Duluth Area Coffee Ratings
As of 10/31/2015

Each coffee house is rated in four catagories, each on a 1-10 scale; quality of the coffee served, house atmosphere, service received, and overall value.

These four ratings are then then combined to determine the "Total" rating. The four factors are not considered equal--Taste ls 35% of the rating, Atmosphere accounts for 15%, Service 20% and Value is 30%.

The food offered at each of these places is not factored in, only the coffee!

After the ratings, I have some comments on what I found and what I liked.

Rank Coffee House Location Taste Atmos Serv. Value Total
1 Wussow's Concert Café Duluth 9.00 8.00 10.00 10.00 9.35
2 Amity Coffee Duluth 9.00 7.00 10.00 9.00 8.90
3 2540 Coffee House Superior 8.00 7.00 10.00 10.00 8.85
4 Koinonia Coffeehouse Cloquet 8.00 9.00 10.00 9.00 8.85
5 Dunn Brothers Duluth 8.00 8.00 10.00 9.00 8.70
6 Gordy's Warming House Cloquet 8.00 8.00 10.00 8.00 8.40
7 Wired Whisker Duluth 8.00 7.50 10.00 8.00 8.33
8 Coffee Bar at Naturalight Duluth 9.00 7.00 7.00 9.00 8.30
9 Miigwitches Brew Cloquet 8.00 5.00 10.00 9.00 8.25
10 Dunkin' Donuts Duluth 8.00 7.00 8.00 9.00 8.15
11 Casa Latte Hermantown 9.00 5.00 9.00 8.00 8.10
12 Duluth Coffee Company Duluth 8.00 7.00 10.00 7.50 8.10
13 Empire Coffee Superior 7.50 7.00 10.00 8.00 8.08
14 Magnolia Café Carlton 7.00 6.00 10.00 9.00 8.05
15 Purple Car Café Proctor 7.00 8.00 10.00 8.00 8.05
16 BB + Friends Duluth 9.00 8.00 8.00 7.00 8.05
17 Caribou Coffee Duluth 7.00 7.00 9.00 9.00 8.00
18 Back Alley Duluth 7.00 7.00 10.00 8.00 7.90
19 Starbucks Coffee Duluth 7.00 6.00 9.00 9.00 7.85
20 Duluth's Best Bread Duluth 8.00 7.00 8.00 8.00 7.85
21 Perk Place Duluth 8.00 8.00 7.00 8.00 7.80
22 Loch Café & Games Duluth 8.00 7.00 9.00 7.00 7.75
23 190 Coffee and Tea Duluth 7.00 7.00 10.00 7.00 7.60
24 Almanac Coffee Duluth 8.00 8.00 8.00 6.00 7.40
25 Bearaboo Coffee Escape Cloquet 8.00 5.00 6.00 8.00 7.15
26 Studio Café Duluth 6.00 8.00 10.00 6.00 7.10
27 Yellow Bike Coffee Duluth 6.00 7.00 7.50 8.00 7.05

Notes:

1. These ratings apply to their coffee offerings only! The only exception was a BB + Friends where they didn't have drip coffee brewed so I opted for Americano instead, and it was excellent!

2. With a few exceptions, there isn't much difference in the taste category; this is why 18 places rated either an "8" or a "9". A few were lower, most notably at Yellow Bike Coffee, initially pretty good until I ran into a pile of grit in the final couple ounces! Avoiding this is easy, guys. Just gotta pay attention to the brew and the pour. I think, overall, Amity Coffee was the best tasting and almost rated a 9.5 in taste.

3. As for service, if you serve up my coffee promptly and with something at least approaching a smile, you get a "10" here. Engaging in chat with me (and I do like to chat up baristas, especially if they're not busy) helps. How well do the baristas know the products they offer? The barista at Bearaboo who looked at me--twice--and then resumed her conversation with the other baristas hurt that rating. Same thing at Perk Place and Yellow Bike where I had to wait at least ten minutes for my java. (And then Yellow Bike doubled down by serving me that grit on the bottom of the cup! Guaranteeing their place at the bottom of my ratings)

4. Atmosphere. While I didn't drink my coffee at these establishments, I took a good look at the inside of each place with the question of whether I'd like to kick back and slowly enjoy my coffee buzz. Here, Koinoia Coffeehouse had the best atmosphere, followed closely by Wussow's. Gordy's also appealed to me, being a quieter, more wide-open atmosphere.

5. Value; this is basically a measure of the three factors (taste, service, atmosphere) and taking into account the price. The average price, adjusted to 16-oz size (some places only had 12-oz available) was $3.72. The lowest three prices was at 2540 Coffee, Magnolia Cafe and Dunkin' Donuts. The three highest were found at Almanac Coffee, BB + Friends and Studio Cafe.

6. The overall #1, Wussow's on Central Avenue in Duluth, warrants that ranking. They stood tall in every area, along with coffee costing 41 cents below the average. It also featured a great atmosphere, one where I'd be quite happy sitting down while sipping a cup of eye-opening goodness, and friendly workers eager to engage me in chat about various topics.

These reviews will be updated as I return to many of these places, along with visiting any new locations which will pop up. This has been fun! And a good reason to roll my retired bones out of bed early each morning as I did my research!

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