Krankie’s
The look of Krankies is straight out of the Pacific Northwest, the unofficial birthplace of the ultra-cool coffeehouse. It occupies part of The Werehouse, an old meat-packing plant on Third Street that has been converted into a music and entertainment venue. Krankies regulars range from smart-looking literary types and scruffy musicians to hipster creatives in jeans that cost more than a Honda Civic. The tables and chairs scattered about are as eclectic as the clientele. A tired loveseat with red velvet cushions hides in a nook to the right of the bar. A long bench straight out of a bus depot faces the assortment of sugars and creamers.

Even the bar is interesting. It’s handmade from cast concrete, with a base of gorgeous copper and old doors, presumably salvaged from the warehouse. Hanging above is a huge, colorful sign displaying an ambitious drink menu that includes something wicked called a Red Eye, described simply as coffee with espresso.

The regular coffee - roasted in-house by the twenty-somethings who have revived Maria’s Coffee roasting business - is just fine. Bagels and other assorted baked goods sate the hungry. Krankies serves bottled juices, sodas, and beer for the late-night revelers from the adjacent music hall. Free wireless Internet is also available.

Sin
Every cup of coffee and espresso drink served at Sin Coffee Bar comes with a little chocolate-covered coffee bean on the lid. It’s one of those extras that make independently owned businesses like this one so great.

And with Sin, another extra is location. It’s a little vestibule of a place at the front of the 305 West Fourth building, where all the people who work upstairs form a built-in clientele for the coffee bar. All day, worker bees from neighboring buildings come in for their daily cup.

They’re all greeted by contemporary décor, with plenty of shiny metal accents that blend right with the glass walls setting it off from the lobby. There isn’t much seating - just four tables inside and a couple of small tables out front - but those finding a spot are hard pressed to return to cubicle land. With floor-to-ceiling windows facing Fourth Street, it’s a great place to watch the world go by.

There’s the traffic, of course. People who need to be somewhere and get stopped at a light can be pretty entertaining. There are the passersby - everyone from straight-laced suits chattering into cell phones to skate punks doing tricks on bicycles. Then the couriers balancing stacks of boxes and packages while kicking open doors with the skill of an Italian soccer star. If you sit in Sin long enough, you’ll see just about everything.

Simplyummy
The name doesn’t exactly scream “coffeehouse,” but Simplyummy in Reynolda Village does indeed have good coffee and that nice coffeehouse vibe. Patrons often include Wake Forest students and business types nursing lattes while staring at their laptops, along with clusters of friends gathering for their daily chat.

The space is small but cozy thanks to a balance of sunlight filtering in through the skylight and track lighting winding around the ceiling. Perhaps the best part of the room is the exposed brick wall that’s still charred from the building’s earliest days as a blacksmith shop.

Simplyummy serves excellent breakfast and lunch fare. Try the X-rated grilled cheese, which features bacon, a choice of two cheeses, and a sweet dressing that balances everything out. A nice cup of coffee, brewed from Counter Culture Coffee’s wonderfully roasted beans, is a great way to end any meal.

Chelsee’s
When it comes to coffeehouses, cops are always a good sign. They tend to know good coffee, and packs of Winston-Salem police officers hang out at Chelsee’s Coffeeshop & More.

The cops mingle with downtown businesspeople, freelance artists, students, and anyone who may be in the area for work. Chelsee’s offers them a menu of coffee and espresso drinks, but all eyes tend to focus on the row of cake plates lining the counter. These fresh-baked delectables taste as good as they look. The coffeecake-like honey bun is the perfect complement to a cup of coffee.

Located centrally in the Downtown Arts District, Chelsee’s maintains an art vibe with gallery-style lighting and one-of-a-kind works adorning the walls. At the tables and chairs in front, laptop-toting patrons usually check their e-mail courtesy of the free wireless connection.

Customers looking to relax head to the living-room area in the back. The big leather couch, matching chair, fireplace, and television make a good place to go get lost for a while.

The coffee is good, too. The house blend is particularly tasty - flavorful but not too strong. The cops like it, anyway.

Shakespeare & Co.
Be warned. Gail Bherns may look at you like you’re from Mars if you ask whether you can browse her shop’s nice selection of books with coffee in hand.

“Of course,” she responds. “Go whereever you want and enjoy the shop.”

That’s not hard to do for anyone with an affinity for books and a love for good coffee. Shakespeare & Co. has both. Its modest but good selection of new and used books spreads throughout the rooms of a two-story house next door to the Kernersville post office. And the coffee, brewed from beans roasted by a small outfit in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, is full-flavored and downright good.

Shakespeare & Co. gets extra points for its purposeful ties to literary history. Named after a famed bookstore in Paris, the shop features a ton of old black-and-white photos of famous authors. The portraits, hanging in every room, help the place feel like a shrine to literature, which is no coincidence. Bherns, who owns the shop with her husband, Wade, recently completed a master’s degree in American literature. The coffee here should make Shakespeare part of the morning routine for the locals. It’s that good.

HONORABLE MENTION

Java by Jeff You can’t technically call the Java by Jeff kiosk in the lobby of Watlington Hall at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center a coffeehouse, as there’s no seating available. But few customers just get their coffee and leave - usually they’ll discuss sports, daily headlines, or hospital comings and goings after they’ve gotten their change. Jeff Snyder himself mans the espresso machines and turns out caffeinated drinks with amazing speed. A Café Americano, for instance, takes him about twenty seconds. Maybe he’s so fast because he keeps his menu simple. He offers teas and juice drinks, but the bulk of his drinks are espresso-based.

Or, maybe Snyder anticipates orders because he knows his customers so well.

“How’s your day going?” he asks a nurse.

“Oh, it’s going,” she says.

“Better than being stuck,” Snyder offers.

He uses coffee beans from Maria’s Coffee - roasted by the guys at Krankies - and sells it by the pound.

Java by Jeff operates Monday through Friday, from 6 a.m to 5 p.m.

Dancing Goat
It’s a little hard to find Dancing Goat Coffee House, tucked as it is beside a Subway shop on Main Street, near the corner of Third Street. But the environment inside the cozy enclave, which offers all the standard lattes and espresso drinks, is genuine coffeehouse. Open weekdays, 7:30 a.m to 3 p.m.