As of March 2023, there are an estimated 15,905 Starbucks in the United States alone. However, as major coffee shops such as Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts continue to attract large crowds of coffee lovers, we can’t let our local coffee shops go unnoticed. 

“There’s a lot of really good coffee shops around Jupiter like Perk Coffee House, The Lokomotive, Papa Kwan’s Coffee shop and Pura Vida,” Gabbriella Palomba sophomore said. 

With a variety of hot and iced drinks Perk Coffee House offers fresh baked goods, breakfast, and lunch items on their menu. 

“They have some good breakfast, they have croissants with egg and cheese, avocado toast and they have so much food the possibilities are endless,” Hope Wiggins, sophomore said. 

With inflation at its highest, even goods like coffee have been seen to skyrocket in price. 

“At Perk the coffee is perfect; it’s not like spending $10 on a coffee like I would be doing at Starbucks,” Wiggins said. 

If coffee isn’t your partiality maybe you’ll enjoy a choice of hot or iced teas provided at these local cafes. 

“Perk has the best matcha, I think they’re especially known for that, and you can get all kinds of flavors in them. We have coconut matcha and lavender matcha which are especially popular and they also have medicinal lattes and smoothies,” Jillian Dettman senior at JHS and barista at  Perk Coffee House said. 

Perk isn’t the only local coffee shop leaving their customers satisfied and coming back for more. 

“Another coffee shop I recommend is Papa Kwan’s. It also has that beach vibe that Perk does and their cold brews are so yummy their food is also really good and they have make your own acai bowls,” Dettman said. 

Even with the competition of multinational chains of coffeehouses Palm Beach County’s cafes stay busy receiving lots of love and recognition from its locals.  

“I think if you live around here it’s known what Perk is but it’s definitely not the same as Starbucks where people go daily I think Perk is really seen as a special treat kind of place I think people recognize the name but it’s much less known compared to Starbucks,” Dettman said. 

Just like Starbucks, Perk, Lokomotive and Pura Vida have been quite the trend setters with locals and tourists posting to their social media the delicious menu items and aesthetic environment.  

“People go to these locations because of the influence of local social media personalities like Ana Stowell or Lexi Hidalgo influencers,” Dettman said. “These set idealistic standards for what the so-flo life is like so high schoolers in your area try to replicate that lifestyle through coffee shop Instagram posts and stories.”