Charleston, South Carolina

The best coffee in Charleston

Nine Charleston cafés and roasters, most of them walkable from King Street.

9 entries · verified August 2026

Charleston's coffee is unusually concentrated: almost everything worth drinking is within walking distance of King Street, which makes it the easiest city on this list to do properly in one morning. Second State, Harken and Clerks sit within a few blocks of each other in the historic core, and Mudhouse and Welton's are both directly on King Street itself.

The roasting history runs deeper than the tourist-facing scene suggests. King Bean has been roasting since 1994 but only opened a café in 2024; Charleston Coffee Exchange has run since 2006; Mudhouse grows its own beans on a farm in Panama rather than buying green coffee on the open market. None of that history is visible from King Street, which is why it's worth the trip out to North Charleston or West Ashley if roasting pedigree matters more to you than walkability.

Bitty & Beau's is the one entry on this list where the coffee itself is not the main draw; it's included because the room and what it exists for are worth knowing about, not because it's competing with Mudhouse on the cup.

  1. Second State Coffee

    Harleston Village

    The strongest specialty option just off King Street, and the first stop to make downtown. Reviewers name the lavender and brown-sugar lattes specifically, and note the syrups are made in-house rather than pumped from a bottle. A spacious room with a charming outdoor patio.

    Order: the lavender latte

    70½ Beaufain St, Charleston, SC 29401 · Website

  2. The Rise Coffee Bar

    Downtown

    Inside The Restoration Hotel, steps from King Street, pouring Springbok Coffee Roasters rather than roasting its own. Reviewers recommend the lavender honey iced latte and the outdoor garden seating; the tradeoff is a small indoor space that gets genuinely busy at peak hours.

    Order: the lavender honey iced latte, on the patio if there's a seat

    75 Wentworth St, Charleston, SC 29401 · Website

  3. Harken Cafe

    French Quarter

    A café and bakery that ranks on page one against much larger publishers, which in Charleston usually means the locals send people there first. The baked goods run out early and often: reviewers specifically flag the ricotta biscuit, the chive scone and the sweet potato cinnamon rolls as worth timing a visit around.

    Order: the Americano and whatever's left in the pastry case

    62 Queen St, Charleston, SC 29401 · Website

  4. Clerks Coffee Company

    Church Street

    Both roaster and café, pouring Second State's beans alongside its own breakfast and lunch menu. The Blueberry Lemon Cake latte gets called out often enough in reviews to be the reason people come back, even though the food side is more hit-or-miss than the coffee.

    Order: the Blueberry Lemon Cake latte

    181 Church St, Charleston, SC 29401 · Website

  5. Mudhouse Specialty Coffee Roasters

    King Street

    Roasting and serving with a specialty focus, notably from beans grown on its own farm in Panama, and a useful contrast to the King Street cafés that buy in from elsewhere. The cortado and a blueberry espresso tonic are the two drinks reviewers mention by name, and there's a quiet back patio most first-time visitors don't know about.

    Order: a cortado, or the blueberry espresso tonic

    375 King St, Charleston, SC 29401 · Website

  6. King Bean Coffee Roasters

    Roasting since 1994, with a first brick-and-mortar café that only opened in January 2024 after three decades as a wholesale operation. Founder Kurt Weinberger's Navy-aviation-mechanic background shows up in a room full of vintage coffee equipment, and the nitro cold brew is the drink reviewers single out. Cash only, worth knowing before you order.

    Order: the nitro cold brew

    3939 Dorchester Rd, North Charleston, SC 29405 · Website

  7. Welton's

    King Street

    A small coffee and bake shop inside a renovated historic home, the most Charleston setting on this list. Named for owners Hannah and Zachary Welton and named to Southern Living's best-bakeries-in-the-South list; doors open at 8am and the case is often empty by early afternoon.

    Order: the chocolate croissant, if it's still there

    684 King St, Charleston, SC 29403 · Website

  8. Charleston Coffee Exchange

    Founded in 2006, Specialty Coffee Association certified, with staff trained in roasting and tasting rather than just service. Set in a shopping-center storefront off Ashley River Road rather than a historic-district room, which means actual parking, a genuine neighbourhood-coffee tradeoff worth making on a non-tourist visit.

    2875 Ashley River Rd Ste 1, Charleston, SC 29414 · Website

  9. Bitty & Beau's Coffee

    Church Street

    Runs on a hiring model built around employing people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The coffee itself gets more mixed reviews than most on this list, some call it weak, but the staff warmth and the reason for going are what reviewers actually write about.

    159 Church St, Charleston, SC 29401 · Website