The 10 Most Popular Coffee Shops in America (in Photos)

The popular social check-in app Foursquare has dug through its 4.5 billion check-ins to determine the 10 busiest coffee shops in the United States. While Foursquare check-ins provide only a loose snapshot of actual traffic numbers, the list does provide some insight as to where more braggartly consumers like to be seen taking their coffee.

Topping the list is New Orleans French Market tourist destination Café du Monde, as famous for its powdered-sugar-coated beignets as it is for its chickory-flavored coffee. Another tourist destination, Starbucks’ flagship cafe in downtown Seattle, made the list, representing Seattle’s lone contributor. With a bakery focus, 85c Bakery & Cafe is a bit of an outlier on the list. The Irvine, Calif., bakery is the first and only in the United States operated by the Taiwanese chain Comestibles Master Co.

The rest of the list — in which New York and San Francisco are well-represented — reads like a who’s who of Third Wave pioneers, including Stumptown, Blue Bottle, Intelligentsia and La Colombe. It is worth noting that some of these companies have found their busiest locations far afield of their hometowns (Portland’s Stumptown and Philly’s La Colombe made the list for New York cafes). It’s also good to see some slightly smaller — but no less pioneering — coffee companies (Sightglass, Four Barrel, Birch Coffee). Without further ado, here is the complete list, in pictures:

1. Café Du Monde

800 Decatur St at The French Market, New Orleans, LA

Creative Commons photo

2. La Colombe Torrefaction

400 Lafayette St. at E 4th St., New York, NY

Foursquare photo

3. Stumptown Coffee Roasters

18 W 29th St at Broadway, New York, NY

photo by Stumptown Coffee Roasters

4. Sightglass Coffee

270 7th St btwn Howard & Folsom St, San Francisco, CA

Foursquare photo

5. Four Barrel Coffee

375 Valencia St btwn 14th St & 15th St, San Francisco, CA

Foursquare photo

6. Blue Bottle Coffee

66 Mint Plaza at Jessie St, San Francisco, CA

Foursquare photo

10. Starbucks

1912 Pike Pl at Stewart St, Seattle, WA

Creative Commons photo

8. Birch Coffee

5 E 27th St btwn Madison & 5th Ave, New York, NY

Foursquare photo

9. 85°C Bakery Cafe

2700 Alton Pkwy, Ste 123 at Jamboree Rd., Irvine, CA

Foursquare photo

10. Intelligentsia Coffee

53 E Randolph St at N Garland Ct, Chicago, IL

Foursquare photo