Beaches, breweries, and the big battleship North Carolina. There are a lot of things to do in Wilmington. You’ll probably need an early morning jolt to keep you moving throughout the day. Spread throughout downtown and tucked inside beautiful buildings, local coffee shops roast their beans and serve them fresh with every coffee served.
Learn about these coffee shops and what to expect during your visit to the Cape Fear region. This list is in order of distance from downtown.
Map of Coffee Shops in Wilmington
How to use this map | Click the icon in the top-left corner to open the Map Legend, then click on any of the legend items to display more information. If you have a Google account, click the (very faint) star at the end of the map’s name to save this map to your account, then access the map from your smartphone during your trip.
Java Dog Coffee House
Java Dog Coffee House has been around longer than most coffee shops in Wilmington. It’s located inside The Cotton Exchange, a collection of buildings on Front Street cobbled together with connecting corridors and filled with local retail shops.
You can buy beans by the bag at the coffee shop or just go straight to your favorite hot or cold caffeinated drink. Carry it upstairs to the loft seating area, or head outside to the row of chairs perfect for people-watching.
Inside Tip | It might be tempting to grab a coffee to go and explore the various shops in The Cotton Exchange, however, many of the shops don’t allow food or drinks inside.
Drift Coffee Shop & Kitchen
Michael and Ben Powell discovered a passion for craft coffee while traveling around the world in search of the best waves. The surfers eventually settled in Wilmington and opened Drift Coffee Shop & Kitchen.
Start the day with a fresh ground coffee with beans from Raleigh-based Black & White Coffee Roasters. The baristas make the typical espresso drinks, iced coffee drinks, and holistic lattes.
The brunch menu includes savory healthy options, like the Market Bowl Breakfast with quinoa, roasted sweet potatoes, and eggs. But my favorite thing on the menu was the Nutella French Toast – definitely not a healthy option. The menu also includes breakfast sandwiches, cold-cut sandwiches, and lunch bowls.
The downtown location is conveniently located on Front Street near The Cotton Exchange. Limited seating is inside, and a couple of patio tables along the street.
Bespoke Coffee & Dry Goods
At the corner of Princess and 2nd in Wilmington’s downtown commercial district, Bespoke Coffee & Dry Goods is a modern chic coffee shop perfect for sitting awhile. White walls are decorated with dark-stained wood shelving, industrial lighting, and natural plants. Large windows allow sunlight to bathe the interior, creating an invigorating environment.
During the day, order a coffee and enjoy sitting at the bar or large tables to work. But in the evenings, the bar opens, and you’ll find local craft beers on tap. It’s the perfect place to start a day of remote work and finish with an evening of relaxation.
Port City Java
Port City Java “began waking up guests in 1995” with their first coffee shop in downtown Wilmington. Since then, the franchise has grown to dozens of locations across eastern North Carolina. Since the beginning, the folks at PCJ have roasted their coffee beans.
You’ll find a menu of hot and cold caffeinated drinks at each coffee shop, each made with freshly ground beans for the best flavor. Drip coffee, espresso, blended drinks, they even offer a small menu of smoothies and snack foods. At the downtown location, seating is plentiful at large tables with built-in outlets, armchairs, and outdoor metal tables. Feel like being a model for an hour? Two of the tables are in the curved glass displays straddling the entrance!
Inside Tip | Wilmington has over a dozen Port City Java locations. Of course, the downtown location is a favorite, but all their locations are safe, comfortable, and perfect for some remote work.
24 South Coffee House
Less than a block from Market Street, 24 South Coffee House is in the middle of the downtown action. The cozy space is accented with a tin metal roof and hardwood floors. Comfortable leather chairs with wood frames, square tables, and wooden chairs build an atmosphere for remote work or relaxing with a fresh coffee.
24 South Coffee House doesn’t roast its own beans, but it finds the best gourmet coffee for its drinks. Grinding them fresh for every coffee, you’ll be guaranteed a savory drink. While exploring downtown, you can pick up a drip coffee, espresso, or baked goods.
Maroon Monkey Coffee
In 2021, Maggie Blackham took her experience working in bakeries and coffee shops to the next level when she purchased Cheeky Monkey Coffee and renamed it Maroon Monkey Coffee. Located in the City Market Shops, a collection of local retail businesses under the roof of a former waterfront warehouse, it’s the perfect location for foot traffic from the nearby Riverwalk.
Blackham roasts beans in small batches, ground fresh for every coffee served. Drip, pour-over, and espresso are typical items on the menu. But Blackham enjoys adding new and old recipes like the Cinnamon French Toast Latte – an interesting blend of espresso and creamy cinnamon foam.
A few tables are scattered across the charcoal-colored concrete floor. A bar cuts across a large window, the perfect place to watch the slow traffic along South Front Street. It’s a comfortable place to sit for awhile, but the real enjoyment would be taking the coffee to the waterfront Riverwalk.
Luna Caffé
Once a bustling area of retail activity in the 1950s and 60s, Castle Street found new life that Our State magazine called the “arts and antiques district” of Wilmington. In 2013, UNC Wilmington alumni Will Chacon and Nina Hayhurst-Chacon added their business to the growing district when they opened Luna Caffé. You won’t miss this building – it has been wonderfully painted with a mural depicting stars and planets and a rocket-powered by coffee beans.
Concrete floors and exposed brick walls greet visitors into the 1930s commercial building. They use locally roasted beans and grind them fresh for every coffee served. The menu also includes frappes, tea, and smoothies. Sit inside at one of the eclectic tables or under the shade sails on the graveled patio behind the building.
Ibis Coffee and Cocktails
Audiophiles enjoy high fidelity – or high quality – sound reproduction. Acoustics, speakers, and music sources are important factors. Ibis Coffee and Cocktail is Wilmington’s first hi-fi coffee shop and cocktail lounge.
Craft coffee is served every day from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m. The coffee menu includes the typical espresso drinks, drip coffee, cold brew, and iced coffee drinks. The baristas use beans from Wilmington-based Casa Blanca Coffee Roasters.
Pro Travel Tip | The best way to fully experience this intriguing high-fidelity venue is to get a coffee in the morning and then return for a cocktail in the evening.
At 4 p.m., the menu changes from coffee to cocktails. The evening menu includes martinis, tropical drinks, wine, and clever cocktails. My favorite is the James Taylor – a peanut butter-infused Old Forester whiskey, cocoa liqueur, and Coca-Cola refresco.
The coffee shop and cocktail lounge are in a renovated former Coca-Cola bottling factory in Wilmington’s Soda Pop District. Gravity Records – a local audiophile retailer – designed the high-fidelity system. The inside is a gorgeous chic industrial design with high ceilings, large windows, and comfortable seating beneath suspended pendant lights.
Folks Café
Tammy and Juan Pacini moved to Wilmington in 2009. Just forty-five days later, they opened Folks Café on Princess Street. From the beginning, their goal was to create a friendly place to meet the locals while also providing fantastic coffee and savory empanadas.
The Pacinis roast their own beans in small batches, careful to pick from the best farms around the world. Drawing on their ancestry – Tammy is from Ecuador and Juan from Argentina – they added empanadas to the daily menu. It’s off the beaten path, about five minutes from downtown, behind a high school. It would be the perfect place for coffee, food, and remote work completely undisturbed.
Port City Java
This Port City Java location is my favorite in Wilmington. It’s about ten minutes from downtown on Market Street in a small, quiet shopping center. The patio is a great place to enjoy coffee and snacks while watching the never-ending traffic hustle along the narrow four-lane road.
See No. 4 on this list to learn more about Port City Java’s history.
The Complex Bean Coffee Bar and Bakery
In 2015, UNC Wilmington alum Elizabeth James opened a coffee shop referencing the nature of coffee beans – The Complex Bean Coffee Bar and Bakery. The out-of-the-way coffee shop is a cozy retreat with mocha-colored concrete floors, a tin metal roof, and a few comfortable tables and chairs. James serves Counter Culture beans, a Raleigh-based roaster that has expanded across the country in recent years, brewing up drip coffee, espresso, latte, and kombucha.
Casa Blanca Coffee Roasters
Marissa Ruehle is a self-confessed workaholic – but she’s a passionate workaholic. Long before she enjoyed the benefits of coffee, she loved the coffee shop atmosphere. In 2019, she opened her own location in the coffee shop industry with Casa Blanca Coffee Roasters. Moving into a white stucco 1956 house, visitors can glimpse the coffee bean roasting process while waiting for their favorite brew.
Ruehle sources beans from all over the world, roasts them in small batches, and grinds them fresh for every coffee served. Drip coffee, pour over, Chemex – she knows how to make a great coffee. Inside, mocha-colored beams contrast against white walls and a white tile floor. Square tables with moderately comfortable chairs will keep you working for hours.
But the biggest surprise is the stunning patio behind the coffee shop. Brick pavers are covered in the shade from a white trellis. Ridiculously comfortable outdoor furniture and picnic tables await your arrival. With the bulk of the building blocking the noise from Market Street, it’s the perfect place to relax for awhile.
Bitty & Beau’s Coffee
When Amy Wright’s two youngest children, Bitty and Beau, were born with Down Syndrome, she became a lifelong advocate for finding people with developmental disabilities a job in society. Frustrated by a lack of options, in 2016, she opened a coffee shop in the corner of a car dealership.
Since then, her business has grown. A new, permanent location on the dealership’s property was built for the coffee shop with volunteer labor and donated materials. The curved roof leading to a towering interior creates a cavernous space comfortable for anyone to spend a while.
People with disabilities work hard behind the counter. After taking an order, patrons are given a poker card. When their card is called, it’s time to pick up your order!
Lucky Joe Craft Coffee Shop
You won’t find hot coffee at Lucky Joe Craft Coffee Shop. That’s because they went all-in on the nitro coffee trend – cold-brewed coffee infused with nitrogen gas. The result is a chilled coffee with a creamy foam head and a richer flavor than traditional coffee.
Inside the large coffee shop, dark carpet and a black ceiling are offset by natural light flooding through floor-to-ceiling windows. Beautiful natural wood tables and wooden chairs with thin cushioned seats are perfect for hanging around for awhile. You’ll find an armchair and sofa in the corner – get there early to stake your claim.
Grinders Caffé
From the outside, Grinders Caffé looks like any other rental space in a shopping center, with a flat corrugated metal awning hanging above large picture windows and a steel frame door. But inside, hardwood floors, black tables and chairs, and a comfortable leather sofa welcome people into a comfortable atmosphere perfect for remote work or just visiting.
Opened in 2011, the folks at Grinders Caffé use beans from Java Estate Roastery located about half an hour away in Hampstead. Drip coffee, espresso, frappes, and cold brews are made with freshly ground coffee for the best flavor. Choose from a small selection of baked goods and snacks to accompany the caffeinated drink, and you’ll be there for hours.
Maven Coffee
Maven Coffee is a small-batch roastery in a shopping center on Oleander Drive. The espresso bar serves fresh ground coffee drinks in a small space – the perfect place to decide if you want to take some of their freshly roasted beans home. The menu includes the typical espresso drinks, tea, pour-over, and a few small bite options.
Spill Coffee & Roastery
A 1956 Chevy truck bed is parked in front of Spill Coffee & Roastery – and just the truck bed. A frame welded to the front with a towing hitch explains how the two-wheeled truck bed got around town. That’s how Tori Light and Amber Legates got into the coffee business – a mobile coffee cart.
When they moved to Wilmington, the pair opened a coffee shop along the busy corridor on College Road. Drip, espresso, and iced coffee are served with locally roasted beans. The menu also includes house-made syrups for lattes and tea. Pink is the preferred color for the artwork on the walls and even the furniture. Armchairs, sofas, and tables with moderately comfortable chairs are inviting enough to keep you around for awhile.
Social Coffee and Supply Co.
In 2017, husband and wife Giovanni and Rachel Ellzey took their mobile coffee cart to the next level when they moved into a permanent location on Wrightsville Avenue. The one-story house was built in 1969 and previously served as a café before the Ellzeys bought it for their coffee shop. After hard work, they transformed it into a cozy and gorgeous place to spend a few hours.
A covered porch greets visitors as they pull around back for parking. Inside, hardwood floors are covered with tables and comfortable chairs. Outside, patio seating is available for those comfy spring and autumn days. The menu features hot and cold coffee, drip coffee, and espresso made with beans from around the world.
The Workshop
Audrey Longtin moved to Wrightsville Beach in 2014 after the Montreal native fell in love with the small community. In 2016, she opened The Workshop – a small coffee shop near Causeway Drive. But when you enter the coffee shop, you’ll find more than just coffee and gourmet sandwiches for sale.
Longtin also sells jewelry crafted from megalodon teeth.
Shortly after moving to Wrightsville Beach, Longtin became SCUBA-certified. She developed a passion for hunting for the giant, ancient shark teeth. The Workshop allows her to combine all her passions into an interesting amalgamation – coffee shop, deli, and jewelry store.
The expansive coffee menu includes espresso, cold brew, frozen coffee, and tea. Try one of the delicious sandwiches or toast topped with savory ingredients.
The Workshop is a tiny space with very limited seating. Most visitors get the coffee and food to go. A few tables on the patio are shared with Koh’s Frozen Custard & Kitchen and Trolley Stop.
