Recommended by some friends and good selection! Nice place to hangout and catch up on some work. read more

Cup A Joe - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

Cup a Joe: _The best coffee in Raleigh, period. _The best people watching spot _The best community, management and service _My second office _Where we planned our wedding [for hours], sitting on surplus 1960's plastic orange chairs. read more

I'm also going to hold back a star because of the smoking situation. I really don't mind that a smoking room exists, but this one has TERRIBLE ventilation. It's fine in the front room, but you have to go through the smoking room (which is HUGE) to get to the bathroom. Just in my brief race through, I managed to absorb the smell that stayed on me for hours. Yuck! Otherwise, the environment is great, free wifi, great bevs. But they need some ventilation badly! read more

Cup A Joe - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

This place always had people every time I passed by it so I had to try the place. Came in on a Wednesday evening and it was pretty empty. Service here is awesome. The staff are very sweet and very willing to help. I got the Thai tea. The tea itself tasted great. You can really taste the tea flavor. They offered to add tapioca for free which I did. The tapioca are not fresh and quite hard. I would recommend not getting the tapioca. The place is cozy but the seats are so closely packed one after another, to a level where it would be uncomfortable if you sat next to person you didn't know. They have student discount from 7:00pm to 10:30pm. read more

Cup A Joe - Thai tea with tapioca - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

This place has apparently been around forever...or at least since 1993 when my husband was in college. After a Yelp event, my husband took me to Cup a Joe's for a drink. They have Thai Tea! I can't voice my excitement enough!!! I ordered one on the rocks and hubby ordered a latte. Total yum. Really great atmosphere. I highly recommend stopping here if you've never done so. read more

Hillsborough Street staple. I really like that you can get a triple or quadruple lattes. The prices are also excellent especially if you compare them to Caribou or Starbucks or any chain coffee shop which charges you .50 per expresso shot. The baked goods are also delicious and they sell day old stuff for half the price which is a steal. My review is also painted with nostalgia because I would go with my dad there every morning on our way to work/preschool, and then I spent many high school evenings with friends hanging out there until 10 or so, and when I went to college it was a popular place to return to with friends to catch up. Whenever I come home now, I still make sure to stop in and get a tall-triple latte just for the hell of it. read more

I really want to like this place cause it's a perfect spot to study but man have they failed at every drink I've ordered. Their recipes are pour. I ordered a hot chocolate and it tasted extremely watered down. I ordered a white mocha and couldn't have noticed it was a white mocha (very bland). I ordered a fruit smoothie with their bubbles and the bubbles are not a good mix or something I'd look to copy. If you don't care for coffee and just want a place to study this place is good but if you love coffee and want a good drink this place isn't for you in my personal opinion. read more

This place has really great coffee. It's good, fresh, and if you stay there to drink it they always serve it in a glass or mug. The service is super friendly and helpful, they never rush you. The atmosphere is comfortable and suitable for studying or reading most of the time. It tends to be a lot busier on weekends, but days and evenings it has a steady flow of traffic. It has a lot of space to meet with a group of people as well. This is one of the only coffee shops in the area to stay open fairly late. If you need a cup of coffee or a place to focus, this is the place to go! read more

Great coffee, I had to be at the University when I popped in. I didn't realize how busy they were and was worried about the wait but they were super fast and friendly and better than the over priced "big chain" read more

I have to knock Cup A Joe for the smoking situation as well. The coffee is intense and great for any lover of the delicious brew. A good selection of coffee creations to try for newbies and addicts alike. I think everyone should at least try the Bubble Tea. Heck, it may not be for you, but it's an experience - I think it's a fun drink. Certainly not for everyday drinking, but it's a nice change from my usual. read more

I want to write this review for the Cup of Joe at Mission Vally - which I know that I should look up and add to the businesses, but .... I'm too lazy right now. I just had a great experience there. I didn't drink their coffee, so I can't speak for it. But I had my three year old son and I just wanted some tea and spend a little time with him, before pre-school. The employees were so nice. There wasn't any smoking in that COJ. It was a nice place for us to hang out (that wouldn't typically be a kid friendly place). I'm withholding a star, because it is a little too college dorm room. As I approach 30, I guess I'm finding the appeal of 2nd hand furniture from the 70's to not be as cool as I once did. read more

When I was in high school we used to call this particular Cup of Joe location "Cup of Smoke" If you're a smoker, they have a huge room with tables where you can smoke and drink your coffee. The smoking section is almost three times the size of the rest of the store. This is a great shop (based on size) to meet a large group, and there's usually a pretty good amount of people hanging out there at any given time. All that said, if you're not a smoker come prepared to smell like you are. Even the non smoking section is usually pretty full of smoke. read more

Darling coffee shop! Sweet dude behind the bar to. read more

See all

Sometimes you just need a little grunge in your life. I come here for the atmosphere. It's calming for some reason. Yes, the bathroom makes me gag when I have to use it, but that's almost expected in this type of place. It's grungy, but it's supposed to be. Yes, I feel like I might be taking my life into my own hands by consuming anything that comes from this coffee shop, but sometimes you have to live life on the edge. The WiFi is dicey there -- I think that they don't set their DHCP times to live low enough and available DHCP addresses high enough. I often have to use my mobile WiFi card there. ALL of the power outlets need to be replaced because plugs just fall out of them because they are worn out. There is a time for pristine Starbucks and there's a time for grunge. Cup-A-Joe is awesomely grungy! read more

Espresso drinks: good. Coffee: okay. Service: short. terse, rude. I once stood behind a dapper gentleman that mentioned to the cashier that his dad, seemingly a regular, had recently gone into the hospital. The cashier seemed genuinely concerned and asked questions as to how he was doing, etc. A tall woman standing beside him who had been listening to the conversation interrupted the cashier and told him to stop talking to the customers and told him to clean the bathrooms. While the drinks may be good, the management seems angry and the employees are told never to talk to customers or even each other (I had followed the cashier and asked about the situation before he began his punishment-task for giving genuine customer service). People like that who run a business should not get my dollars. I'd much rather go down the street to one of the other local coffee shops on read more

My father roasts his own coffee, and I never really appreciated the art involved until I started going to Cup A Joe. He roasts his own coffee, and it really is better coffee. In fact, I might have to say that this is my favorite cup of coffee in the triangle. His baristas are skilled and efficient, and the only thing that makes me teeter between four and five stars for this place is the slightly "grunge" collegiate atmosphere of this place. Most of the time I don't mind that, but it really doesn't do service to his product. But regardless, this is one of my favorite coffee houses in the Triangle and I wholeheartedly recommend it. read more

This coffee shop reminded me of Durham--in a good way! It was cheap--I ordered a bagel with cream cheese and a large coffee and it came to just over $4. And the coffee was BIG. It wasn't my personal favorite on the coffee (but I'm a weakling and like lighter roasts), but I definitely recognized that it was good coffee. The sweets looked good (I would have sampled one, but I didn't want an 800-calorie pastry in the AM), and the pressed sandwich turnovers looked really, really, really good. I'll definitely opt for one of them the next time. The shop has two sides--the bar side (there are some desk-like individual tables) and the other side--a large open room with an eclectic assortment of tables and chairs. Some of them weren't kept up well (e.g. holes in the cushions), but that added to the atmosphere. I'm not sure it was my scene, but it was definitely a pleasant place to go for a morning worth of work. I also lucked out and sat by an outlet on accident, but if you're planning on using a computer, I'd check before you sit down because it doesn't seem like there are a ton (check by the water cooler). It was busy and crowded over the few hours that I was there in the quintessential coffee shop way. People meeting for lunch dates, and a ton of people there reading fiction or writing in spiral notebooks, some people working on computers (but relatively few). read more

This is my favorite coffee shop in Raleigh. I've never had a negative experience here, and I frequently buy their beans to take home. (I recommend the Tanzanian peaberry!) The people-watching is always interesting, too. Haha. read more

Cup A Joe's on Hillsborough St. is the original of this mini-chain and its opening was a big deal for those of us who are into coffeehouse culture. A unique assortment of Raleighites roll through on a daily basis and the staff is always interesting to observe. The art changes regularly and the racks with flyers and related pr material cover a solid range of interesting, alternative events and resources in Raleigh and the Triangle. As other reviewers have noted, the smoking situation isn't the best for nonsmokers. Smokers get the big room and nonsmokers have to walk through to get to the bathrooms. Given the layout of the space it's a logical set up but I wish they were a bit more consistent with running their air systems. The other downside, one that's caused me to not go so frequently, is that the cups are aging and not being replaced in a timely manner. The coffee cups are ceramic and the rims are gradually getting worn with little chip marks so that, for the individual who takes the coffee experience seriously, the state of many of the cups is a definite drawback. They have been getting new cups but they were out the last time I was in. Cup A Joe is now a Raleigh classic but the state of the cups is symbolic of the potential downside of getting too comfortable in that role. read more

This is a no-jacking-around coffee shop. I worked at the Mission Valley location for a while and loved it. I continued to drink their coffee after leaving and continue to order their beans for my espresso machine. In Colorado. I've never considered Cup A Joe the place to go for frilly drinks: Iced Americano double with a good pull that has nice aroma, body, and crema on the espresso shot. 28 seconds, give or take. They do not disappoint. Their brewed coffees are almost indiscernible from one another, except for the Costa Rica (bright as Vegas) and the Sumatra (dark as, uhh, Sumatra). I like this, it means no matter what coffee they have that day I can order a drip coffee and not worry about the flavor changing. This is a good place if you like no-frills consistency where the baristas know what they are doing and you get pointed glares if you ask for a Frappuccino. This is authentic Italian coffee, get with the program or go to Starbuck's. read more

Cup a Joe is as utilitarian as it gets. Don't go there looking for overstuffed sofas or swirly crema flowers in your latte. You're more likely to find yourself sitting at antique school desk/benches and drinking from a chipped mug. And you know what? That's okay, because Cup a Joe has consistently served the best coffee in Raleigh for over 20 years. The beans are roasted to perfection, and GREAT attention is paid in training baristas. So you might not get a pretty picture swirled into your latte. More often than not, you WILL get a beautiful, caramel-ly red crema on your espresso. I worked at Cup a Joe a bazillion years ago, and I think it's a testament to that place that I still see the same old regulars I used to serve way back when. And that I, myself, am a regular - though these days, I'm just buying decaf beans to go. read more

Okay okay, let's not butter our buns over this place...the coffee is good, not great. A little over-roasted but cheap and hot. Espresso based beverages are not pulled with a lot of attention to detail, the automated machine takes all the skill out of it except the tamp but they are so busy I understand the importance of efficiency. Pastries and pocket sandwiches are really good, if they cut the pockets in half before they toasted them they would be consistently hot all the way through, but they are cool about heating them longer. It is by far the most social coffee shop I have ever been in. It's like the Jackpot of Raleigh coffee shops. A little off the cuff, grungey, weathered. You always find someone you know in there and there is a certain comfort knowing it will be the same no matter how long it's been since you've been there. I will always love Cup A Joe, but it's time to paint over the McDonald's color scheme...it's been non-smoking in there for years now. Run in and get out quick with a giant non-corporate coffee bomb, you'll dig it. read more

Cup a joe is sort of a diamond in the rough. She's cubby but has a great personality. The staff is friendly and will remember you. The Italian sodas are really great - I always go raspberry/coconut. The voltaires are tasty too - hot chocolate with espresso : ) It's a little ugly, but at least there's a parking lot in back and plenty of tables. I like the banana bread and bagels too. read more

The best Chai tea in the Triangle with awesome service at both locations. Hillsborough street location is our starting point for cup of Joe run. It works out great being able to get my tea afterwards. read more

Cup A Joe - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

There are only two places in Raleigh North Carolina that I recommend you spend money for a cup of coffee and this is one of them. Both locations, although I prefer the Hillsborough Street location because of the atmosphere, offer excellent coffee. The Hillsborough Street location also offers the ambiance of a coffee house and while it may offer a smoking section the scent of the coffee is so strong I hardly noticed it. Don't spend money on a cup of coffee any place else than at this establishment oh and one other place that I would recommend. Best cup of coffee in town. read more

Yes, the coffee is good, and there's plenty of space to sit and hang out, but the furnished-by-garage-sale vibe isn't for me. Plus, the place just doesn't feel clean. read more

I enjoy going here. The atmosphere is energetic and positive. They had outside seating which is great on a sunny day. Note, the sun beats down during the summer with very little to no shadows. You can be very minimal or complex to your order with this menu. There are plenty of seats. I tend to hold business meetings here. Good place to get work done. Good location although parking may be difficult from time to time. Note, there is currently a ton of construction going on in this area. Should be complete soon. read more

Nice hot cup-a-joe but cold brusque reception. Get yours to go and find warmth elsewhere.

If the Mission Valley Cup-A-Joe is where to relax with a good cup of coffee, than the Hillsborough St. location is where to get rowdy. Of course, when I say rowdy, I only mean as rowdy relates to a coffee shop. But the feel of the place, with the windows open out to the passing college kids and (yes) the smoke, makes it feel more like a bar than a your typical "laptops out, mouths shut" coffee spot. This was, for my college years, the go-to coffee spot. I still stop in, and I still enjoy the coffee and think the fact that the coffee-with-flavorings like the mochas still taste a little bit like there's coffee in there makes them the best place in the city for that sort of thing. Can you get a better regular cup of coffee? Sure, but the atmosphere won't be nearly as fun. read more

I just adore their Chai Tea Latte its so dreamys with the chai flavored whip cream!! and the beautiful swirls of cinnamon and cream delish!! They also make a very! delicious Thai Red which is a red tea blend with sugar cream and topped with cream I like to get mine iced its so good on a warm summer day! Overall this location on hillaborough it really cute I love the vintage charm with the building and machines but the young fresh people who like to come in and enjoy everything this coffee shop has to offer. They really need to put on in north raleigh because it really blows that I have to come all the way from triangle town center, but I love it so I make the journey one way of another. read more

The Baristas at Cup A Joe are proof that kindness and smiles can be easy and fun even. The whole place is just cheery and welcoming. I ordered up a cold brew and an oatmeal cookie today. Both were sheer deliciousness. There are ample places to sit, work, read, people-watch. I took the people-watching route. Highly recommend. Everyone's kinda doin their own thing. Caffeinated and carefree is how I left Cup A Joe today. No doubt I'll be back soon. Maybe later today! read more

I had just been physically assaulted and was hyperventilating on the road when two joggers came to help me. the person who assaulted me took my phone and left with it. Neither one of the joggers had their phones on them so we went across the street to cup a joe. my lip was busted and bleeding and i was in a lot of physical obvious distress. i was trying to just breathe and the joggers explained that i had just been assaulted and needed to use a phone. i kid you not his response was "i don't want to sound like a dick but i have a business to run" the store was EMPTY. i didn't have the phone number memorized and he wouldn't let me use his phone and that was it. i asked him for a cup of water and choked on it because of the damage to my lung. i walked out and that was that. i was absolutely floored at how terrible he handled the situation. i've never written a yelp review in my life i'm just shocked. that is not how you run a business by being irritated and completely indifferent when a young women comes in to borrow your phone that has just been beat. That it all thank you. read more

Not sure what everyone's beef is with the "grungy decor." If you're on the hunt for a chic, polished caffeinated spot there's a Starbucks at every major intersection around. But that defeats the purpose of Cup A Joe: LOCAL, affordable coffee. They have different drink specials Mon-Fri which permits me to get a 4shot latte for under $4. Can't beat it. Also, this place offers some of the best people watching in Raleigh. Despite being across from NCSU, it's not normally full of kids camping out at tables. It does get busy but again, fair-priced and local brews/snacks. Check it out! read more

Great coffee, fast, and served by friendly staff in a unique environment. One request though... I would love it if you would add a second grinder and offer organic espresso drinks with your fresh roasted Peru bean. Draw more competition away from Global Village too. ;) read more

Consistently solid college coffee shop...definitely the best in the NC State area. Drinks/Food: Nothing I've gotten has really been OH WHAT THIS IS SO DELICIOUS but nothing has disappointed either. I'd recommend paying the extra couple quarters for flavor shots in pretty much whatever specialty drink you get because the flavors tend to not be quite bold enough as they come. Their focaccia pockets are more of a snack than a meal but are decently tasty. Their bagels are kind of meh. Wouldn't recommend paying the extra dollar for the toppings (especially the hummus...it's just not good). Service: Pretty standard order coffee, get coffee, minimal interaction, which is fine but nothing to write home about. Always seems overstaffed but drinks and food are speedy. Vibe: A few eclectic posters, decent music, comfortable seating. Personality is bit toned down as coffee shops come. Don't really know where the negative comments on rundown decor are coming from...people must be too used to drinking coffee at Starbucks. Great place to crank out work. Price: They cater to a broke college crowd so everything is very reasonably priced, and they have specials every day of the week. Which is awesome because it's like your decision has already been made for you AND you save money. Overall: Hits all the points a coffee shop should hit without being particularly extraordinary in any category or breaking the bank. Gotten in good conversations there, gotten lots of good work done there. I like it. read more

This coffee makes me feel like I'm on drugs and unwell. Not sure what they put in this stuff

"Short Coffee for Here" are words to "enjoy Life by" while in Raleigh NC

Definitely one of my favorite coffee shops in Raleigh. Good prices, so many yummy options, and love to hang out and relax in there :) The only negative about the place is their manager...She always looks so ridiculously miserable and is unnecessarily nasty to employees in front of the entire cafe. Kind of makes me uncomfortable and puts a bad vibe in the air. Other than that, a go-to! read more

This is my go to study place. I'm the type of person who can not study is complete silence. The environment for studying is perfect here. Large space, always background noise and the coffee is amazing! I have become very particular on the coffee that I drink over the years and I can never complain about anything that I get here. It is good quality and a great price! My only negative (reason why I didn't give 5 stars) is that it's rushed. From the time I walk in the door they want my order right then and there. No time to think about what I am going to get. The workers are not super interested in helping you pick what you want. It's a what's your order and go kind of routine. They want you in and out in a matter of seconds. Everything I do go to order it feel rushed and that's not the kind of feeling I want to feel in a coffee shop. Other than that the coffee is great! I'm never disappointed when I order even when rushed. And the environment for me to study as great as well! read more

I'm a little torn about what to say here so I'll do my best to outline it. - decent food and hot chocolate (I never drank the coffee) - a good atmosphere with a nice look - free wi-fi internet - an excellent location (within walking distance of NCSU, Schoolkid's Records, Nice Price Books and The Reader's Corner) The only thing about Cup A Joe that left a bad taste in my mouth was that the staff (and this only applies to the Hillsborough Street location) ALWAYS acted as if I was inconveniencing them by placing an order. A smile or a "thank you" was a rare occurrence, in my experience. I'm surprised that no one else has mentioned this. read more