Forever my favorite coffee shop in Chicago. Astonishingly impressive selection of spices, teas and coffees from all over the world, with a true small business feel. They make expert level lattes that outshine any chain by a mile. The staff comes up with creative monthly latte specials, shown on a board in front, that follow a theme and have hilarious names. Perfect place for gifts and the prices are by weight, enabling you to try a variety of options. Be patient but the line moves quickly, plus the customer service and products are beyond worth it.

Finally found a place that can make proper coffee! Staff there are super nice and knowledgeable. And don’t even get me start on the options, products they have! Amazing! Best coffee I’ve had in Chicago to date!

Nice place with a hipstery vibe. They have a lot of teas, spices and coffee that you can buy by weight or drinks. The entrance area where you can order it's pretty small so only a couple of customers (2-3) can fit there at a time. This makes a line form outside, especially during the mornings. I personally love the vast variety of caffeine-free tea. Tried the cranberry apple iced tea and loved it. Also ordered the banana walnut muffin and a chocolate croissant (both were great).

Highly Recommend: the coffee here is great! Had their seasonal latte this time and it was good as all else. Only caution can give is that at peak morning hours like 9-11 am, the line can get pretty long, going outside, and you may have to wait about 15-20 minutes to just order your drink. I am sure that next time I will be in line waiting, I probably will go somewhere else. It is though a great place with great coffee so if you don't see a big line definitely get some.

They have a great selection of teas, of all varieties. Now this may be because I had just got back from living in Washington for a while, but the teas didn't seem to produce as much flavor than what I was used to. I got Himalayan Honey (Green), Pu'er, Chamomile, Licorice, Ginger, Matte and a few others. I tried a few different methods of steeping but the only way I was able to get more flavour was by adding more tea while steeping. Compared to the teas I still had from Washington, the flavour was still less pronounced. But this again could be due to my pallet not used to Chicago again. Still, the selection and ability to get tea made there are good pluses.

Nice place for your morning/afternoon drink! I'm really into matcha, so I went couple times to order iced matcha latte (and once a frozen chocolate). The drinks are good and well prepared in a nice ambiance (loooove the décor and the vibe. I'm sure my fellow coffee drinker will like it even more). However, why 3/5? Your drinks quality will highly depends on who is making your drinks. I'm always disappointed when I see my favorite barista at the cashier. Once I ordered a matcha latte (again!) and got a chai latte (they redid it but still, not convenient in a rush). Once my matcha latte (again :) ) was very strong as it was not all dissolved/mixed. I personally don't recommend their iced chocolate: it's good! but soooo much sugar. It can get packed very easily but the queue goes by very fast!

I adore this place. COVID caused some changes to the place (I miss being able to walk up to each coffee bean barrel and look/smell the beans), but it's still my go-to coffee bean shop even when I lived 30+ miles away. Amazing quality beans, delicious drinks and awesome coffee/tea making products. And an entire wall of tea-related spices/herbs including catnip. This place is the best!

I love visiting this coffee shop when I’m in Chicago! They always have a fun menu and a great selection of tea and coffee beans. Plus any brewing accessory you could need! :)

The Coffee & Tea Exchange has been roasting award winning beans from all over the world for over 3 decades in the Lakeview neighborhood. I’ve been getting my coffee here for that long and have never been disappointed. I LOVE all their beans! They roast onsite and you get premium taste every time! They have regular standby roasts and blends as well as epicurean mono varietals (the bean is single sourced from one plantation). You can even make your own custom blend/mix; anything goes here! They will gladly grind the beans fresh for you and have different grinds depending on your machine and taste pallet. I’m not a fan of flavored coffees but at C&TE I do love their toasted almond and hazelnut beans. They toast the nuts in with the beans so you get a real original flavor and not imitation. You actually see the nuts scattered in the bag amongst the beans. Prices are fair and the quality is excellent. They also have a huge selection of teas, accessories and gifts.

Love coming here for my coffee beans. They've got a nice selection of whole beans, as well as tea. Everyone has always been so friendly when I stop by. I like that they've been practicing COVID protocols the whole time, as well.

First time ever going in and the staff was very kind and helpful, they gave great recommendations and I ended up trying the "French toast" flavor in an iced oat latte. I have been a craft barista for over 5 years and hands down this is one of the best coffees I've ever had. Highly recommend checking this place out whether for coffee, tea, or some of their extensive selection of herbs!

Excellent coffee and tea shop, comfortable and friendly. I've ordered bulk tea (1 lb) from them a couple of times and the tea is great (not always the case from other vendors). The prices and service are excellent as well. Highly recommended!

The coffee is always fresh any time of day! My favorite by the pound is the Colombian Supreme, by the cup the Costa Rican which is a perfect well balanced cup with notes of gram cracker and what tastes like chocolate covers caramels. Super good to pair with one of there fresh packaged cookies!

This is my go to coffee/tea stop in the mornings. We come in three to four times a week and every time the service is A+. Everyone is so warm and friendly and somehow they even remember our order! What's not to love? I feel good about supporting a neighborhood place like this. They also have an insane selection of teas and coffees to take home and make yourself. I recommend the London Fog Latte or if you're picking up loose tea, I really like the cream earl grey or the Russian earl grey.

This is my favorite coffee shop in Chicago. The staff is warm, friendly, and efficient. I always order one of their monthly rotating specialty lattes and have enjoyed every single one. Their looseleaf teas are unique and flavorful. Prices are very fair for the high quality. Thank you CTX, you are a staple of our weekend walks!

This is such a cute coffee shop! 1st time here, & I had "The Margo". It was awesome! Great fresh coffee 💜 They are going above & beyond with covid protection! Customer service was also awesome. Parking can be hard to find sometimes, so order ahead so you can just skip the line & pick up (:

Our go to coffee shop in our neighborhood! Great selection, friendly service, and excellent coffee and tea for an even better price (and a good selection of locally sourced baked goods). We love to bring visitors here and have them pick their own coffee beans for their trip. It's especially handy that they will do quarter pound orders of coffee and down to an ounce on teas. We also love their seasonal specialty lattes, always creative and interesting.

I got an iced London Fog and it was way too sweet. I would recommend getting 50% sugar adjustment. The latte tasted watered down and artificial. This is not my favorite place to get quality teas. From other customer’s orders, you might be better off ordering coffee or iced green teas here with no sugar.

If I could give this place 500 stars I would. As someone who is not a coffee drinker (just never liked the taste) but LOVES tea, I’ve never been able to find any sort of coffee shop that offers more variety than 6ish tea bags. This place has everything!! The assortment of loose leaf teas is absolutely incredible and you can get any of them brewed at the shop, iced or hot. It’s become my go-to place any time I want to try something new and I’ve got about 8 different teas now sitting at my desk at work with another dozen at home. The prices are also fantastic! I can’t find loose leaf teas anywhere else (not that there are many places that even come close to the selection) that are this reasonably priced and they even have small 1 oz bags for smaller commitments. Cannot recommend this place enough to tea drinkers and the coffee variety is also amazing! Shoutout to the staff too, who are always super helpful and nice!

Adorable store, love the Studio Ghibli specials ! One of the best coffees I've ever had.

There's an extensive selection of both coffee and tea available. The coffee beans feature an array of options, ranging from single-origin to flavored specialty beans.

I love loose leaf tea, and this place had so much variety to offer. When I described my preferences, they were quick to recommend a few flavors that would fit as well, which I very much appreciated. There is also a café inside that you can get drinks from, though there's nowhere to really sit inside the building. It's more of a grab and go option.

Excellent fresh brewed coffee and quite a large selection of whole bean coffees which can be ground to order, tea and other beverages. They also have some oddball old fashioned candies. They also have the whole selection of flavored coffees, for those who go that direction

Value for money is fantastic and staff is always kind and helpful. Way better coffee that popular chains for like half the price. And you get properly brewed coffee from a daily selection of beans. They offer an incredible variety of beans that you can buy for the pound at around the same price (and less) of much lower quality grocery store coffee!!! Not a tea guy but they do also offer a large selection of tea.

This place is awesome! Super friendly staff and an endless variety of beans. I bought 6 quarter pound bags to sample, all of which were recommendations by an extremely nice and helpful employee. Also, they have tons of coffee/ tea brewing equipment, basically anything you’d ever need. 10/10 will keep coming back

Loved the entire experience. I got two bags of ground coffee (I recommend the maple walnut flavor) and tried a good coffee and a delightful peach cinnamon latte with my fiancee. The staff were wonderful and extremely patient while we examined the overwhelming list of options. I wish I lived closer so I could go here more often! I only tried the coffee but it seems like a great place for tea and spices as well, and they have mugs and assorted equipment for making tea and coffee also. Will go back next time I'm in town!

Look at how cute that stopper is! You know it's another Chicago classic. They have a superb selection of everything! I have to return to try so many more things! Swiss water process chocolate raspberry decaf, pumpkin pie latte, I need to snag an aeropress, and buy some organic Ceylon cinnamon! Will be back!

Love the coffee/tea/spices. Love the people who work there. They are kind, helpful and really amazing. Even after moving out of East Lakeview, we still come back to stock up on coffee and tea.

They were able to create a special blend that I didn't think I'd ever taste again from a cafe that closed. I'm SO HAPPY - I didn't know how good coffee from home could be!

This is one of my absolute favorite coffee, tea & spice shops in Chicago. I've ordered tons of their teas, and have never been disappointed. The service is always lovely and the people are so kind and friendly. If you're new to Chicago this is definitely a gem that is worth checking out!

Amazing space, delicious coffee drinks and awesome service! The Pride menu offers flavor combinations that work soooo well together, definitely recommend trying them all!

I had a huge shopping list ranging from teas, spices and coffee, so everyone in the store was so accommodating, friendly and knowledgeable on all their products. Highly recommended getting either a hot or cold beverage of the coffee and tea specials served on the premises. So delicious. I really hope you give them a visit and enjoy the aroma of the coffee and teas brewing in the back of the shop.