if you go to las vegas, you go for the glitz, you go for the glamour, you’re going to enjoy a very different lifestyle than usual. you go through smoky casinos and 30 minute ferris wheels. you go for celebrity chefs and the potential to make it big. what you were not looking for, until recently, was coffee. For coffee lovers relegated to a vacation among fried twinkies and 100-story-tall Celine Dion posters, options have historically been slim, doomed to the losing odds of a ceramic cup of casino coffee. . However, if you are a specialty coffee person who also enjoys a Las Vegas vacation, you are now aligned with lady luck, because, albeit slowly, a specialty coffee scene has begun to emerge in Las Vegas.
To fully see the sights of Las Vegas Cafe, those glow-in-the-dark few, you’ll need a car, at least a few hours, and of course, you’ll need a guide, this guide. Sprudge spent a whirlwind four days in Las Vegas digging through the desert sands to discover the next (first?) wave of Las Vegas specialty coffee, and now we share our good fortune with you.
Reading: Best coffee in las vegas strip
torrefazione sambalatte
if you managed to book a room on treasure island but don’t want to order a pumpkin spice latte over the sneeze guard at the starbucks downstairs, las vegas’ superficial ode to all things dazzling, The strip now has a viable option: Luis Oliveira’s fourth entry in his Las Vegas mini-chain: Sambalatte Torrefazione. The massive ground-floor space of the Monte Carlo has been self-described by Oliveira as a “coffee theater,” and with its towering signage, 100-foot TV screens blasting solid pours of latte art, and voyeuristic, floor-level view the street in your toaster, many times it exceeds the bill. However, don’t let the Vegas smoke and mirrors turn you off, under the tutelage of local coffee connoisseur Mason Salisbury, the staff is serving up some solid drinks to a volume of patrons most coffee shops can’t even imagine. . so when mashing the screen of your slot machine starts to tire you, sambalatte torrefazione is your favorite spot on the strip.
See also: What Is The Best Coffee For Moka Pot: 8 Top Choices
coffee at dawn
joshua walter, the owner of sunrise coffee, didn’t open the homey coffee shop, tucked away in the hulk of a former its a grind across the street from sunset park and a block from wayne newton’s sprawling abode, to introduce the las vegas specialty coffee he just wanted to introduce his hometown to a much-needed idea: a place where people could come and talk and enjoy a decent cup of coffee out of the scorching heat. this is not your minimalist, snooty Bay Area specialty restaurant. This is, as Walter planned, a welcoming place for people to come together and savor a selection of vegan sandwiches and burritos while sipping on high-quality coffee that is skilfully and carefully roasted at Walter’s other place, the Café Nodriza. Although Sunrise, with its 20-ounce lattes, may not satisfy the experimental palates of true coffee snobs, it is a place designed to help foster community, but also to offer an opportunity for novice coffee drinkers to Take your first steps into a larger, more delicious world of coffee.
manufacturers & find coffee
If you’re looking for a respite from chain-smoking tour groups and the smell of stale beer,
Downtown Las Vegas is your best bet. This is, if all goes well, the future of “cool” Las Vegas. specialized cocktail bars, art installations, one of the best bookstores in the country (writer’s block) and, of course, some of the best coffee in the city. valeria varela and josh molina, the co-owners of makers & finders coffee, have created a venue that not only caters to the stylish tenants of the specialty cafe, but also offers a bustling community space with a delicious and laid-back program of Latino-centric food. this is a place you can spend all day, devouring a couple of empanadas or eggs benedict while sipping on a pour over or lavender latte (a favorite specialty drink of makers and seekers alike). And while operating a specialty coffee shop in Las Vegas can be difficult, as Valera says, “It’s all about finding a balance to attract as many people as possible without changing your concept. because you can be the ripest peach in the world, but it doesn’t matter if someone doesn’t like peaches.”
See also: Italys Best Coffee Houses
mothership coffee
Just down the street from Sunrise Coffee is Joshua Walter’s beautiful sister shop, Mothership Coffee. Like so many other hidden gems in the Las Vegas treasure chest, the mothership is ensconced in a dusty strip mall next to a grocery store. if you didn’t know it’s there, you’d walk right by. And you would have missed out on one of the brightest and most up-and-coming cafes in Las Vegas. With Sunrise Cafe pulling drinks just a few blocks away, Mothership is Walter’s foray into true specialty coffee. He handles for mothership and sunrise and a handful of wholesale accounts in the back while offering a solid selection of espresso-based and single-cup beverages in the front. And while Mothership is clearly aimed at the coffee aficionado, Walter and his staff know that the Las Vegas community is still getting used to specialty coffee. You won’t find attitude or judgment at mothership, you’ll find some of the best coffee in las vegas, a beautiful space, and a friendly, smiling staff that wants to help build the foundation for a new coffee scene. plus, you’ll find an array of local, handmade cakes and chocolates that will tighten your belt and make your mouth water. don’t miss it.
public
You wouldn’t expect one of America’s most formidable coffee minds to set up her new coffee shop in Las Vegas. but that’s exactly what cole mcbride, a fixture within the competitive cafe, did when with the help of his partners he opened publicus in 2015. and what a place this is. Situated on the edge of the once-lauded downtown project, Publicus is the kind of cafe that visits a city, even Las Vegas, to experience. it’s cafeteria fundamentals elevated to their best level: everything from the coffee preparation to the food, furniture and bathroom door handles, thought through to the last degree. Everything is either manufactured in-house or extensively researched and sourced from the highest quality suppliers. It’s not that Publicus is flawless or characterless, it’s that McBride has dedicated himself to creating a cafe that adheres to his extremely high standards of food and beverage, but also customer service. featuring micro-roasted batches from velton ross in everett, washington, a selection of wacky, almost cocktail-like drink specials, a truly excellent “kitchen table” assortment of food, and a staff that goes above and beyond to deliver the best version of what What its customers want, this place is not only the best coffee shop in Las Vegas, but also one of the best in the country.
noah sanders (@sandersnoah) is a San Francisco-based staff writer for sprudge.com and a contributor to the weekly sf, side one track one, and bold italics. read more noah sanders on sprudge.
See also: 10 Best Coffee Shops in Charlotte
