10 of the best coffee roasters along America’s most famous highway
Nearly 100 years ago, before the U.S. Interstate Highway system was born, Route 66 was established as a major transportation artery for both leisure travel and commercial transit. The route spanned 2,448 miles and meandered through eight states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck referred to Route 66 as “The Mother Road” for the access it provided westward-bound travelers during the Dust Bowl Days. Bobby Troup’s R&B classic song, “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66,” etched the road forever in the American zeitgeist and was first recorded by Nat King Cole in 1946 and later by Chuck Berry, Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters, The Rolling Stones — and even Depeche Mode (a personal favorite).
Klatch Coffee’s Rancho Cucamonga, California roastery and cafe are located in the famous Route 66 Thomas Winery Plaza. Courtesy of Klatch Coffee
While Route 66 was decommissioned in 1985 to make way for the freeway system — chalk it up to “progress” — it remains in many a nostalgic heart and mind. While the coffee of the route’s early days was brown and hot, it tended to be cheap and astringent, i.e., nothing to write home about. As coffee has come into itself over the past 50-ish years, the influence of its quality and consumers’ concomitant love affair with the humble fruit has spread well beyond U.S. metropolises to, well, just about everywhere. For this month’s report, we cupped 32 coffees from roasters and cafés on or near Route 66. Just for kicks. And what we found were 10 coffees worth a detour along your journey.
The 32 coffees we cupped ranged in score from 84-95, and the 10 we review here scored between 91 and 95, pretty impressive for a route known more for its retro-cool diners and motels than cutting-edge brew. A nice variety of styles is represented, too, with three experimentally processed coffees, four classic washed coffees and three solid blends.
Regent Coffee is a Glendale, California, specialty coffee roaster and cafe. Courtesy of Regent Coffee
High-Scoring Experimental Coffees
At the top of the charts is Regent Coffee’s Colombia Finca El Paraiso Lychee (95). Who’da thunk one of Colombia’s most famously meticulous coffee farmers and processors, Wilton Benitez, would appear in Glendale, California, a city most renowned for being the headquarters of IHOP? Bypass the fried clams and too-hot, bitter-edged coffee there, and stop in at Regent instead. If you go for the fancy thermal-shock Lychee (see our review), prepare to be dazzled by notes of rambutan (ever so slightly more savory-complex than lychee), candied violet, ginger blossom and sandalwood.
Iconik Coffee’s wood-fueled IMF roaster. Courtesy of Iconik Coffee
Beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico is home to Iconik Coffee Roasters, whose Colombia Las Perlitas Anaerobic Honey (94) we found to be pleasingly complex with notes of cocoa nib, strawberry guava, cashew butter, pink peppercorn and lemongrass.
Just-harvested ripe Geisha coffee beans at Altieri Estate in Panama. Courtesy of Klatch Coffee
Also at 94, we have Klatch’s Panama Altieri Luci Geisha Natural Cold Dry Ferment, a splurgy, decadent cup with notes of Juicy Fruit gum, tangerine, chocolate fudge, and narcissus — a real sensory extravaganza.
Classic Coffees on Route 66
Tulsa, Oklahoma’s DoubleShot Coffee Company hit a winner with its classic washed Costa Rica La Minita (94), a more developed roast than the typical light-roasted fourth-wave coffees we see, which brings out notes of wisteria, hazelnut, dark chocolate, date bar and Meyer lemon zest, not to mention a plush, satiny body.
Tulsa, Oklahoma’s DoubleShot Coffee Company’s tagline is “Tulsa Tough.” Courtesy of DoubleShot Coffee Company
Whether free association has you imagining a mustache or a bicycle, Santa Barbara’s Handlebar Coffee has a way with this classic washed Honduras Marcala (93). It’s deep-toned and redolent of Nutella, mandarin, red plum, marjoram and pretty cedar notes. It’s also medium-roasted, so there are no sharp edges.
Santa Barbara’s Handlebar Coffee is a bike-themed roastery and cafe. Courtesy of Handlebar Coffee
Costa Rica’s everyday drinkers are appealing for their balance and vibrancy, and Peoria, Illinois-based Intuition Coffee’s Costa Rica Don Claudio (93) hits all the classic notes: It’s cocoa-toned and sweetly citrusy complicated by distinct stone fruit.
Cutbow Coffee’s Albuquerque hotspot is equal parts roastery, coffee shop and tasting room, and our first foray into its lineup has us wanting more. The classic Kenya Nyeri AA (93) we review here is the epitome of everything we love about Kenya coffees: unabashedly savory (think tomato vine), sweetly citrusy (pomelo) and grounded (crisp cocoa nib).
Thoughtful (As Opposed to Afterthought-ful) Coffee Blends
We’ve been around the block enough to know that some blends are roasters’ leftover green coffees thrown together with a wish and a prayer. So, one telltale sign of a good coffee operation is the quality of its blends. Are they thoughtful, carefully composed, or thoughtless, haphazard? These three pass the test.
The Langer Family (Rachel, right, and her mom, Nancy, letf) of Albuquerque’s Red Rod Roasters, has been in the coffee business for more than three decades. (Courtesy of Red Rock Roasters
Roadrunner Blend (93) from Red Rock Coffee Roasters’ in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is a legendary family recipe that has remained relevant for decades. A base of Sumatra gives lends earthy sweetness (petrichor, molasses, cedar) while rotating Central and South American greens give this coffee a candy-apple lift. And it’s named after the funny, strangely elegant birds that punctuate New Mexico’s Route 66 and environs.
Newbury Park, California’s Ragamuffin Coffee Roasters sent in an omni-blend, Better Day (92), originally designed as an espresso but sweet and rich-toned when cupped for brewed applications. It’s deftly medium-roasted, with notes of milk chocolate, crisp pear, sassafras, and a hint of gardenia. It’s developed enough to stand up to milk but retains a gentle brightness.
And lastly, we have a wonderful discovery: Single Speed Coffee Lab and Roastery, a 21st-century coffee space in a groovy Arizona mountain (college) town, whose Danger Monkey (91) is a fun, friendly blend that evokes blackberry cobbler with a drizzle of dark chocolate. It’s another medium-roasted blend that toes the line between sweetness and balance, and it succeeds in delivering a satisfying cup.
Whether a Route 66 road trip is in the cards for you, or not, these 10 roasters — all of which ship coffee, too (because it’s 2025) — are doing a spot-on job with sourcing and roasting. They all get a lot of love from locals, and they deserve an even broader fan club.
