Where to Drink Wood-Roasted Coffee

When it comes to coffee, roasters from Northern California to Maine are fanning the flame of an ancient tradition, roasting coffee beans over a crackling, wood-fueled fire. Curious for a taste? Here are five cafés brewing up some of the country’s favorite wood-roasted beans.

Coffee Bar (pictured)
Bay Area bean fiends have three Coffee Bar locations to choose from for a taste of Mr. Espresso’s oak-roasted beans. Stop by the Kearny location for the Neapolitan blend pulled via La Marzocco, or for a rotating selection of Mr. Espresso’s single-origin beans brewed in single-serving pour overs. Multiple locations, San Francisco, coffeebarsf.com

Cricket Café
Portlanders love big breakfasts almost as much as they love coffee, and at this a.m. institution, the two combine for brunch time perfection. Aside from the biscuits and gravy, eggy scrambles and towering French toast, it’s also where you can drink cup after steaming cup of wood-roasted coffee from Millar’s Genuine, whose old-fashioned wood-fed roaster lives just an hour’s drive to the north. 3159 SE 32nd St., Portland, Oregon, cricketcafepdx.com

Play
There’s no messing around with this newly opened café (in conjunction with the Museum of Sex, no less), whose house brew comes from none other than Maine-based wood roaster, Matt’s. And are those buttery croissants and sticky buns from Balthazar we spy in the pastry case? Yes, yes they are. 1 E. 27th St., New York, willyouplaywith.us

Speckled Ax
The house café for Matt’s Wood Roasted Organic Coffee, the Speckled Ax (named for Ben Franklin’s autobiography, no less) features geeky coffee gadgetry (re: siphon pots) for brewing up seasonal, single-origin wood-roasted beans. 567 Congress St., Portland, Maine, speckledax.com

Summermoon Coffee Bar
From brisket to corncobs to coffee beans, Texans will roast just about anything over a wood flame. This South Austin café is a local favorite for its house-roasted, wood-fired coffee beans brewed up via espresso, or in its signature Summermoon latte. 3115 S. 1st St., Austin, woodfiredcoffee.com