Coffee drinkers throughout the American South have ample new choices for freshly roasted, expertly brewed coffee served with plenty of personality.
While 2025 was a particularly challenging year for independent coffee shop operators, many of these shops faced it head on, leaning into craft, hospitality and a sense of place.
These new openings include roasters stepping into (or leveling up) brick-and-mortar, coffee integrating with breweries and food programs, and design choices that make shops inviting and appealing without feeling precious. Here are 10 new Southeast coffee destinations worth cheering on in 2026.
Daily Coffee News’ 2025 Year in Review is our annual look back at the people, places and ideas that shaped coffee this year. Read the full series.
The Fresh Roasts of Belleair Coffee Spread Throughout Tampa Area
Almost a decade after opening its first cafe in Florida’s Tampa Bay area, Belleair Coffee Co. recently launched its spacious second location in Largo. Cafe tables and velvet-lined chairs now fill the space where shiny beer fermenter tanks once stood inside the building previously owned by Olde Florida Brewing Company… read more
Photo courtesy of Belleaire Coffee Co.
Norway Meets NOLA at the Applied Arts Coffee Cafe
Next door to its Piety Street roastery and kitchen in New Orleans, Applied Arts Coffee opened its first full-service cafe last month, pairing a chef-driven Scandinavian brunch program with fresh-roasted specialty coffee.Square tiles line the walls above patterned pillows, with a blue velvet banquette, natural wood tabletops and quaint blue chairs. The design evokes quiet corners of Oslo or Stockholm while softening the building’s industrial feel into something more personable and cozy… read more
Images courtesy of Applied Arts Coffee.
Northshore Specialty Coffee Surges in Jackson, Mississippi
In Jackson, Mississippi, Northshore Specialty Coffee is growing in waves with the opening of its new 13,000-square-foot production roastery, plus its first brick-and-mortar cafe. Freshly roasted coffees from a new Loring S35 roaster are now making their way just a few blocks to The District at Eastover, where the new cafe just soft-opened. The inaugural coffee shop leans into automated brewing systems and a retro-futuristic maritime theme… read more
Inside the new Northshore Specialty Coffee bar in Jackson, Mississippi. Photo courtesy of Northshore Specialty Coffee.
Rowan Coffee is Flowing in West Asheville with New Roastery Cafe
Asheville, North Carolina-based roasting company Rowan Coffee opened its second location last month, a classy and comfortable cafe that also now houses the roasting operation. Inside a former automotive garage in West Asheville, the new digs benefit from vintage industrial windows that stretch nearly from the floor to the ceiling on three sides, offering loads of natural light… read more
Photo by Danny Lebsock of Heirloom Photographic, courtesy of Rowan Coffee.
In Birmingham, Whammy Coffee Opens with Big Flavors and Tiny Dinosaurs
The Birmingham, Alabama, coffee scene gained a doozy this spring with the grand opening of Whammy Coffee‘s first brick-and-mortar cafe. In the ground floor space of the Denham Building formerly occupied by Atlanta-based East Pole Coffee Co., Whammy Coffee has added its own flavors, brightening the formerly cool blue walls with fresh coats of cream and maroon paint, and adding new seating… read more
Photo courtesy of Whammy Coffee.
Take Two Does It Again with Coffee and Doughnuts in Fort Myers, Florida
With coffee and doughnuts, Take Two Coffee is taking a second run at bricks-and-mortar in Fort Myers, Florida, relocating from its original cafe to a higher-visibility location. A little over two miles south of the original shop, the new spot for high-quality coffee and sweet treats at 3594 Broadway maximizes 800 square feet of space with vibrant pops of color, plants hanging from macramé, outdoor murals and multiple seating options between the white walls… read more
Photo by Claudya Ivie Photography, courtesy of Take Two Coffee.
Experimental Hogg Batch Coffee Shines in St. Pete at the HB Gold Bar
Craft coffee roaster Hogg Batch Coffee is setting a high standard with its first cafe in St. Petersburg, Florida, called the HB Gold Bar. Elevated both stylistically and physically, the cafe is up the stairs from the Grand Central Brewhouse taproom and pub just west of downtown, right across the street from the coffee company’s roastery… read more
Photo courtesy of Hogg Batch.
Cat Nap Coffee Roasting Awakens with First Virginia Cafe
In the restful heart of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, a young coffee venture called Cat Nap Coffee Roasting is up and at ’em with its first brick-and-mortar cafe in Staunton. Sharing a space that’s operated a few nights per week by local brewery Queen City Brewing Co., Cat Nap’s first permanent cafe offers plenty of indoor seating including along the bar, as well as a spacious patio with tables, chairs and benches… read more
Photo courtesy of Cat Nap Coffee Roasting.
Congregation Coffee Resurrected in New Orleans
Under new ownership, Congregation Coffee is back at it in New Orleans with a sleek new Uptown gathering place. The cafe held a grand opening last month welcoming guests into the approximately 1,200-square-foot space beneath a vintage tin ceiling… read more
Photo courtesy of Congregation Coffee.
Notable Roasting Opens Distinguished Cafe in Atlanta
Notable Roasting made a remarkable entrance into Atlanta’s specialty coffee scene with the opening of its sleek first cafe last month. Housed in a black-painted corner of Wild Heaven Beer‘s West End location, the cafe adjoins a sprawling common space that includes the brewery’s tap room, restaurant, large patio and green space, plus direct access to the Atlanta Beltline, which generates significant foot traffic… read more
Inside Notable Roasting’s first cafe in Atlanta’s West End. Photo courtesy of Notable Roasting.
