Top 18+ gas station coffee bars, ranked worst to best

Loaf 'N Jug

There are about 150 Loaf 'N Jug stores and gas stations located around middle America, particularly in Colorado. Loaf 'N Jug stores offer most of the basic essentials you might need on a road trip, including regular drip coffee, usually under the Cumberland Farms Farmhouse brand. The coffee itself isn't the lowest quality coffee you can find at gas stations, but the coffee bar at Loaf 'N Jug is a different story.

Loaf 'N Jug's coffee bar is seriously lacking, offering just the basics to fix your cup of coffee. You typically won't find plant-based milk or a variety of syrups, and certainly no espresso. More often than not, the coffee carafes are nearly empty, so your only option for a caffeinated drink is the sludgy, lukewarm stuff that you know has been sitting out for at least eight hours.

Stewart's

Stewart's is a New York icon that's as celebrated in the state as pizza and the Knicks. Stewart's is known for its hot dogs, pizza, ice cream, — the gas station convenience store acts as an ice cream shop and offers a variety of pints to take home — and coffee. Its coffee selection includes plenty of flavors, like blueberry crumble and maple french toast, along with regular and decaf brews, iced coffee, and house-made cold brew.

The pre-sweetened iced coffee at Stewarts is allegedly perfectly sweetened, but that's only true if you like equal amounts of sugar and coffee in your brew. The iced coffee is violently sugary, while the cold brew comes unsweetened, yet too dark and robust to enjoy black. Brewed coffees taste much better here, but Stewart's doesn't offer many add-ins — like flavor syrups or a variety of milk — to customize your drink.

Pilot Flying J

Pilot Flying J is one of only a few truck stop chains located on interstates nationwide. Compared to regular gas stations, truck stops usually offer more amenities, and — most importantly — more coffee options. Pilot Flying J swoops in with decent, freshly-ground coffee in eight blends exclusive to the chain, but compared to other truck stops, it's still lacking when it comes to add-ins.

While the coffee tastes fresh at Pilot Flying J, albeit a little too dark, the only milk options usually come from machines in which you press a lever and a thin stream of cream or milk enters your coffee cup. I've always been wary of these milk dispensers, since they don't appear to be easy to clean, and will often take my coffee black when that machine is the only option for milk.

Speedway

Speedway is well-known for its coffee program, which features a stocked coffee bar and a few popular blends that stand out among other gas station brews. Its espresso blend is a fan favorite, which showcases bold, spicy flavors in a dark roast. It also offers a house blend, Colombian, a 100% Honduran blend, and a light-roasted decaf coffee, which is a rare find in the coffee world. Speedway doesn't offer flavored coffees, but its coffee station provides plenty of opportunities for adding sweet flavors to coffee, whether it be through syrups, spices, or flavored creamers.

My favorite aspect of Speedway's coffee bars is that they're always squeaky clean. Gas stations are known for their sticky, dirty coffee stations, so this is a welcome surprise at Speedway. I find the coffees here are roasted too dark, but employees are always keen on keeping the pots fresh.

Cumberland Farms

Cumberland Farms has over 575 locations in eight East Coast states. The gas station cements itself as a quality pit stop spot, offering clean amenities and cheap prices. The coffee at Cumberland Farms is particularly celebrated, although it's no different than the coffee at Turkey Hill and Loaf 'N Jug.

Cumberland Farms serves its own branded Farmhouse coffee, which is middle-of-the-road in terms of taste and quality. What sets Cumberland Farms apart from the other EG America brands, however, is that it almost always offers a more fully stocked coffee bar, complete with machines that dispense a variety of flavored syrups and a wider milk selection. I also find Cumberland Farms' coffee bars to be particularly neat and clean, and the coffee tastes fresher than at other chains that offer the same Farmhouse coffee.

RaceTrac

RaceTrac started its journey in Atlanta in the 70s, and today has locations all over the Southeast and Eastern portion of the Midwest. RaceTrac is well known for its coffee, which is ground fresh per cup in modern machines for both hot and iced coffee. You'll usually find a regular, Guatemalan, Colombian, dark roast, hazelnut, and decaf served here. Most of the coffees are roasted on the darker side, but the Colombian is easily the most nuanced, lightest roast.

Although the coffee is exceptional for gas station joe, the milk selection is lacking somewhat at many RaceTrac locations. You'll usually find shelf-stable miniature cups of creamer or half-and-half, powdered, dairy-free creamer, whole milk, and almond milk for coffee, the latter two not offered at every RaceTrac location. There's usually no flavor syrups to be found here, either, although this can vary by location.

Circle K

I always find myself in the Southwest, and when I'm there, I anxiously anticipate regular coffee stops at Circle K. Its medium-roast house blend and dark-roasted Colombian blend are both balanced, smooth, award-winning brews. The bean-to-cup machines mean the coffee tastes fresh with every cup, and it always comes out piping hot. Circle K also offers seasonal flavored coffees — like preeminent pumpkin spice — and iced coffees, but I find that the hot coffee tastes more vibrant and rich. 

Larger stores tend to keep coffee bars that are well-stocked, but smaller stores can sometimes lack fixings, including milk options, alternative sugars, and flavor syrups. Some of the smaller store's coffee bars can be rather dirty, too. To make up for this, Circle K offers outstanding fresh-baked donuts (yes, gas station donuts can be delicious) to go along with your morning brew.

Sheetz

Sheetz is a gas station-convenience store chain most commonly associated with Pennsylvania but found throughout the mid-Atlantic. It's primarily known for its fresh, hot snacks, but coffee is also a staple menu item here. Sheetz supplies brewed coffee from carafes, but the real pièce de résistance are the espresso drinks, which can be accessed via an ordering screen, much like Wawa's.

For iced drinks, Sheetz typically uses an espresso concentrate rather than brewed espresso, and it shows. The iced drinks at Sheetz — excluding the nitro cold brew, which is viscous, rich, and satisfying — pale in comparison to the hot coffees, particularly the lattés and cappuccinos. Espresso drinks here taste close to what you'd get at a real cafe, as long as you get your drink sweetened. Otherwise, the espresso tastes a little too bitter. But there are plenty of fun syrups and milk options to add sweetness and flavor to your brew — or get one of Sheetz's famous holiday-inspired drinks. 

Wawa

Wawa is kind of like the Bucee's of Pennsylvania. The East Coast chain with a cult following offers a much larger coffee selection than most gas stations. Wawa's Rainforest Alliance Certified drip coffees include regular, Colombian medium roast, Cuban dark roast, three flavored brews, and decaf. But most Wawa customers aren't reaching for the chain's brewed coffee in carafes; they're ordering customizable drinks made with real espresso.

The quality of Wawa's espresso drinks and the cleanliness of its coffee bars can vary by location, but most Wawas brew decent coffee, especially for iced drinks. It offers sugar-free syrups along with a plethora of regular flavors, seasonal treats, and alternative milks (almond and oat) for your latté or cappuccino. The fixings station offers some basic add-ins for coffee, but you'll have to choose most additions when you order your drink on the touch screen.