Chicago's most influential specialty coffee roaster, founded in 1995 and credited with helping establish the city's serious coffee culture. The River North location on West Randolph Street is the most central of several Chicago outlets, serving single-origin espresso, pour-overs, and cold brew to a neighbourhood crowd of tech workers, agency people, and coffee obsessives.
The quality is reliably excellent — Intelligentsia sources direct-trade coffee and roasts on-site in Chicago. Their baristas can discuss the provenance of the beans at length if invited. The branch also sells bags of roasted coffee for brewing at home. Good choice for a pre-meeting coffee or afternoon work session. Red Line, Grand station.