 - I like my own lattes better.But still are good.
The Dunn Bros locations within Minneapolis proper are fairly ok for some caffeine and a place to work. Anywhere beyond Mpls and it's likely to be worse than Starbucks/Caribou as consistency and training are sub par.

Yo-Yo Donuts - use Kickapoo roasters and they are consistent... maybe I just don't like this bean?
While we're on donut shops, Glam Doll has Inteligentsia on hand and decent equipment but I haven't tried anything from it.

Links to other HB threads on Mpls/St.P:
Minneapolis coffee scene: getting better all the time

Also of local coffee interest:
Paradise Roasters are up in Anoka but there is no storefront.
Mill City Roasters are an HB supporter. Not sure if they have much walk-in business or not but they seem quite nice on HB!

Duluth
Duluth Coffee Company - really good, especially for outstate but as good as the tier 1s above, I think.
While you're in Duluth don't miss the Northern Waters Smokehaus for awesome sandwiches and smoked salmon.

So where would you rank things? Others you'd recommend to people?

Thanks for the report. My family and I love visiting the Twin Cities. I've tried a few of the shops you've mentioned. My favourite was the Dogwood at Calhoun Square. Not so much an ambiance type of thing, simply a great shot of espresso. If you're a cyclist (that would be me) and you like coffee, than Angry Fish is a must visit. I loved the shop and the neighbourhood was just the sort I would live in.

I'm partial to Up Coffee (formerly known as Upper Midwest Gourmet), and Black Sheep myself. Thanks for the list! It gives me the opportunity to broaden my horizons.

On a side-note, I love Up's "Matador" espresso blend. From my (previous) machine, this blend has long-lasting and pronounced chocolate note with hints of citrus and floral. Good stuff.

Dogwood - 2 locations (the Callhoun Square one is more like a walk-up coffee bar but the best) + served well at Rustica, a bakery with great breads.

I second on Dogwood, they definitely make an excellent cappuccino! I'm a motorcycle guy myself, the Twin Cities has a couple motorcycle related coffee shops; "Bob's Java Hut" located on 2651 Lyndale Avenue S. Minneapolis, and "Diamonds" 1618 Central Avenue NE in Minneapolis. Both Bob's Java Hut and Diamonds serve "decent" espresso drinks when it comes to a more social environment, but I would never consider them "artisan" quality drinks like Dogwood.

On another note; if anyone would like to meet up for a cup of coffee sometime in the Twin Cities and talk shop, PM me! I started a casual car group years ago and we meet monthly over coffee, who doesn't love coffee and great conversation at a local coffee shop?!

Rustica seems to be expanding... have taken over the Eden Prairie Dunn Bros and now are opening in the Mall of America. I'm assuming they will be serving Dogwood at each and hopefully continue to train their baristas well

For any looking for coffee now at the MOA, Rustica is probably the best bet.

I triedFive Wattfor the first time last week and really enjoyed their "Kingfield" specialty drink. It's composed of espresso, milk, vanilla, coriander bitters, and black Hawaiian sea salt. I really enjoyed the drink, surprisingly velvety with a caramel finish. I think the sea salt was responsible for the hint of caramel, I liked the idea so much that I've incorporated sprinkling just a minute amount of sea salt on my caramel mochas from my lever machine, what a treat!

Overall I personally rate the coffee from Five Watt as an 8 of 10 for now, that might change over the next few times I visit. I need to try a wet cappuccino as my baseline drink in order to give it a solid personal rating. I might venture out more over the winter and try some new coffee shops and mention a few I've tried that are among my favorites.

I always make it a point to get to Spyhouse and Dogwood when I go home. I'll have to check out some of the others during the upcoming holidays.

I like Spyhouse, especially in the summertime when they have some of the windows and doors open. They sell nice cappuccino and espresso cups (made in Italy) and they come with the saucer too!

LaCrema, do you know offhand if the retail cups have the little Minnesotas like the house cups?
... Not that I need any more cups

Indeed they do! They also have the little Minnesota on one side and the "Minneapolis SPYHOUSE Coffee Roasting Co." on the other side of the cup. I would take a picture of mine, but I just moved into my "new" house and it's packed away in some box waiting to be unpacked. I actually feel totally embarrassed to mention this, but I actually use two old "Starbucks" cappuccino cups as my daily cups. The cups feel like they're porcelain (probably not) and have a stainless steel base, I like the sturdy feel of these cups and their portion size is perfect for me. I have Chris King cups, vintage Faema cups, LaCimbali cups, Lavazza Cups, Illy cups and more to boot, but the Starbucks cups are like a comfortable shoe that doesn't stink and I feel comfortable drinking coffee out of it.