From long-standing cafe favourites to new coffee-shop talent, the editor of the Indy Coffee Guide series lets slip a few of her treasured spots for delicious brews and bites in the city
12 Bar Music & Social
For a fusion of brews and beats in Exeter, it doesn’t get much better than this vibey hangout in the city centre. There’s always a great tune spinning on the turntable, juicy batch brew flowing and a stonking curation of vinyls to flick through.
Flaming delicious flat whites are crafted using a chocolatey Central and South American roast from Voyager Coffee, and make a great match to the house-made focaccia sarnies and local bakes. On weekdays, the team welcome remote workers who like to blast through emails with an on-point soundtrack in the background and speciality brews at their fingertips. However, come weekend, it’s a laptop-free zone.
12 Bar is also a lively hub for Exeter’s indie music scene as it plays host to intimate gigs, open mics, open decks and other community-driven evenings that celebrate an eclectic range of genres. It’s often at these events that a fresh drinks menu of cocktails, wine and beer is showcased. Keep tabs on upcoming events via Instagram or its website.
The Common Beaver
Make for indie-centric Magdalen Road and follow the intoxicating scent of speciality coffee to find this dam-good cafe.
The quality espresso drinks are made using beans from Fire & Flow’s Aurora blend (all chocolatey, caramel goodness), while fruit-forward batch filters feature guest beans supplied by hero roasteries across the UK. If you like what you sip, grab a bag of beans from the retail shelf to carry on the top-notch coffee sipping at home.
It wouldn’t be a trip to The Common Beaver without snaffling one of the famed homemade bagels. The glossy rings of springy dough are stuffed with fillings such as pulled local pork and slaw; broad-bean guac; tomato chutney and smoky marinated tofu; and golden halloumi, mushroom and aioli.
Exploding Bakery
This oh-so-cool bakery brand and cafe holds mega clout on the artisan food and drink scene.
Since 2011, the vibrant cafe neighbouring Exeter Central train station has been a go-to for gourmets in search of delicious coffee and tasty bakes. The range of signature traybakes are rustled up at the bakery HQ across town and are delivered here, as well as local and far-flung indie cafes. Such is the demand and love for the baked goods that founders Oli and Tom have released two recipe books and created a letterbox-friendly baked-goods delivery empire.
Visit this attractive space (where it all started) to delight in quality caffeine and a wedge of salted caramel brownie. Hungry for more? The open-plan kitchen also prepares a small menu of toasties, soups and salads.
The Press House
Swap the chain-centric high street for the indie-rich hub of Fore Street to enjoy a cracking cafe experience at The Press House.
Sarah Wheeler and team took over the space in late 2024 and have retained its reputation for great coffee and delicious food. The coffee in question is supplied by Triple Co Roast in Bristol and also covers a decent decaf option that’s ground to order to ensure freshness. It’s kept company by a rollcall of off-beat speciality drinks, which include a butterfly pea and ginger latte, a charcoal coconut and rose latte, and guarana cacao.
On warm days in the city, anything on the hot drinks menu can be prepared as an iced version.
Sacred Grounds
You’d be hard pressed to find a more mind‑bendingly creative, plant-based brunch in the city than at this stylish spot in the atrium of McCoy’s Arcade.
An elevated food menu includes veg-packed sarnies, miso porridge, salad bowls and innovative vegan spins on egg-based faves. Other house specials include the seasonal waffles. The sweet or savoury buckwheat waffles are topped with lip-smacking ingredients such as cinnamon-spiced apples with white chocolate crémeux, candied rosemary, toasted pecans and dried blackcurrants.
Zhuzh up your brunch further with a cup of Triple Co Roast espresso pulled from a Rocket Espresso machine. The roastery’s Jumpstart blend – showcasing dark chocolate, nut praline and maple syrup flavours – delivers a velvet-smooth coffee when paired with steamed oat milk.
Enjoyed reading our curation of the best coffee shops in Exeter? Discover more curated round-ups.
We choose the companies included in our features based on editorial integrity. Occasionally, some inclusions will be handpicked from clients with whom we have a commercial relationship.
