Navigating through the dense static buzz clogging the intersection of Clark St. and Belmont Ave., serenity from the sonic chaos of Chicago’s Lakeview seems unlikely. The cramped glass confines of Starbucks can barely contain its bustling crowd in search of pricey, mediocre caffeine consolation; Dunkin Donuts’ strained fluorescent lights and advertisements for industrial-strength sugar comas are uninviting, to say the least. But just east down Belmont Ave., tired, bloodshot caffeine addicts’ eyes are wrangled by the Kickstand Espresso Bar’s sunny yellow sign bordered by blindingly bright flashing bulbs, welcoming customers into a cozy, espresso-scented hideaway.
Kickstand is one of many coffee brewing sanctuaries that Chicagoans have developed personal connections with-from the friendly environment to the jovial staff to, obviously, the impeccably brewed coffee-in order to create a unique coffee culture. Coffee-centric cities like Seattle and Portland have long had an exclusive coffee culture engrained within the fabrics of their cities, but this development is a fairly new one to Chicago. With local roasters, independent caf’ÛΩs, and a welcoming community of shop owners, Chicago has taken a friendly approach to what has now become a staid industry elsewhere. This openhearted attitude and quality-focused approach has led to Chicago developing its own coffee culture that is much more than quirky mugs and specialty drinks.
Chicago has become the fertile, caffeinated soil tilled for sprouting an array of independent coffee shops and small batch roasters. Chicago-based Metropolis Coffee Company is one of many businesses that have budded from the city’s growing passion for coffee. Wholeheartedly believing in the unifying potential of coffee houses, the father-and-son owned company takes its business-and coffee-seriously. The Metropolis philosophy, emphasized on their website, boasts that, “a coffee house should be a neighborhood center. It should be equally a place to relax as a place to plan a revolution.” This philosophy has obviously resonated with many, as it has become a mantra for independent caf’ÛΩs scattered about Chicago, with Kickstand and Bourgeois Pig being a couple of many coffee shops serving Metropolis coffee. With coffee houses catering to direct trade supporters and delectable specialty drinks, there is something for everyone in Chicago’s vibrant cultural coffee cup.
Compared to other cities’ coffee scenes, Chicago is fairly new to the game. In 1998 The Chicago Tribune reported a “coffee war” brewing within Chicago as more and more coffee shops began making stakes in various neighborhoods. The number of these coffee shops has only increased in the years since. “There are areas where there are three or four caf’ÛΩs on a couple blocks. It’s really exciting to see,” co-owner of Wicker Park caf’ÛΩ The Wormhole Sara Travis said.
Phil Tadros, founder and CEO of Bow Truss Coffee Roasters, dubs his company as an “ideal roasting company,” considering the quality of his product to be of the upmost importance. “We have the best people in coffee all under one roof allowing us for such high quality, love, and respect for each batch to cup,” Tadros said. Located on Broadway Ave. near Uptown, Bow Truss regularly partners with local bakeries and fellow coffee shops to assemble “pop up’s,” where the businesses’ most popular products can be showcased, further unifying the tight-knit network of brewers and roasters in Chicago.
Tadros believes that while Chicagoans have always been engrossed in coffee worldwide, they have only recently been exposed to the process of brewing, as well as the origin of the fruit and seeds that contribute to every cup of coffee. This increased interest has inspired Tadros to host brewing classes and to educate his customers on the complex process that contributes to their drink of choice. Tadros also recognizes that the social aspect of coffee has become an increasingly large part of Chicago coffee culture. Cafes becoming “community hubs, productive, safe heavens” has greeted customers with open arms and made them even more eager to embark on a caffeine education.
Internet capability in coffee shops also transformed caf’ÛΩs into a second office for professionals. While corporate-driven coffee shop chains have swallowed the industry and become the default alternative workspace for many, Tadros quips that this appeal is on the decline. “I give credit to Starbucks, Peet’s, Intelligentsia for paving the way, but they are all too big now. People want quality, not mass production,” he said.
The rise in caf’ÛΩ Wi-Fi contributing to the coffee scene in Chicago is one of many aspects of Chicago’s coffee culture that Tadros and Sara Travis, co-owner of The Wormhole, agree on. The Wormhole, a “Back to the Future”-themed (equipped with Tardis and all) coffee shop on 1462 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Wicker Park, has quickly developed its own roasting company thanks to its loyal customer base. “I think it had to do with Internet start-ups for a lot of places. For us, we just wanted to welcome everyone into our doors. If you treat the customers right, they treat you great. Word-of-mouth is very important for coffee shops, and it really worked for us,” she said.
Travis has witnessed the transformation of Chicago’s coffee culture with great excitement over the years. “Chicago coffee culture has grown into a wonderful thing in the past five or six years. It’s one of the few coffee communities where everyone is supportive and everyone comes to support other coffee shops,” she said. Travis is a proud patron of many coffee shops throughout the city and knows most of the owners on a deeply personal level. “I go to some coffee shops [other than The Wormhole] at least once a week. It’s not a super-competitive market where we boycott each other, we all support each other because we respect what each other do,” she said.
Travis began her career at the chain coffee shop Caribou Coffee when she was 17 because she “thought baristas were, like, the coolest people on Earth.” But this initial superficial fascination led Travis to discovering her passion for coffee brewing that led her to co-founding The Wormhole. After just a few short years of bustling business and befriending a loyal group of customers, The Wormhole took one step further into assimilating themselves into Chicago coffee culture by branching out into coffee roasting.
While The Wormhole’s run has already been punctuated by resounding successes and huge developments, this is only the beginning for Travis. “I think we’re in the future now. We are so beyond where I ever thought we would be. It’s more feasible for small batch roasting, and caf’ÛΩs have formed lasting partnerships. People are doing a better job of making coffee accessible and we’re thankfully moving away from instant, pre-packaged coffee,” she said.
It seems that supermarket coffee aisles are lined with instant coffee options-vacuum-sealed and ground into a fine, tasteless dust. But more and more customers are shunning these options in favor of supporting local roasters, or even roasting their own coffee beans. “We get people occasionally asking if they can use our coffee roaster, and of course they can. It’s just a matter of people asking, which has been happening more often,” Travis said.
The Wormhole recently launched their own coffee roasting company, HalfWit Coffee Roasters. Focused on buying from importers that maintain a positive relationship with coffee farmers, HalfWit has further engrained coffee culture. HalfWit is following the path of one of Chicago’s small group of roasters like Intelligentsia, which calls Chicago one of its home bases, has been roasting its own direct-trade coffee since their inception in 1995, according to their official website.
Coffee is no longer restricted within the confines of your typical eccentrically decorated, ambient music-blaring shops-it is now an experience. Jenn Chenn, the founder of specialty coffee crawl company Caffentures, developed her love for coffee as a student at Michigan State. Chenn became engrossed in the Michigan coffee scene and even began a coffee club to continue her education on brewing. Following graduation, Chenn made the move to Chicago to experience Chicago’s vibrant and tightly knit coffee community. After frequenting coffee shops all across Chicago and befriending the owners, Chenn decided that she would transform a hot social activity-bar crawls-and translate it to coffee. Chenn then quit her full-time job in order to found Caffentures and has since established three coffee crawls based off of CTA train lines. Thus far, Chenn has established crawls off the Brown, Red and Blue lines, each crawl educating customers at three different caf’ÛΩs.
Not only does Chenn get an opportunity to share her passion for coffee, but she also exposes new neighborhoods for Chicagoans who have never made the trek outside of their self-imposed boundaries. “I get a lot of Chicagoans who have never travelled outside of their neighborhood. Chicago has a lot of pride and we like local things and local businesses any chance they get to support local business,” she said. Whether it is caffeine culture or Chicago’s very own neighborhood culture, coffee is helping all members of this subculture-from coffee novices to experts-to experience a new culture.
Chenn believes that Chicago will soon earn the covetable status as a “coffee city” in due time, but it will take some building and development. “I think Seattle and Portland are very saturated with coffee but Chicago is starting to build up a reputation. It’s just going to take a lot more time. In the last year we’ve had 5 or 6 coffee shops pop up and I think it will continue,” she said.
Is this just a fleeting trend or will coffee culture remain in the cultural fabric of Chicago? “Oh, it’s just getting started. It was always huge; it’s just now getting good,” Tadros said with a grin. Several other coffee shop owners and roasters echo the same sentiment-satisfaction with the present, excitement for the future, and the next cup of coffee not far from the forefront of their minds.
