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The country’s best city for coffee lovers is not Seattle, Portland or even New York, according to a new report.
Best known for its area theme parks, Orlando, Florida, has been brewing up a new attraction as America’s top destination for coffee lovers, a WalletHub analysis found.
The City Beautiful took the No. 1 spot in WalletHub’s ranking of the 100 largest U.S. cities, edging out Portland, Oregon, which fell from first place last year to No. 2.
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Miami ranked No. 3, followed by Long Beach, California, at No. 4 and Seattle, the birthplace of Starbucks, at No. 5.
The results offer a new definition of what makes a great coffee city today. While coffee is a daily habit for 66% of Americans, according to the National Coffee Association, coffee drinkers are increasingly looking for affordable, reliable, highly rated shops that have free Wi-Fi instead of trendy cafés.
Coffee shops increasingly serve as workspaces and social hubs for tourists, students and remote workers, WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo, based in South Carolina, told Fox News Digital.
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Lupo said Orlando’s tourism-driven economy means visitors often need a reliable place to charge their phones, connect to free Wi-Fi and save money where they can.
“People want to have a coffee, they may want to go in and scroll for a little while before they hit Disney World, so they want to make the rest of the experience as affordable as they can to spend more of their money on the tourist attraction,” Lupo said.
Orlando is also home to the University of Central Florida, he added.
“There’s a lot of broke college kids out there and they’re already spending the little money they have on coffee, so they don’t want to have to pay for the Wi-Fi also.”
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Cities that attract young adults and college students also ranked highly, including Pittsburgh at No. 9 and Austin, Texas, at No. 10. Pittsburgh’s growing med-tech and tech sectors have helped draw young professionals to the city, Lupo said.
Lupo was most surprised that this year’s ranking included three Florida cities in its top 10. Tampa landed at No. 6.
“You have three cities in Florida — hot, muggy, warm weather pretty much year-round — and also you have Long Beach, a Southern California city,” he said, adding that they could be opting for an iced coffee.
“Maybe that’s how a lot of folks start off their day, drinking a cold iced coffee first thing in the morning.”
Of the 100 cities WalletHub examined, it measured “coffee friendliness,” including the price of packaged coffee and cappuccinos, household coffee spending, the share of residents with coffee makers and the number of coffee shops per capita.
The personal finance company also weighed the availability of affordable coffee shops that have at least 4.5-star reviews, free Wi-Fi, coffee and tea manufacturers, doughnut shops and local interest based on Google searches.
In cities such as New York, rising coffee prices and pressure on small, independent shops may help explain why the Big Apple landed at No. 44, Lupo said.
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The ranking also underscores how a daily coffee habit affects the wallet.
Households in the most coffee-crazy cities can spend up to $327 a year on the beverage, while frequent espresso and cappuccino drinkers may save by preparing drinks at home, WalletHub found.
Lupo noted that several lower-ranked cities, including Laredo, Texas; Toledo, Ohio; Detroit; Memphis, Tennessee; and Lubbock, Texas, are places where residents may have less room in their budgets for coffee purchases.
“When grocery costs are at a premium, usually one of the first places you’ll cut back [is] things like coffee,” he said.
Buying a coffee or espresso machine for home can “pretty much pay for itself in the first couple of months,” Lupo added.
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As for the year ahead, Lupo said he will be watching to see if Portland can reclaim its top spot.
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“I think they’re going to try to make some changes to put themselves back in that No. 1 spot,” he said.
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