Orlando's Newest Coffee Is Pouring Inside Other Businesses

"Now here we are, our first official coffee counter. Not coffee shop!" Ryan Plaza told Bungalower in September, after his NEWRICH Coffee set up inside Bad As's Sandwich on North Primrose Drive. "That will come."

The distinction he draws covers most of what changed this fall. Across the Milk District, East Colonial and Thornton Park, several new coffee spots opened at a counter inside a business that was already there: a sandwich shop, a Thornton Park hall, a bar and arcade, a lash studio. The host keeps its doors open on its own schedule. The coffee keeps a different one, and it's often much shorter. If you're planning a coffee stop in these neighborhoods, the hours that count are the counter's.

The Ranking Arrived Before the New Cups Did

On Sept. 16, 2026, WalletHub ranked Orlando No. 1 among the best coffee cities in America, with a score of 68.55. The study compared the 100 largest U.S. cities on 12 metrics. It singled out Orlando for its density of coffee shops, its number of coffee and tea shops with free Wi-Fi per capita, its affordable, highly rated shops and even its density of donut shops.

That ranking measures shops. Within a month of it, Orlando Weekly followed up with a list of new openings, and the close-in ones on that list were mostly not standalone shops. Here's how the four counters that opened in our neighborhoods this fall line up against their hosts:

The spread runs from a counter that's done by late morning on most weekdays to one that pours into the evening. Two of the four sit near Primrose Drive. The other two are a few blocks apart in Thornton Park. So you can plan a coffee stop the way you'd plan a walk, by part of town and by time of day.

Near Primrose, the Coffee Runs Early

NEWRICH started in 2024 as an online brand selling whole and ground coffee. Plaza says it has sold more than 2,000 pounds since then. Its flagship José Blend is named for his grandfather, and he told Bungalower he sources the beans himself from a mountain farm in Puerto Rico. The counter grew out of a weekly habit. For about a year, Plaza and Bad As's chef and owner John Collazo met for coffee every Thursday, and those conversations eventually turned to putting NEWRICH inside Collazo's restaurant.

The drink people tend to ask about is the Farina Latte. It takes the brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon of farina, the hot breakfast cereal Plaza remembers from mornings in Puerto Rico, and turns them into a latte. Bad As's also carries Puerto Rican-style baked goods from L'Encanto Bakery.

Timing matters most here. NEWRICH's posted schedule is a morning one, ending at 11 a.m. on weekdays. Bad As's itself lists NEWRICH as a partner serving Monday through Saturday. A sandwich at lunch doesn't guarantee a latte at lunch, so check @newrichcoffee before you count on an afternoon cup.

Up the road at 2900 E. Colonial Drive, across from Fashion Square Mall, Black Phin Coffee Bar has moved into the cafe inside Bash & Brew. Owners Saeng and Linda Khouvongsavan had built a following at Harmon Collective in Winter Park. They got 30 days' notice that their time there was ending under their agreement, and they found the new space within that window. Orlando Weekly reported that they planned to renovate the bar and seating area before Vietnamese phin-drip coffee poured there.

The soft opening ran Oct. 23–25 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a short menu built around their signature Vietnamese robusta coffee. Seasonal specials, food and pastries were held back while the team settled in. The host keeps different hours: Bash & Brew is closed Mondays and open Tuesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. @blackphin.orl is the place to see the current coffee schedule and whether the menu has filled back in.

In Thornton Park, the Window Is Wider

Koffee Sutra is the outlier among the four, and that's useful to know. It soft-opened inside The Veranda at Thornton Park, 707 E. Washington St., starting Oct. 5, with Indian-inspired drinks. By mid-October, Orlando Weekly reported it was brewing and serving Indian- and Sri Lankan-inspired breakfast, lunch and dinner. Mayor Buddy Dyer and City Commissioner Patty Sheehan came to the ribbon-cutting. Koffee Sutra's website says "Now open," and its posted hours run 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. With three meals on the menu, this is the one counter on the list where a 4 p.m. coffee is part of the plan.

A few blocks away, EarthGrounds Coffee + Matcha opened its second location inside EyeGlam Studio at 520 E. Church St., Unit 109. Bungalower's newsletter marked its soft opening on Oct. 19. The menu leans toward dessert flavors, including a salted brown butter brûlée matcha and a caramelized banana latte. It launched with the narrowest schedule of the four, Monday through Wednesday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The owners told Bungalower they planned to add days gradually.

So the two Thornton Park counters cover very different parts of the week. EarthGrounds started as an early-week, before-2 p.m. stop. Koffee Sutra runs from breakfast through late evening every day.

The Same Setup Beyond Coffee, and One Standalone Coming

Food counters are opening the same way. UniMart opened inside Mills Market by mid-October, selling Japanese grab-and-go food: bento and sushi boxes, prepared foods, fried chicken, snacks and candy. Like the coffee counters, it puts a new business inside a space neighbors already visit.

The next coffee opening on the calendar is a standalone shop. Qreate plans its third coffee shop for 1500 Lake Baldwin Lane in Baldwin Park this winter, a few doors down from Golden Hour Wine. Orlando Weekly reported the same drinks and pastries with an overhauled food menu. Plaza has said NEWRICH's own shop "will come," so a counter can also be the first step toward a standalone shop.

Planning a Coffee Stop Around a Counter

Hours inside a host business can change faster than a website gets updated, especially in a counter's first months. A short routine saves a wasted trip:

1. Check the counter's Instagram on the day you go. NEWRICH, Black Phin and EarthGrounds all post updates there, and EarthGrounds has said it plans to add days.
2. Match the stop to the time of day. NEWRICH is a morning stop. EarthGrounds opened as a late-morning, early-week stop. Koffee Sutra covers evenings.
3. Assume the host's hours aren't the coffee's hours. Bash & Brew is open until 7 p.m. and Bad As's serves lunch, but neither tells you when the coffee bar closes.
4. Order from the menu that exists that week. Black Phin opened with core drinks only, and new counters often add food and specials later.

If you're new to the area, or you know someone who is, the details that make a neighborhood feel familiar are the small ones, like which counter on Primrose Drive is still pouring at 10:45 on a Thursday. At Gwyn Picerne, we keep track of those day-to-day details across Orlando and the surrounding towns. If you'd like a local's read on a neighborhood you're considering, let's connect and start the conversation.