Hexe Coffee Co.

Start with the bourbon barrel-aged cold brew

The bourbon barrel-aged cold brew is the order most tied to what Hexe Coffee Co. is, and it is the one to lead with. Green coffee rested in emptied spirit barrels picks up oak and vanilla without picking up alcohol, and the barrel-ageing is not a one-off here: it runs through the retail line as well. The result reads as spirit-adjacent rather than flavoured, since nothing is added to the cup at the end.

For everyday drinks, the cortado is the espresso order and the London Fog, Earl Grey under steamed milk, is the tea one. Both are made with beans roasted on site, which is the thread running through everything on the board in this corner of Chicago.

Everything roasted in house

Hexe roasts all of its own coffee rather than pouring somebody else’s. The business grew out of home roasting into a wholesale operation with a cafe attached, and the retail lineup is where that work is easiest to taste.

Painted as Monsters is the light roast staple, a Colombian natural blended with lightly roasted Peruvian and Sumatran coffees, fruity and chocolatey and smooth. Boneshaker Bourbon is the house-specific one, non-alcoholic bourbon barrel-aged beans roasted medium, with oak, floral and vanilla notes. Eye for an Eye blends Brazilian natural with Peruvian for the third position on the shelf.

A dark room with a bakery attached

The space is dark, Gothic and industrial-feeling, with enough seating that it holds up for a long stretch of laptop time. It has been a coffee-and-dessert destination in the neighborhood since the end of 2019, and the edgy bakery side gives the room its second act.

The breads and pastries are baked in house alongside the roasting, so the dessert side is part of the operation rather than bought in from elsewhere. Pair the cold brew with whatever came out of the oven that morning, and treat the retail shelf as the thing to take home with you. Hexe also turned up in the Infatuation’s 2026 coffee guide, which is the recognition attached to the address. The dark room and the barrel programme come from the same instinct, which is why the place reads as one idea rather than a cafe with a gimmick bolted on.