Great Coffee Shops in Raleigh

Here are some of the great coffee shops I've discovered in Raleigh over the past year:

• Cafe Cyclo (Cameron Village / Downtown - map)
• The Helios Coffee Company (Downtown - map)
• The New World Coffee House (North Raleigh - map)

Each has free wireless internet, a cozy atmosphere, great music, and a cool clientele.

I don't inherently have anything against the Starbucks that one can find on every street corner. In college, I spent more time at the Starbucks located at the corner of Cedar and Fairmount than I did in class. That was in the olden times, prior to the rise of wireless Internet, however. Nowadays, the fact that coffee shop chains expect you to pay through the nose for wireless internet is enough to get them sacked. Not having to suddenly find myself surrounded by teenagers yapping on their cell phones is a nice added bonus.

© Josh Staiger, joshstaiger@gmail.com