See How St. Louis Ranks For Coffee And Find Some Sweet Deals

ST. LOUIS, MO — Seattle, prominent for its java culture, may be doing a slow roast over the results of a new report of America’s best cities for coffee lovers. New York gets the top spot in the analysis, released just ahead of National Coffee Day, which is Saturday, Sept. 29. St. Louis came in at 42 in the nonscientific ranking, based on things like the number of coffee shops, coffee houses and cafés per capita and the average price we’re paying here for a pack of coffee.

Several of those coffee purveyors are offering deals to lure you into their businesses — as if the aroma of a strong cup wasn’t enough. They include chains like Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts (soon to be just Dunkin’), Caribou and others.

Some of those nearby include:

• Dunkin’ Donuts: Any Dunkin’ Donuts guest who purchases a Hot Coffee will get one free as a perfect gift to share with their favorite friends, family, colleagues and collaborators who also count on coffee to take on the day.
  
• Starbucks: "While many give away free coffee on National Coffee Day, Starbucks does not. Here’s why: we know the hard work and pride that goes into your cup, starting with the farmers who grow the coffee beans, all the way to the baristas. This National Coffee Day, we’re focused on providing continued assistance to help Puerto Rico recover following the devastation of Hurricane Maria one year ago, where the coffee industry was decimated. We are donating 2 million coffee seeds to help rebuild. The Starbucks Foundation and EFI Foundation (our licensee partner in Puerto Rico) are also giving a three-year, $583,000 grant to World Coffee Research to improve seed quality and growing practices on the island. Additionally, we just announced a commitment of up to $20 million towards an Emergency Relief to support smallholder farmers that are impacted by the coffee price crisis in Central America.
  
• McDonalds: $1 any size coffee or buy a medium or large McCafe

Find other deals here and here.

Even without a deal, think about observing National Coffee Day at one of these popular local coffee shops:

• Kayak's Coffee on Skinker
• Meshuggah Cafe in the Delmar Loop
• Park Avenue Coffee in downton St. Louis
• Shameless Grounds in Benton Park

Coffee, second only to oil as the most valuable traded commodity worldwide, is a daily staple for 64 percent of Americans 18 and older surveyed in a recent Reuters poll. Americans spend about $48 billion a year on lattes, espressos and other coffee products, according to the personal finance website WalletHub, which put together 2018's Best Coffee Cities in America.

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This caffeinated staple of many of our mornings may not just wake us up, but may in fact be good for us, according to studies suggesting that in addition to boosting mental stimulation, caffeine may contribute to longevity if consumed in the right amounts.

And it plays an important cultural role, uniting people around the coffee station at work or at the coffee shop on the corner, and opening a new career field for baristas, who compete in national competitions that include latte art.

Exactly when coffee was discovered is steeped in mystery and lore, according to PBS, which cites a popular Ethiopian legend about Kaldi, a goat herder who found his “goats frolicking and full of energy after eating the red fruit of the coffee shrub.” He tried it and felt the same burst of energy. Seeing this, a monk took a handful of fruit and shared it with his brothers, making for a sleepless night for the monks.

Taking its name from the legend, Kaldi is also a specialty coffee roaster based in St. Louis, just FYI.

Coffee plants made it to the New World in the 18th century, and it became a patriotic duty to drink coffee after Massachusetts colonists, disguised as Mohawk Indians, boarded three British tea ships moored in Boston Harbor and dumped their cargo into the water. Civil War soldiers came to rely on the boost of energy they got from coffee, and by the late 1800s, it had become a worldwide commodity.

Joining New York City and Seattle in the top 10 coffee cities in America, according to WalletHub’s ranking, are San Francisco, California; Portland, Oregon; and Los Angeles.

The bottom five cities for coffee are Fremont, California; Oakland, California; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Austin, Texas; and Atlanta, Georgia.

The report makes some interesting observations about the geographical differences in our coffee habits. For example:

• Tulsa, Oklahoma, has the lowest average price for a pack of coffee, $3.38, which is 2.4 times lower than in Honolulu, the city with the highest at $8.16.

• Fremont, California, has the highest average annual spending on coffee per household, $186.85, which is three times higher than Cleveland, the city with the lowest at $63.06.

• Gilbert, Arizona, has the highest share of households that own a single-cup/pod-brewing coffee maker, 24.50 percent, which is 2.7 times higher than in Hialeah, Florida, the city with the lowest at 8.99 percent.

• New York has the most coffee shops, coffee houses and cafés (per square root of population), 1.1791, which is 17.4 times more than in Laredo, Texas, the city with the fewest at 0.0678.

• Portland, Oregon, has the most coffee and tea manufacturers (per square root of population), 0.0209, which is 41.8 times more than in Riverside and San Bernardino, California, the cities with the fewest at 0.0005.

Image via Shutterstock