Regroup, get some work done, and meet up at the best coffee shops in Asheville, including our favorites like Ultra Coffeebar, Wheelhouse, Summit RAD, Odd’s, Old Europe, Filo, PennyCup, and OWL.
See who showcases the best local art and serves crave-worthy baked treats, vegan scones included. Hop in a vintage double-decker red bus. Sit among gorgeous flowers and along the French Broad River. Devour decadent desserts in historical buildings, and grab lunch (or biscuits!) at a cafe. I’ll even cover my favorite farmer’s market coffee truck. Neighborhoods with bonus tips highlighted.
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Although known for its craft beer (with breweries on every corner), Asheville’s coffee shops are just as happening and worthy. Even the Gilmore Girls would be proud.
As locals, Tom and I have our regular spots for great outdoor seating, strong espressos, matcha lattes, and herbal and bubble tea. While I will share a few visitor musts, I wanted to give you a more local lens with options that don’t land on many lists. We live here, after all, and update this list as often as we need – with your input, too!
📸 All photos and experiences are our own, of what we love and order with 7+ years of research behind us. 💙 Christine of Uncorked Asheville
You might also enjoy our Downtown Asheville coffee shop guide featuring great options like The Rhu and The Times Bar & Coffee Shop.
🎥 Tour 7 Of Our Favorite Asheville Coffee Shops ✨
Spots Featured:
☕️ Summit Coffee (River Arts District)
☕️ ButterPunk AVL (River Arts District)
☕️ Wheelhouse (Downtown)
☕️ OWL Bakery (North Asheville)
☕️PennyCup Silverline (Woodfin)
☕️ Filo Pastries (East Asheville)
☕️ Old Haywood Filling Station (Mills River)
Pollen Coffee & Flower Shop (Downtown Asheville)
Highlights: Open daily, beautiful flowers, floral flavors, & delicious baked goods on the outskirts of Downtown AVL
It always feels like spring at Pollen Coffee & Flower Shop. Brighten your day with gorgeous blooms for purchase, paired with a flowery herbal tea, a colorful iced matcha latte – strawberry, anyone?! – or a drip coffee.
I love their bright space filled with hanging plants in nooks and crannies. The simple menu draws a local crowd, with street parking out front. Select from local pastries, cookies the size of your face, and bagels. I will always pick a matcha cookie. I love that they sell Back Porch Baking Co. goods, which are vegan.
ButterPunk AVL (River Arts District)
Highlights: Wednesday to Monday, a local favorite biscuit cafe with the coolest decor, great for shopping for art
A great newer addition to our vibrant Asheville River Arts District (RAD), ButterPunk AVL truly meets the standard of our hipster, artsy neighborhood. The decor is everything.
While I’m not personally a biscuit gal, this is your go-to for that flaky, buttery biscuit sandwich. Look at their IG account. Think biscuits & gravy, fried eggs, and candied bacon. I like to come here for the vibe and iced lattes.
🎨 While in the area, be sure to drop into Pink Dog Creative for a massive selection of eclectic local art. Find parking along the street and in nearby pay lots.
PennyCup Coffee Co. (North, West, East, & Downtown Asheville + Woodfin)
Highlights: Daily, small-batch roaster with hippie vibes, tasty pastries, local art, diverse books for sale, and convenient locations across Asheville
One of the best coffee shops in Asheville for stellar beans and working remotely, PennyCup Coffee has something for everyone. Because of its residential location, with parking and a nice workspace, we frequent PennyCup’s North Asheville location.
However, we also recently fell in love with their hidden gem, Silverline coffee shop, with the bonus of bubble tea, smoothies, and French Broad River views. In fact, you can walk across the street to Silver-line Park and sit on a picnic table next to a pirate ship.
Along with an iced coffee, I love their Silverline London fog bubble tea and vegan fruit scones. Sit inside or out, and check their calendar for pop-up art fairs.
✨ Talk About A Hidden Gem Coffee Shop In Asheville With Something For Everyone ✨
☕️ Coffee and tea
🧋 Bubble tea
🎨 Local art
📚 Books for sale
🥐 Vegan scones
💦 French Broad River views
🧜🏽♀️ A pirate ship playground across the street…
Odd’s Cafe (West Asheville)
Highlights: Daily, a pet-friendly, local favorite with a great selection of GF and vegan baked goods
West Asheville is a quirky, jumping neighborhood for book and plant shopping, mural spying, award-winning and memorable restaurants, and craft beer. Get your bearings on Haywood Road, filled with various pay lots and street parking.
Then, leash up your cat (it’s true) for Odd’s Cafe, which boasts pet-friendly indoor seating and delicious cold brews under the eyes of a dinosaur. Enjoy baked goods, smoothies, tea, coconut water, and steamed milk.
Along with bagels, scones, and quiche, they sell Dolci Di Maria cookies, brownies, and blondies. Dolci Di Maria is one of our favorite artisanal Italian gluten-free and vegan pastry bakers.
Filo Pastries & Post 70 Indulgence Bar (East Asheville)
Highlights: Daily, with their own parking lot, serving the best lattes in Asheville on a local side of town
During the day, head to Tunnel Road for Filo Pastries. This is a bustling East Asheville coffee shop boasting tea, pastries, and light breakfast and lunch. The line is worth it.
I most appreciate their latte selection, and I cannot resist anything with cherry syrup. They also serve beer, wine, and cocktails. Seating fills up quickly, but they have a bar and counter-side seating with their own parking lot. The space transforms into Post 70 on select evenings, serving flatbreads and fresh tapas options. I’d personally come here to chat with friends over getting some work done, just for the noise level.
🦊 Notably, I love violinist and artist Sandy Herrault’s hanging wall art and cards. I send my animal-loving Florida friends her gorgeous cards.
Old Europe Pastries (Downtown Asheville)
Highlights: Daily with “late-night” hours and excellent to-go options for Downtown Asheville coffee with Hungarian treats
Old Europe Pastries is one of Asheville’s longest-running cafés (1994) and a Downtown staple. Along with herbal tea and coffee, we head here for the best pastries and desserts.
Delight in their pies, muffins, cookies, macarons, and light breakfast items like ham & cheese or chocolate croissants, cheese Danish, and quiche. Lemon poppyseed anything?! Sign me up. Old Europe always lands on our Downtown Asheville itinerary, as it should on yours. Hang out there or grab a treat for the road.
Summit Coffee Co. (River Arts District & Downtown)
Highlights: Deliciously strong coffee, daily, with a great RAD location for walking the riverwalk
Summit Coffee has locations across North and South Carolina and Georgia. In Asheville, find them in the River Arts District at Wedge Studios (new since Helene) and in Downtown AVL’s Historic Grove Arcade. I’m in love with their River Arts District coffee shop in the former Bottle Riot. You might remember Helene devastated Summit at Foundation.
While Summit Coffee transforms into Joyful Noise at night, a listening lounge with a kitchen, during the day, it’s a wide-open, large space with indoor and outdoor seating. Think work meet-ups, a solid remote/digital workspace, and a great place to regroup after art shopping.
🚶🏻♀️ Tom and I love grabbing a to-go coffee and walking the RAD Riverwalk. New mid-2026: They also have their own parking lot, but you’ll have to validate inside.
OWL Bakery | Old World Levain (West & North Asheville)
Highlights: Closed Mondays, all things cake, artisan bread, and local coffee
If you love European-style pastries and fresh loaves of bread – and trust me, I DO – OWL (Old World Levain) Bakery is a must. I was pretty excited when they added a North Asheville coffee shop with a small parking lot.
🚶🏻♀️Tom and I love parking on Kimberly Ave., walking past the gorgeous mansions and Omni Grove Park Inn to dip over to OWL; it’s about a 5k walk if you park near Hampstead Road.
Tom is a solid drip coffee kinda guy, and I love any of their teas, matcha lattes, and regular lattes with a light homemade syrup.
Wheelhouse (Downtown Asheville)
Highlights: Coffee, music, and a bar on the edge of Downtown Asheville
Hiding out around Asheville’s South Slope, Wheelhouse is the little coffee bar dive I need in my life. While I go for delicious brews in a chill space – with indoor and outdoor seating – they also have cocktails and live music, especially on the weekends.
Along with your usual espressos, lattes, matchas, and cappuccinos, they have unique special brews. I’m a Cosmic Cowboy fan with lavender brown sugar, but I won’t say no to anything with cinnamon or chocolate, too.
There’s slightly tricky parking out front, but it’s manageable. Or, park in a nearby pay lot or garage to enjoy all that South Slope and Coxe Ave. have to offer.
Old Haywood Filling Station (Mills River)
Highlights: Closed Mondays, for our airport and outlet travelers on the edge of South Asheville who want wine, beer, and coffee
I’m slightly cheating on this recommendation since technically, Old Haywood Filling Station is in Mills River. Someone’s keyboard warrior thumbs will come for me. However, it is too good an Asheville wine bar and coffee shop to pass up for its proximity and convenience to the Asheville airport and outlets. Our South Asheville followers – think Arden, Fletcher, Biltmore Park – practically live here.
Enjoy indoor and outdoor seating with highly curated wine lists, rotating early-evening food trucks, coffee, events, and a bunch of relaxing-fun drinks 🌱. Situated in the former 1958 Gasperson’s Grocery & Gas Station, it’s quaint and perfect to visit earlier in the day for quiet meet-ups and digital nomad life. They have a small parking lot.
Catch Up At Old Haywood Filing Station With Us
🍷 See why we love this wine, beer, and coffee shop near Asheville so much. ☕️
French Broad Chocolate (Downtown Asheville Lounge & RAD Factory/Cafe)
Highlights: Daily, an Asheville attraction with unforgettable bonbons, affogatos, and decadent desserts
One of the hottest attractions and most popular coffee shops in Asheville, French Broad Chocolate is for chocolate lovers. We always grab a box of bonbons (the vegan collection). I love their vegan hot chocolate and affogatos.
The Pack Square Park location might have a quickly moving line out the door during peak visitor season weekends and Pack Square Park festivals. The wait is worth it. Or, head to their River Arts District location, which offers factory tours and has a quieter cafe (with slightly fewer options than the lounge), perfect for digital nomads and locals. We buy lots of Christmas gifts for family here.
Liberty House Coffee & Cafe (North Asheville Wellness District)
Highlights: Daily, local North Asheville cafe, perfect after an Asheville Salt Cave session
My love runs deep for this Chestnut, North Asheville, close to the downtown residential area. Liberty House Cafe and its Pulp & Sprout neighbor are great places to grab food and coffee in Asheville.
This area is known as the “wellness district” because of the massive yoga studio and Asheville Salt Cave, one of my favorite things to do as an Asheville local. There are quite a few delicious vegan restaurants, too, like Pulp & Sprout and Plant.
At Liberty House Cafe, devour breakfast platters, overnight oats, and avocado toast. For a casual lunch in Asheville, try their salads, BLAT, and burgers. Enjoy plentiful outdoor seating. We usually park on the street.
Ultra Coffeebar (River Arts District)
Daily, early morning local favorite with a Nitro Cold Brew and some of my favorite sandwiches
From mugs and stickers with funny sayings like “Live, Laugh, Fart” (IBD girlie here) to delicious breakfast and lunch options, we love Ultra Coffeebar. This is a beloved local and bustling coffee shop in Asheville’s River Arts District at the five-points intersection.
With outdoor seating overlooking train tracks and an indoor space filled with hungry digital nomads, Ultra is the best of all worlds: coffee, company, and food. And trust me, the food is light, pretty healthy, and most importantly, good – along with the service.
I most prefer their cold nitro brew paired with a vegan lunch wrap. We like to eat here, but sometimes grab food to go.
Double D’s Coffee & Desserts (Downtown Asheville)
Highlights: Daily, Instagrammable Downtown icon, and a dessert and coffee bus, with delicious treats
Double D’s is one of the most ‘touristy’ coffee shops in Asheville; it’s a vintage double-decker bus beckoning Instagrammers.
However, do not let the crowds deter you. It’s cool, and they serve delicious iced drinks, frappes, smoothies, milkshakes, and desserts. Think affogatos, chili mochas, and lavender lattes.
Even as locals, if Tom and I are strolling Downtown Asheville, we will stop here, grab a coffee, and sit outside to people watch. The bevies are good. It’s not just a gimmick, and it’s hella cute. Just keep in mind that Double D’s only accepts cash. Surprisingly, they also have Wi-Fi.
Bridge & Tunnel Coffee Co. (Farmer’s Markets & Biltmore Village)
Highlights: Cafe (Monday through Friday), roastery, and seasonal farmer’s market schedule with their yellow van; the best Nitro Cold Brew in Asheville
Ok. Ok. It’s not a coffee shop, per se, but I had to share my favorite Nitro Cold Brew in Asheville. Plus, did you even visit or live in Asheville if you didn’t take advantage of our terrific farmers’ markets? You have to go.
I love Bridge & Tunnel Coffee Co., and Tom and I still have to visit their cafe, which serves up breakfast sandwiches, vegan burgers, avocado toast, and smoothies. We catch them on Saturdays at the North Asheville Tailgate Market, which sells the best plants, produce, chocolate, baked goods, and more. We’ll grab a coffee, a Dolci Di Maria dessert, shop, and plop right on the grass somewhere.
Right now, my favorite specialty coffee from Bridge & Tunnel is a Nitro Cold Brew with coconut and almond syrup, but I am always mixing things up.
Best Coffee In Asheville, NC By Neighborhood Recap:
- Downtown Asheville: Pollen, Old Europe, Double D’s, French Broad Chocolate, Summit, PennyCup, & Wheelhouse
- River Arts District: ButterPunk AVL, Summit, French Broad Chocolate, & Ultra Coffeebar
- North Asheville: PennyCup, OWL, Liberty House Cafe, and Bridge & Tunnel
- West Asheville: Odd’s Cafe, OWL, & PennyCup
- East Asheville: Filo and PennyCup
- South Asheville: Old Haywood Filling Station (Mills River)
- Biltmore Village: Bridge & Tunnel (Central-ish)
- Woodfin: PennyCup
🥞 Before You Go, Grab Breakfast With Your Coffee 🍳
Best Brunch Spots In Asheville
Asheville Breakfast Restaurants We Can’t Resist
Most know of Double D’s, High Five, Izzy’s, BattleCat Coffeebar, Bad Manners, Rowan, and Well-Bred. We are always changing up our “best of” lists. Let us know your favorite places for coffee in Asheville in the comments. Tell us what you order, what great pastries you find, and why you love them! 💙 Christine of Uncorked Asheville
Earthling Coffee! Most out of this world and creative coffee shop in asheville!!
Though I certainly won’t be in Asheville anytime soon, I love reading about coffee shops & seeing pictures of them!! So many of these sound lovely x
I knew that you’d love all of the Asheville coffee shops! I hope your summer is going well! xxx