Hi world! Chris here. Before I get into the planned post, I have a small announcement to make. Obviously there was no post last week even though I said I was going to have one for Halloween. Things just got busy and I couldn’t actually do the thing I wanted to cover, so I never ended up sitting down to write a post. Because this isn’t the only week I’ve had to skip (I feel like I’ve been skipping posts this whole month), I think I’m going to limit my updates to once every other week. This should give me time to balance school, work, and everything else in my life. I can probably dedicate more time to making more in depth and interesting blog posts too!

Anyways . . .

One of the most essential parts to any college town is the inclusion of cute coffee shops. They are the perfect place to spend the morning waking up and working on assignments or to hang out with new friends in the afternoon. This year I haven’t gone a single weekend in Wilmington without spending at least some of my time in one. I honestly think they might be more necessary than a library.

After some extensive research online and annoyingly bugging my classmates, I made a list of the top five coffee shops in Wilmington, NC. And from that list, I decided to chose the VERY BEST coffee shop in Wilmington, NC.

This probably doesn’t sound like a super hard task, but this post has been a long time coming because of the hurricane, the two recent trips I took, and the fact that I usually tried to go to each shop with a friend to help me judge and to take pictures. That being said, I wanna shout out my girls Taylor and Anna for helping me explore Wilmington for the last two months. Always love your company and your support! 🙂

The five shops are being judged on three factors: the Coffee, the Ambiance, and the Productivity. Now clearly every person has their own individual needs for each of these factors, so this post is going to be incredibly opinionated. Just a fair warning.

The five contenders are Social Coffee, Old North, Zola, Grinders, and Sundays Surf Cafe. Starting in no particular order, I’m just going to go ahead and dive in!

Social Coffee

Social Coffee might be one of the most popular coffee shops for Wilmington college students. I have heard nothing but good things about it, and after going there myself, I totally agree. It’s also got a special vote from me because the first time I went was when it hosted a special RUF service. Now it’s in my memory as a great place to worship the Lord.

As far as the Coffee is concerned, Social totally dominates. The citrus blend in the Sunny Day drink was an absolute 10/10. I would recommend it to anyone. Tay also gave Social her vote for the best coffee shop in Wilmington, so clearly the recommendation extends for more than just the Coffee.

As the pictures show, the Ambiance in Social is really adorable. There’s a very chill and comfortable vibe with the different plants and warm colors. The white lights are just an extra touch of hipster so it truly fits the time. Even though it gets kind of crowded, it’s big enough to handle it without making it uncomfortable. Definitely deserves a 9/10.

When it comes to Productivity, I feel like Social is a little lacking compared to the other coffee shops. I don’t typically see many people go by themselves, so it makes me feel a little uncomfortable to go alone and try to get some work done. Instead, it’s all in the name here as it’s a better place to socialize than to work for me. I’m thinking it gets a 5/10.

Old North

I might be a little biased about Old North because this was the first coffee shop I went to in Wilmington. It’s also the closest to my apartment, so I go ALL THE TIME. However, I’m not the only person who thinks it’s great because Old North has Anna’s vote as the best coffee shop in Wilmy.

Despite my deep love for Old North, it is slightly lacking as far as Coffee is concerned. I like to try new flavors every time I go, but there still doesn’t seem to be much of a difference to the taste either way. I’ll admit that it could be because I have to get almond milk because I’m lactose intolerant, but it’s still just not as good as Social’s coffee. It is still good though (just a little monotonous), so I’m gonna give it a 6/10.

Old North makes up for the low Coffee score in the Ambiance element. All the art is locally made and depicts fun elements of both Wilmington and other small towns. It’s also smaller than the other shops in a comfortable and homey way. Pairing this with the Indie playlist that plays on repeat places Old North pretty high on the Ambiance scale. I’m thinking 9/10.

When it comes to Productivity, Old North blows every shop out of the water. I have never come into Old North and not been able to complete what I’m working on. Whether I’m there to read, write, study, or work on this blog, I am full of motivation. Hands down, Old North deserves a 10/10 for Productivity.

Zola

Zola is the perfect little hidden paradise. It shares the building with an adorable book shop, and the entire building shares the lot with a massive tree that hangs over it like some kind of natural guardian. One of my friends calls it her cloudy day cafe, and I think she’s right.

The Coffee at Zola is extremely lactose intolerant friendly as they offer options that don’t even come with milk to begin with. They also allow the use of personal reusable cups, so they’re clearly looking out for the environment (LOVE). Unfortunately, the coffee I ordered wasn’t my favorite, but I won’t judge it too harshly because I’ve only heard good things about the others. I’m inclined to give it a 6/10 to weigh in my ‘eh’ experience with the other ‘wow’ ones.

Zola instantly wins the Ambiance ranking based purely on the fact that the coffee shop is inside a bookstore. I believe there is nothing better for my mood than being surrounded by books (except maybe being surrounded by trees). It might just be because I’m a nerd, but Zola deserves a 10/10 for Ambiance in my opinion.

Despite the coffee incident, Zola still ranks fairly high on the Productivity scale. Even when a good friend came in and sat with me, I still felt motivated to focus and get my work done. It also wasn’t super crowded which can be really distracting for doing work. It gets a 9/10 for the pleasant and calm atmosphere.

Grinders

Grinders is another super popular Wilmington coffee shop. There are several of them in the town, but for the sake of this post, I’m going to focus on the one in the Crossroads shopping center.

The Coffee at Grinders scores higher than Old North, but not as high as Social. It was good coffee, but it wasn’t AMAZING. I think the right word was average. And I think 7/10 is a good average score.

I actually really enjoyed the Ambiance at Grinders. It was very modern and clearly musically driven. However, it was kind of crowded and that made it a little too loud for the regular coffee shop atmosphere I prefer. The Ambiance was much better suited for the open mic night I attended there rather than for studying. For that, I’m going to give it a 5/10.

The lower Ambiance score also affects the Productivity rating because a lot of my motivation and working comfort comes from the atmosphere of my surroundings. I liked Grinders and I did get work done, but overall it was a little too crowded for me to really focus. I’m thinking it lands around 7/10.

Sundays Surf Cafe

Sundays is truly a cafe made for the beach. It is a real emblem of Wrightsville Beach and UNCW too. I think it’s also the only cafe I visited that doubles as a bar too.

I personally loved the Coffee at Sundays. It was a really cold day when we went and I got a nice hot mocha with almond milk and it was great. Even though the shop has extreme summer vibes, the Coffee is perfect for fall. They also offer free water to combat how coffee is prone to dehydrate people, so I’m very inclined to give Sundays a 10/10 for Coffee.

As far as Ambiance goes, Sundays has an incredibly different vibe than any other coffee shop I’ve mentioned this far. It’s entire theme revolves around surfing because it is such a beach shop. It’s all very blue and strikes me as a very chill and mellow atmosphere. However, it’s always really crowded and busy which doesn’t mix well with being very small. I know some people don’t mind crowds, but they aren’t my favorite. Despite the cute decor, I’m gonna have to give Sundays a 6/10 for Ambiance because it’s just a little uncomfortable for me people wise.

Just like with Grinders, this Ambiance score also affects the Productivity rate. The shop tries really hard to be a calming place, but because of the crowds, it can get kind of loud and distracting. I’ve been there multiple times to do homework or just to read and I never get much done. It’s an awesome shop, but it gets a 4/10 for Productivity.

When I started this post, I already had a clear winner in mind, so I find it funny and surprising that after tallying up the points, there’s actually a tie for first place. I think that proves that I did try to really think about each category for that specific shop and give it an honest answer. So sorry if you don’t agree.

Now, without further adieu, the ranking of Wilmington’s Coffee Shops are as follows:

4th with a total of 19 points- GRINDERS

3rd with a total of 20 points- SUNDAYS SURF CAFE

2nd with a total of 24 points- SOCIAL COFFEE

Tied for 1st with a total of 25 points each- ZOLA and OLD NORTH

Of course this whole post was based on personal opinion as each of these shops are amazing in their own way and they each cater to the desires of their own customers. This was just a fun excuse to get around town and try new study spots.

If you want to know more about each shop, click their name above to go to their website (except Zola and Sundays because I couldn’t find their websites or they just don’t have any)!

Make sure to hit the like button if you see one of your favorite coffee shops listed above. Or, if I left it out be sure to leave a comment below. If you think my rankings are wrong (I might be talking to you Tay), sorry!

Thanks to everyone for reading this far into the post. I’ll be back again in two weeks! Until then, stay safe out there.