St. Petersburg's best coffee is in its plainest rooms.
City Guide · 2 min read
St. Petersburg is full of good-looking cafes pouring syrup. The best cups are in a working roastery and a shop you could walk straight past.
Most cafes in St. Petersburg are easy on the eye. Across the ones we have reviewed, the rooms barely differ in how good they look. The coffee differs a lot. Plenty of menus lean on syrups, foams and flavored lattes, and the espresso underneath often gets lost.
The best cups are the opposite. Neither Hogg Batch nor Daycation is trying to impress you with the room.
The rooms are good almost everywhere. The coffee is what changes.
Hogg Batch
Hogg Batch is a working roastery on Central Avenue that ages its beans in spirit barrels. The menu is pour overs and cold brew, nothing else. Ours was organic Sumatra, aged in a barrel and steeped for 18 hours, with vanilla, brown sugar and a clear rum note. It was the best cup we had in the city. Hours are limited, so check before you go.
Daycation
Daycation is a tiny owner-run shop on MLK Street, a block north of Central Avenue. From outside it looks like nothing. The cortado on their house blend, built around beans from Yunnan, China, smelled wonderful and tasted of brown sugar, and the banana bread beside it was moist and good. On a second visit we had the house favorite, Ode to My 90s: black sesame cream on top, crunchy date slices and a double espresso with your choice of milk. The owner works the bar herself and, with her staff, explains how to drink each of the specialty drinks. The service was excellent both times. Order the Ode to My 90s.
More worth your time
The Under Grounds on Central Avenue pulls a very good single-origin flat white in a bright, simple room. A few rooms break the rule, and they are worth the trip. Black Crow in the Old Northeast has the piano, the vintage furniture and the back room full of laptops, and the coffee holds up too. Order the latte and the banana chocolate bread. Coffee Concrete, in the Warehouse Arts District, is a spacious, funky coffee bar inside a concrete design studio, with art, a backyard patio and a car parked inside as a display. The room is loud and the latte is really good anyway. Order the latte. Point Chaud, a crepe cafe on 4th Street South in the Innovation District, is a clean, busy room with plenty of tables, and the cappuccino is pulled right. The savory ham, cheese and egg crepe is enormous. Order both. Bad Mother, on the first floor of the Station House downtown, is another room that breaks the rule: dark and posh, with sofas and quiet music, and a flat white that is balanced and carefully made. Order the flat white.
- Hogg Batch Coffee Roastery Steep PickDowntown St. Petersburg · St. Petersburg · Steep Index 8.7/10
A working roastery on Central Avenue that ages its beans in spirit barrels, pours only pour overs and cold brew, and does it better than anyone else in a city built on syrup lattes.
- Daycation Coffee Steep PickDowntown St. Petersburg · St. Petersburg · Steep Index 8.8/10
A tiny owner-run shop just north of Central Avenue that looks like nothing from the street, where the owner and staff talk you through how to drink the house specialties.
- The Under Grounds Coffee CoDowntown St. Petersburg · St. Petersburg · Steep Index 8.0/10
A single-origin espresso shop on Central Avenue with a bright, naturally lit room, a well-pulled flat white and a muffin that earns its own mention.
- Black Crow Coffee Co.Downtown St. Petersburg · St. Petersburg · Steep Index 8.4/10
A funky, art-filled neighborhood cafe in Old Northeast with a piano in the corner and a crowd that actually talks to each other.
- Coffee Concrete Steep PickDowntown St. Petersburg · St. Petersburg · Steep Index 8.7/10
A big, funky coffee bar inside a concrete design studio in the Warehouse Arts District, with a backyard patio and a latte worth the trip.
- Point Chaud Café & CrêpesDowntown St. Petersburg · St. Petersburg · Steep Index 8.3/10
A clean, lively crepe cafe south of downtown where the cappuccino is pulled right and the savory crepe is enormous.
- Bad Mother Steep PickDowntown St. Petersburg · St. Petersburg · Steep Index 8.9/10
A dark, posh coffee bar inside the Station House, with a balanced, chocolate-and-berry flat white and staff who will talk about the beans.
How to order everywhere else
The other rooms are worth visiting, just order carefully. Take the croissant at the second Black Crow, the mint tea at Ruya, the food at Paradeco. Skip the seasonal syrup drinks.
Walk it
Two routes cover most of this. One goes through the Grand Central District, the other through downtown on foot. Choosing between the best of them? See which of the five to pick.