Chicago Gets Caffeinated During Its First Cafe Week

From hot dogs piled high with toppings to cheesy deep dish pizzas, Chicago is obviously notorious in the food department. However, along with its plethora of food staples, the city offers an array of options for another type of well-loved business: The good old-fashioned coffee shop. During Yelp’s first-ever Cafe Week this past March, the Community team partnered up with ten local coffee spots in different neighborhoods throughout the Windy City to bring freebies, discounts, and events to anyone with the Yelp app.

During the week of March 18-22, 2019, anyone with the Yelp app was invited to check in to specially made event pages to claim whatever each shop was offering: most shops offered free coffee of some sort, or even a free latte. Yum!

As for events during Cafe Week, the Yelp Chicago team kicked off the week with a private kickoff event at Caffé Umbria’s rad and red Logan Square location. The cafe closed its doors to the public and opened them for a group of 100 Yelpers. The business featured free samples of several special drinks from the brand, including a fan favorite called The Bicerin, which included espresso and something that is literally called “drinking chocolate.” Drool. These sweet drinks paired perfectly with the savory homemade empanadas made with love by Chef Andy Suarez. Chef Suarez made sure to include vegetarian and vegan options for everyone in attendance. Plus, to top it all off, a photo booth was also provided by In Light Photo Booths, because what’s a party without one?! If you want to see photos and read some reviews, head to the event page here.

Mid-week, Yelp brought a group of coffee lovers to Ipsento 606 for coffee tasting class, also known as a “cupping class.” Ipsento marketing queen and cupping class instructor extraordinaire Amy M made sure to teach the class as much as their brains could take about noting aromas and tasting coffee — for example, did you know that quite a few coffees have sun dried tomatoes *in* them already?! Crazy. Check out reviews and photos here!

To close out the week, Metropolis Roasting Company invited a small group of Yelpers to its roastery in Avondale for a private tour and tasting. Yelpers were treated to complimentary coffee and other treats, like a voucher for a free coffee at the Metropolis Coffee Company shop in Edgewater. Reviews and photos can be found here.

Thank you to everyone who participated in and enjoyed the benefits of our first-ever Yelp Cafe Week! We can’t wait for Cafe Week 2020.

All photos above are by Yelp photographer Miguel Tellez. Artwork for Cafe Week was created by the Yelp Creative Team.

Thank you so much to our sponsors for Cafe Week 2019 (in alphabetical order below)!

Café Corbel, Caffé Umbria Logan Square, Coffee Joint, Coffee Lab and Roasters, Ipsento 606, Overflow Coffee Bar, Red Line Cafe, Sputnik Coffee Company, The Crepe Shop, and Two Hearted Queen.