The Sarasota area coffee community, once small, has boomed in recent years. Local coffee shops with charm and character have opened their doors throughout the area, creating spaces for the community to connect, work and enjoy high-quality coffee. From Bradenton to Sarasota to Venice, each local spot offers a unique atmosphere and delicious brews for visitors and residents to enjoy. Whether you’re looking for an afternoon pick-me-up, a cup to jumpstart your morning or a new place to meet with friends, try one of these local coffee shops next time you’re reaching for a caffeinated beverage. 

Perq Coffee Bar

Opened in 2012 by husband-and-wife team Keith and Erin Zolner, Perq Coffee Bar is a staple in Sarasota. After the two had noticed a lack of local coffee choices in town, they decided to put Keith’s undergraduate degree in agricultural operations management to use, sourcing high-quality coffee beans and learning to brew to bring better coffee to the community.

Perq Coffee Bar, 1821 Hillview St., Sarasota, 941-955-8101

Tell us about your coffee beans.  Sadly, there’s a lot of not
great coffee out there. The majority of coffee is more commodity-style coffee. It’s very, very generic profiles of blends of coffees. And what I had always enjoyed, personally, was searching for coffees that were more interesting, higher quality and single, small lots from unique farms. It’s really a very small percentage of other specialty beans that are out there and are high-scoring coffees with unique flavorcharacteristics. We find roasters who are doing amazing sourcing and passionate about what they’re doing, and we cherry-pick the best of the best coffees from all over to showcase.

What drink on your menu best captures your shop’s vibe?
The flat white for sure. We do Australia-style lattes, and probably introduced Sarasota to the flat white long before it was an offering anywhere else. The quality of coffee and the cafe vibes that they have over there were really something that we wanted to introduce here. It’s a little bit of a different style, velvety, smooth, single-origin coffee.

The Clever Cup 

Close friends Tracy de Chevron and Lindsey Nickel combined their love for coffee and art by opening The Clever Cup, a joint coffee shop and art gallery, nearly 10 years ago. Now, Nickel has moved away from Sarasota and the shop has shifted its focus towards coffee, but de Chevron has continued to support the local art community and display her own art around the space.

The Clever Cup Coffee Shop, 6530 Gateway Ave., Sarasota, 941-284-5503

What was your spark?   I had just moved to America from England, and my kids were very young. I met another mother who also had kids of a similar age, and she took me to St. Petersburg, where we went to different coffee shops and galleries. I have an art background, and I was very inspired. We were walking around looking at the galleries and I said, ‘Yeah, we could do like a coffee shop/ gallery idea.’ 

How do you connect your love for coffee and art now?   
My specialty is actually painting with coffee, and I put some of my coffee and espresso paintings on the wall in the coffee shop. We have open mic nights and I  invite my favorite local musicians to come perform regularly. We have Carey Chaney coming on the first Fridays of the month, to play acoustic in the corner of the shop for a few hours. Local high school students who are budding musicians also come for music nights, and I’ll put out a cheese board. It’s an intimate family atmosphere.

What drink on your menu best captures your shop’s vibe?  We sell a lot of the honey lavender latte. I think it’s a very comforting drink, and you can have it iced or hot. It reflects our shop well, because people describe our shop as a home away from home, almost, and it’s cozy. 

Coast to Coast Coffee

When Gabrielle Banik and Patrick Robinsonmoved to Sarasota in 2022, the couple decided it was time to pursue their dream of opening a coffee shop. But their store, Coast to Coast Coffee, isn’t just a coffee shop—it’s also a full skate shop. The shop is a reflection of the couple’s early days together, spent skateboarding around their town in New Jersey and trying new coffee shops.

Coast to Coast Coffee, 2328 Gulf Gate Dr., Sarasota, 941-210-3583 

What made you decide to open a joint coffee-skateboard shop?  Anytime we would go on a date, we would always skateboard the town and then stop and get a coffee. That’s why we decided, when we opened our coffee shop, that we should bring the skate world into our business, because that’s what we come from. It’s totally who we are.

What drink on your menu best captures your shop’s vibe?   We’re known for our New Orleans cold brew, with our Sumatra dark roast and added chicory to give a really bold dark flavor. We also do small batch, limited sourcing from different farms, and call it our limited skater’s favorite. We name it
after a fun skate trick, to keep the skate vibe.

If your shop had a theme song, what would it be?   
One Love by Bob Marley.

Orange Blossom Coffee  

Orange Blossom Coffee,  opened by mother-daughter duo Melissa and Kaitlyn Lilly in early 2023, brings a special meaning to the word local. Native Floridians and long-term Bradenton residents, the two always had a dream of opening a coffee shop together. Now, they source all of their products from local partners and have loved their first few years in the coffee shop business. 

Orange Blossom Coffee, 1166 3rd Ave. W, Bradenton, 941-896-3032

What was your spark?  I opened it with my daughter. Since she was a little girl, when we would travel, or even locally as well, we would always go in coffee shops. And she’d always say, ‘I want to have a coffee shop together one day.’ When she
became an adult, we moved pretty quickly to do that.

What drink on your menu best captures your shop’s vibe?   We have the Americano sunrise, which is orange juice with espresso, and it’s delicious. We also have something called a lemon zinger, which is lemonade with espresso, and it’s very refreshing.

What makes your coffee special?  We try to source everything locally. The coffee beans come from different countries, but we have an exclusive partnership with Banyan Coffee Company, so it is locally roasted in Palmetto.

If Orange Blossom had a theme song, what would it be?  Beautiful Day by U2.

Black Gold Coffee Roasters

Founded by Gary Lauters in 2010,  Black Gold Coffee Roasters puts care into every coffee they roast on-site. The business also supplies roasted coffee beans to other local shops, a move that General Manager Alyssa Williams says brings a unique connection to the community. Through a thoughtful process in which Lauters sources beans directly from small farms across the world, Black Gold Coffee brings only the best coffees to the area. A second location in the second oldest house in Sarasota County—Lord-Higel House—will open soon as part of the business’s future plans.

Black Gold Coffee Roasters, 2385 E Venice Ave., Venice, 941-488-8242

Why did Gary decide to start Black Gold Coffee?   Growing up in Wisconsin, Gary has memories of his parents making breakfast and coffee on the weekends, and the coffee always smelled so good. He didn’t understand why they needed to fix it—adding cream and sugar. So he set out as a young kid to make coffee so that people didn’t have to fix.

What makes your coffee special?   All of our coffee comes to us as raw green coffee beans, and it’s all roasted freshly on site—that’s part of what makes it special. That and the grade of the coffee. We carry some of the highest rated coffees in the world, and a lot of them that we offer are exclusive. We offer about 30 coffees from Indonesia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Brazil and more. A number of coffees from small farms that we offer you can only purchase from us. These are family farms that the communities that they’re in really rely upon. It touches so many people. 

Pastry Art Espresso Café & Dessert

Long-time friends David “PJ” Maloni and Jon Raynor
bought Pastry Art in January 2022,  deciding to put their business and creative skills together to create the coffee shop and restaurant that they had been looking for in the heart of downtown Sarasota. Since then, the two have brought high quality coffee, breakfast and lunch offerings to the area, featuring baked goods made in-house and an array of delicious coffees.

Pastry Art Espresso Café & Dessert, 1512 Main St, Sarasota, 941-955-7545

How would you describe the vibe?  It’s not your typical
corporate coffee shop. It’s a home for a lot of people in the community. Before we were involved in Pastry Art, I went there and sat with a buddy of mine, and it was amazing to me how the baristas knew the regulars’ names. More than just a coffee shop, it’s a piece of the community, a staple of downtown. We have people that come every single day. They buy a cup of coffee and sit with their group of friends,
and that’s part of their daily routine.

What makes your coffee special?   We use a local micro roastery now—Black Gold Coffee Roasters. Instead of just knowing what country the coffee comes from, we know exactly the farm they came from. 

If Pastry Art had a theme song, what would it be?  
Where Everybody Knows Your Name, from the television show
Cheers. That is the mission of Pastry Art. We are a community center. We are here to help build relationships, and we do that through our coffee and our baked goods. 

Project Coffee

Local coffee shop Project Coffee  opened its first location in 2019, offers a 100 percent vegan menu with delicious breakfast and coffee options. The supermatcha menu features tasty beverages crafted with premium matcha powder, made from stone-ground Japanese green tea leaves, for a boost of caffeine and added health benefits. For a fun pick-me-up, pair one of Project Coffee’s espresso or pour-over coffees, sourced from Ethiopia and Peru, with a sweet treat from their in-house bakery.

Project Coffee, 538 S Pineapple Ave, Sarasota, 941-313-2283; 1419 5th St, Sarasota, 941-313-2283

Seven Coffee and Pastries

In the heart of Venice, Seven Coffee offers a specialty coffee experience with globally sourced ingredients and an in-house bakery. Beyond a range of classic, high-quality espresso drinks and smooth drip coffees, the store offers a special “espresso con panna,” a drink made with a shot of espresso topped with a dollop of whipped cream and originating in Vienna, Austria. 

Seven Coffee & Pastries, 203 Miami Ave W, Venice, 941-412-4849

Breaking Wave Coffee

Breaking Wave Manager Julianna Schlabach has seen the coffee shop through four years of growth, helping add their breakfast and lunch menus, which even feature a delicious array of pastries baked in-house. The shop sources its coffee beans from Cat & Cloud, a specialty roaster based in Santa Cruz, California, featuring quality and flavor in every drink served. “It’s just a warm, welcoming atmosphere, says Schlabach. “We always want Breaking Wave to be a peaceful place where people can come and talk or work. Good coffee, obviously, but good service as well. Anyone is welcome—we’ve even hosted parties. We have people come for all different things in life.”

The Breaking Wave location on Main Street closed in early October—the owners plan to announce their new location soon.

Palma Coffee

Tucked in a cozy space just off of South Tamiami Trail is the coffee shop that owners and husband-and-wife duo Manuel Montenegro and Amanda Govic opened in 2022 after discovering their passion for the coffee industry. Palma Coffee has stepped into the Sarasota community to bring special seasonal rotations and hand-brewed coffee from all over the world.

Palma Coffee, 7362 S Tamiami Trl, Sarasota, 941-923-9923

What was your spark?   We are Colombian, so our culture really revolves around coffee. Around 2020, everybody was starting businesses online, and we saw the opportunity to start roasting and selling coffee online. As that grew and we got more into it, we saw the opportunity of opening a coffee shop here in Sarasota. We found a spot that fit our needs, something small, a little out of the way, where we could just make coffee. That’s really what we set out to do, just be around coffee, try coffee and share coffee with people.

What makes your coffee special?  About a third of our coffee,
if not half, comes from Colombia. We really try to focus on working directly with producers. Through the years, we’ve continued to buy more and more from the same producers, so we’ve built those bonds. We also buy coffee from Honduras, Indonesia and Mexico. We have a lot of fun going to visit producers. That’s what it really comes down to.
We’ve really put the producers first and shared their stories.

How would you describe shop’s vibe?  Our goal is to make
people feel comfortable. It’s a very welcoming, warm space where you don’t feel intimidated to ask questions about specialty coffee. If you’re learning about specialty coffee, we make it very approachable. The space itself reflects that—it’s warm and inviting and natural, and people always want to stay and hang out. It’s a small space, so you end up sharing stories with people who are sitting right next to you.

O&A Coffee and Supply

Justin Banister, owner of O&A Coffee, has built his business around more than just serving a good cup of coffee—for him, it’s about community, sustainability and creating real opportunities within the coffee industry. What started as a mobile coffee bar has grown into a Sarasota staple, where Banister continues to focus on connecting people.

O&A Coffee and Supply, 1316 Main St, Sarasota, 941-552-8659

What was your spark? When I first started, we were just a mobile coffee bar that did pop-ups. We wanted to be in the community and connect with our community. We never want to lose sight of that. But I started to realize, after a while being mobile, that there actually wasn’t any place here in Sarasota for people who want to work in coffee, to actually grow into a career in coffee. That was really the inspiration for me.

How would you describe the atmosphere of O&A?  We try to highlight the farms and the coffee growers that we work with. Coffee is a humble beverage, and it should be served as such. We try to take more of that approach with really elevated coffees, but we realize that we’re just the last portion of that journey. Right now we work with a lot of Central and South American coffees and East African coffees. We also know all of our actual farmers, so I think that’s one of the big things that’s very unique about what we do, as well as the fact that it’s all roasted right here in Sarasota. I do all the roasting. Every bag that you get is always going to be super, super fresh. 

Oscura Coffee &Cocktails 

Oscura Coffee & Cocktails brings a unique experience to the Bradenton Area, blending quality coffee, craft cocktails and live music. With a 400-person capacity, Oscura’s space is the perfect location for community events. The coffee shop operates under the Friendly City Foundation, a local non-profit that provides mentoring and resources to artists, musicians, and creative entrepreneurs in the area. Executive Director Olivia D’Amico says that everything Oscura does is aimed at supporting the local arts scene.

Oscura Coffee & Cocktails, 816 Manatee Ave E, Bradenton, oscura.live

What was your spark?   We focus on coffee, music and culture as our little pillars. Everything that we do, we focus on in-house—we make everything ourselves, developing our baristas and bartenders.

How would you describe the atmosphere at Oscura?  Because we are also a music venue, it makes us a little more unique in our aesthetic. It’s definitely a little more retro, a little more punk. We’ve got sticker walls, and we’ve got areas that feel a little bit more like that, but we’ve also got really beautiful windows on one side, and there’s plenty of room for groups and events. We host the Friendly City Flea, which is our artist market. We try to use it as a community space, and there’s always something happening music-wise.

What drink on your menu best captures your shop’s vibe?  We have a drink called The Ozzy. It’s our coffee soda, with espresso, orange juice, soda and our vanilla syrup. It feels fun, and it’s a great afternoon drink that’s probably one of our biggest sellers.