Defined Coffee’s two-person barista team and its artfully crafted coffee drinks are a force for good in Gibson Mill Market in Concord. This small corner in a remodeled mill somehow manages to be simultaneously earthy, industrial, and Santa Barbara-esque. The baristas don’t let a busy line deter them from pulling quality espresso and designing latte art like it’s their last. It’s hard to choose a favorite from the fall menu, but it has to be the recurring seasonal mainstay—the Deathly Swallows, a minty latte with a whisper of a ghost pepper-infused maple kick. There’s nothing like it. This spot, with an enormous antique store next door, is seriously worth a day trip to Concord.

Owner Cheryse Terry has built a space that transcends coffee and celebrates Black culture. Archive does this by way of creating a community gathering space with decades of vintage Black-owned magazines and newspapers, Toni Morrison totes, Maya Angelou books, and art collections highlighting Black history, all tightly situated along the walls and shelves. Enjoy a pared-down coffee menu with a few signature flavors — vanilla, caramel, and savory brown butter — and layered tea blends. This cafe and shop attracts a loyal crowd from surrounding Washington and Lincoln Heights, and nearby Johnson C. Smith University and Northwest School of the Arts. Alongside the coffee, the aux, the Pac-Man machine, and endless ephemera to explore are all compelling reasons to check out this spot. 

Tucked into the back corner of the Urban District Market, a mid-sized, hyper-modern food hall in NoDa is & Coffee. It’s possible to be a quick grab-n-go coffee spot, because, unlike the rest of NoDa, the parking is easy and plentiful. Try the corn latte this fall with housemade corn milk — it’s grainy and not quite capable of latte art but naturally sweet and seriously innovative. The strawberry matcha and the waffles made from croissants topped with ube are fun too. The natural light pours into this quiet, industrial-chic space with plenty of seating options, a books-to-borrow shelf, and an Asian snack market beside the coffee counter.

The Hobbyist is a coffee and bottle shop, and while right off of busy North Davidson Street in a modern shopping center, it’s leisurely and etched with character inside. It’s situated like a long corridor, with draping plants, local knick-knacks and tables at the front, bar stools and wine racks in the middle, and cozy couches and vintage art in the back. The coffee drinks here are made from specialty Boone roaster Hatchet Coffee. The salty-sweet black walnut latte and brown sugar pumpkin latte are must-trys this fall, and the abundant local tea selections from the Memoire are blended beauties. Also, the mugs to stay are a generous size and there’s free wifi — two little wins. On Mondays, get $1 off drip coffee, because every dollar counts in the costly coffee world. The Hobbyist is open until 9 p.m. on weekdays and 10 p.m. on weekends, which means when the caffeine craving hits no matter the time, this is the spot.

A couple blocks down Brevard near the Spectrum Center is Provided, an unassuming coffee shop, not even a year old in this first brick-and-mortar location. The aesthetic is vintage-antique-grandma’s-cabin-in-Kentucky, despite being run by two Gen-Z best friends. Provided combines Greenville’s Methodical Coffee beans with handcrafted syrups to create exquisite, complex flavors, like this season’s carrot cake latte or cappuccino. The steamed milk, with an artful design, glistens on top, as it should. The combination of masterful espresso dialing and a cozy-cabin aesthetic attracts an eclectic crowd of passersby — parents of nearby elementary schools, artsy freelancers, UNCC students at the uptown campus, and finance folks on a lunch break. Do note that there isn’t much seating here, except a couch inside, and a scattering of small tables in the parking lot. So if not for the seating, go for the coffee.

This spot is a very neighborly and very yellow cafe and market on an idyllic Elizabeth street. This fall’s orange cardamom latte is a fun recurring seasonal drink in Charlotte, and the jade roast of Magnolia Coffee makes for a cup of medium-bodied, stone-fruity joe. This is a communal work-from-home spot during the week and social spot on Saturdays and Sundays, with a craft beer bar, light bites (pastries and salads), and less light bites (smash burgers and pizza).

Charlotteans have definitely heard of beloved local coffee chain Not Just Coffee, but of all the NJC’s, this one feels like a best-kept secret. In a bungalow off of Providence Road, this Not Just Coffee is usually one impressive barista at a small counter, mastering artful shot-pulling and milk steaming. This bungalow is also home to contemporary art gallery Soco and upscale men’s fashion shop Tabor. Together, they’re situated like a little village, giving a low-key luxury aesthetic that’s rare for Charlotte. Visitors can browse the art books and dream up having enough money to buy an Italian jacket, all while sipping a cappuccino or any of the other refined drinks — latte, matcha, drip — on the lean menu. This NJC sells pastries from local Wheatberry Bakeshop and Patisserie La Rue — crumbly coffee cakes and croissants, which sell out quickly and can be dipped and sipped with coffee on the side porch or limited indoor countertop space.

While Dilworth is one of Charlotte’s oldest neighborhoods, Backyard Brew is a new kid on the block. On a quaint front porch off of East Boulevard, the beans are roasted fresh, and Tariqu Khalil (TK for short), the owner bringing Backyard Brew from Palo Alto, California, to Charlotte, guides visitors through their preferences, suggesting drinks that can satiate any combination of craving, like the baklava latte with rosewater and bits of pistachio (best iced) or the matcha cold foam peach tea. He works with visitors to customize flavor, saying they are the “master artists,” and he does so without making the visitor feel like a line-slowing burden. With witty phrases like “We don’t play the pump game” (a nod to its innumerable housemade flavored sweeteners, as opposed to cloying syrups), Backyard Brew is lighthearted, taking the elitism, but not the creativity, out of coffee culture. Also, the limited but lovely front patio seating is reminiscent of a grandmother’s porch. Although there may not be a microfoam latte design on the drinks here, this coffee joint’s selling points are the spunky specialty concoctions and the proximity to a neighborhood fit for a morning walk.

This is a feel-good hidden gem of a cafe and used bookshop, attached to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Using local Magnolia Coffee Co. beans, Julia’s offers a reasonably priced standard coffee menu— hot and cold brews and some sweeter, simple lattes. With tables upstairs and bookshelves at every turn, it’s the homiest layout, never too crowded or cramped. Devour a book in one hand and the marshmallow hazelnut latte in the other, and cozy up with tomato soup and local fav Anderson’s pecan pie.

South Park is generally a boujee, upscale neighborhood, so to really shake things up, try the non-trendy, divey oasis that is Mugs Coffee off of Park Road. Mugs has been rocking its quirky style, board games, funky local art, and Instagram-less vibe since 2011 (a long time for the Charlotte coffee scene). Book clubs, writing workshops, and community meet-ups happen on the couches and tables of this coffee shop. The coffee and tea aren’t polished craftsmanship, but they do hit the spot and taste like they were made by someone who cares about you, before or after a long day of work. It’s a sweet spot to just get a reliable Magnolia drip coffee and a quick bagel, to work and write, and to be away from the hustle and bustle.

A Saturday morning at Brakemans is a storybook small-town escape, with a persistent line that moves quickly, made up of folks either heading to or from the nearby farmer’s market. It’s definitely a family-friendly spot on the main strip of family-oriented Matthews, meaning lots of strollers and wedding planning is going on in this coffee house (it is indeed a house, with an upstairs, screened-in front porch, front and backyard, and seating in nooks and crannies inside). The berry matcha and the basil vanilla fall latte add a little something to a classic latte, while the drip coffee, either the Brakeman’s roast or the rotating featuring roasts, leans clean and simple.