Why We Don't List Chains
MN Coffee only lists independent specialty shops. Here's the thinking behind that decision and why we'll never add national chains.
When we built MN Coffee, the first question we had to answer was: what's in?
The easy answer would have been everything. Build a comprehensive directory, add every place in Minnesota that sells coffee, let the ratings sort it out. That's what Google Maps and Yelp already do. We didn't need to build another one of those.
The Problem with "Everything"
There are thousands of places in Minnesota where you can technically order a coffee. Gas stations, drive-throughs, fast food restaurants, national chains. Listing all of them doesn't help you find a great cup of coffee — it just buries the good places under a pile of mediocre ones.
Chains are the biggest culprit. The big national chains have dozens of locations in the Twin Cities alone. If we listed them, they'd dominate search results and map views, making it harder to find the independent shops that are actually doing interesting work.
What We Mean by "Specialty"
We're not being snobby for its own sake. A shop doesn't need Chemex pour-overs and a $15 cortado to earn a spot in MN Coffee. The bar is simpler:
- Are the people behind the bar skilled? Do they actually know how to pull espresso and calibrate a grinder, or is it push-a-button-and-hand-it-over?
- Does the sourcing matter to them? Are they working with quality roasters, or are they buying whatever's cheapest?
- Is coffee the point? Some shops treat coffee as an afterthought next to a lunch menu or a gift shop. We're not interested in those.
If a shop genuinely cares about the product, it belongs in MN Coffee. If it doesn't, it doesn't.
What This Means for You
When you open MN Coffee, you don't have to filter anything out. Every shop on the map is worth visiting. You still might prefer one over another — that's what ratings and reviews are for — but you won't stumble into a place that treats coffee as a commodity.
Minnesota has a genuinely great independent coffee scene, especially in the Twin Cities, Duluth, and Rochester. MN Coffee exists to make that scene more visible and more accessible.
That's the whole point.