When people think about Burlington, Vermont, they might think of Bernie Sanders, Ilona Maher, or, if they’re a barista, their 2023 Spotify Wrapped Sound Town. At a mere 45,000 people, it’s Vermont’s biggest city—this is a small state! But despite its small size, Burlington has an impressive specialty beverage scene. A strong focus on craft beer pioneered an easy path for specialty coffee to thrive in the city. There are over 20 coffee businesses in the city limits alone, with countless others in the surrounding towns.
Whether you come to Vermont for skiing, to visit friends, or to enjoy nature with a 0% chance of seeing a billboard, you’ll likely end up in Burlington walking up and down the Church Street Marketplace, the charming all-pedestrian cobblestone street, which is home to a plethora of local restaurants, cafes, and shops. Outside of the Church Street Marketplace, Burlington also has a thriving Arts District in the South End as well as a historic and quaint North End to explore. Each cafe in town has a unique history in the specialty coffee landscape of Vermont as well as a distinct personality and niche. The people that make up the coffee scene are pleasantly cooperative and focused on uplifting one another and sharing resources.
Before you go into a cafe on this list and ask for a recommendation, I will tell you now that you are essentially required to have a maple latte if you’re in Vermont. Baristas know this and many of them will recommend a maple latte to any tourist. Certainly don’t miss out on having one, but maybe save that experience for when the moment strikes you. There are some real gems in Burlington, and some of the experiences would be wasted if you ordered a maple latte.
Brio Coffeeworks
Brio Coffeeworks is a coffee bar in the South End Arts District of Burlington. They hold a very special place in the Vermont coffee community. Their arrival on the scene distinctly changed the landscape of how consumers were receiving and interacting with specialty coffee. Due in part to their strong visual branding and storytelling over the years, they were able to help popularize specialty coffee and have continued to innovate and evolve in subsequent years. Brio started out as a small roastery, but has grown into a nationally-recognized brand with wide distribution and a beautiful coffee bar within their production space.
The coffee bar introduces consumers to their brand perfectly through design and quality of beverages served. The ethos of their menu and design is based largely on fun and whimsy, welcoming curiosity for all of their consumers. Little details like the pink and purple light fixtures and the gummy bear chaser with the espressos they serve reinforce this. They roast on a 15-kilo IMF roaster and routinely have special microlot offerings through their Artist Collaboration Series. If you’re lucky, you can find these on espresso or on drip at their coffee bar alongside a selection of signature beverages.
Brio prioritizes uplifting other Vermont small businesses, whose goods can be found as beverage components, like ceremonial grade matcha from Stone Leaf Tea, or as retail items like truffles and chocolates from NuChocolate. Over the years, Brio has been home to many events geared towards bringing coffee people together, including industry cuppings and coffee competitions. Their hospitality is well known, as well as their commitment to sourcing and roasting exceptional coffees.
Scout Coffee
Scout Coffee (Formerly Scout & Co.) has two Burlington locations, one in the Old North End and one in the South End Arts District. A multi-roaster concept carrying coffee from roasters whose ownership holds marginalized identities (like New Math, Coffee Project New York, and Iluminar Coffee), you can expect to find an excellent and frequently rotating selection of retail coffee, as well as locally printed Scout Coffee merchandise on their cafe shelves. With ample seating and a lot of natural light in both Burlington locations, Scout is a great place to go to read or enjoy coffee with a friend. You’ll find some of the best baked goods in town, unique and surprising craft ice cream flavors, and a selection of drinks that will please everyone.
Scout’s menu is based around classic espresso drinks, with one or two rotating specials depending on the season. Their housemade chai is delicious and very consistent as well. Scout is best enjoyed if you have time to stay and enjoy a hot milk drink and pastry pairing. I’d recommend bringing a book and enjoying some quiet time. The design of both cafes is beautiful and peaceful. Since they’re both a bit off the beaten path, they are a great quiet stop on the way to your destination. Also worth noting is an impressively well done offering of iced teas year-round. This is rare in Vermont, since we have a very long and cold winter.
Onyx Tonics Specialty Coffee
Onyx Tonics Specialty Coffee is the cafe to go to if you want to find local baristas hanging out on their days off. Located on College Street in downtown Burlington, it’s the perfect place to go for meticulous quality and some reprieve from the pedestrian traffic of the Church Street Marketplace.
The first thing you’ll notice upon entering the cafe is their unique menu, which is designed to draw attention to coffee tasting notes. Each of the three single origin espresso offerings from multiple roasters across the US (and sometimes beyond) will be listed with information about the coffee, as well as tasting notes if you have it as a shot, and tasting notes if you have it as a milk beverage. Milk beverages are very special here, since Onyx Tonics is one of very few places to carry Rogers Farm’s organic non-homogenized local milk. The milk can change in taste over the course of the year, and Onyx Tonics’ owner, Vermont native and two time United Kingdom Cup Tasters Champion Jason Gonzalez, has occasionally been known to chat with the dairy farmers about the cows’ feeding in order to dial in the flavor of the milk for their consumers (a barista competition cliche, but very rare in practice outside of that nice format). The menu is rounded out by filter coffee, hand brewed coffees with tasting notes, and a very small selection of signature beverages and teas.
The highlight of the Onyx Tonics experience is the espresso. It is extremely rare to receive a shot that isn’t dialed in to near-perfection, even with less traditional offerings like co-ferments or experimental processes often gracing the menu. The small staff does an outstanding job paying attention to their offerings, how they change as the coffee ages, and puts a lot of thought into choosing tasting notes to present to the public. This probably isn’t the place to bring your relatives (unless they are also coffee nerds), but it is a must-visit cafe in Burlington for any coffee lover.
Vivid Coffee
Vivid Coffee is one of the most exciting roasters in Vermont. When they opened their cafe in 2020, it was the perfect platform to showcase what they had been building with their roastery (within Scout Coffee) for the five years prior. Vivid’s start as a roaster gave them the focus to build strong and meaningful relationships with the coffee producers they buy from, with especially strong ties to Santa Barbara in Honduras through Benjamin Paz and Beneficio San Vicente. Vivid’s cafe/roastery is massive. It’s a great spot to meet up with people, or to get some work done alone. There are several different types of seating options and you can typically see people working on their laptops, as well as meeting with friends on any given day.
Vivid has a small menu featuring their own coffees, teas from Chicago-based Spirit Tea, and small bites. The espresso is always single origin (and if you’re lucky, you may be in on a day where it is a very special coffee). One of the most unique and special things on their menu is an affogato made with local gelato from Shy Guy Gelato, a Burlington favorite.
Vivid is right off of Church Street, so it’s a very convenient stop while you’re enjoying downtown Burlington. If you’re lucky, you might catch them open late for an evening event featuring a curated selection of wines and maybe even a pop up menu from a guest chef.
Carrier Roasting
Carrier Roasting started in the small town of Northfield, Vermont and has since opened an extremely charming coffee bar inside Jake’s ONE Market (ONE in Burlington stands for “Old North End”), a small grocery/corner store in the historic Old North End of Burlington. Although it’s inside the market and largely a convenience for shoppers, this location could easily stand on its own. It’s take-out only, serving a curated menu of coffee drinks, a few pastries, and offering an exemplary selection of retail coffee. Carrier’s main commitment is to transparency in sourcing. Their website and coffee bags offer consumers information about their contracts and sourcing, including things like price, quantity, and the coffee’s score.
You’ll see this commitment to their coffees reflected in how their menu is presented, with each retail coffee getting space on the menu board next to their beverage offerings. Carrier always has amazing drip offerings and they like to present their own take on classic seasonal flavors, like pumpkin spice in the fall. A staple on their menu is the Northfielder, a 16oz shaken quad iced maple latte. If you’d like to fulfill your obligation to get a maple latte in Vermont, this is probably the best version of it.
Maya Nguyen is the owner of Uncommon Coffee in Essex, Vermont. This is Maya Nguyen’s first feature for Sprudge.
