As an avid coffee drinker, I have very strong opinions on the different coffee shops I’ve tried. I am confident in saying that Summer Moon Coffee is one of the best places out there right now.
Originally a Texas local chain, Summer Moon is a coffee company that’s been slowly expanding over the last few years. They use wood-fired coffee beans and a homemade sweet cream called “moon milk” in every drink—you can customize how much of the cream you get, and comparatively, how much skim milk there is. Their menu is certainly not as big as Starbucks’, for example, but relatively wide enough that there’s something for everyone.
In 2023, when Summer Moon first opened in my hometown, I was fully convinced it was a local place. I would soon find out that it was, in fact, a chain—and my town was the first location in Illinois. While most of their locations are still in Texas, over the last few years they’ve opened more stores in Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Wisconsin—and they plan to expand further.
I, personally, am excited for any potential new locations to pop up in the Midwest; I’ve been not-so-secretly hoping they open one near the Quad Cities. And if you ever have the chance to try their coffee, get an iced blue moon latte. It’ll be one of the best coffees you’ve had.