Ground Up Coffee & Bites ★9.3

Most coffee shops that sit next to a university turn into study halls by accident. Ground Up Coffee & Bites did it on purpose, then had the decision taken away from it and won it back. This is the West Loop original of a small Chicago roasting company, it sits within sight of the university campus, and its second identity — a Greek bakery counter hiding inside an American coffee bar — is the part nobody expects.

Highlights

• A Chicago roasting company, not a café buying someone else’s beans: house blends are roasted in small batches and sold by the bag, by the can and to offices across the city.
• Greek hand pies made properly — spinach and feta, three cheese, ham and cheese — with a laminated crust that is the single best thing in the case.
• Built for working and studying: thick wooden tables, benches, bar seating, fast Wi-Fi and an unusual number of power outlets.
• Minutes on foot from the university campus, and used accordingly by students, West Loop residents and nearby office workers.
• Opens early enough to catch people before the first class of the day.
• Students with a valid campus ID get a discount.
• Two other locations in the city, so the coffee follows you to River North and the Loop.

What’s in the cup

Ground Up roasts. That is the structural fact that separates it from most neighborhood cafés of this size — the beans are sourced abroad and roasted here in small batches under the company’s own labels, which means the espresso in your cup and the bag on the retail shelf are the same product with the same name on it.

The house range is deliberately readable rather than clever. There is a foundation espresso blend that anchors the bar, a gold-roast version of it for anyone who wants the same character lighter, a straightforward medium for everyday drinking, and a dark roast for people who want their coffee to taste like coffee from across the room. The overall style leans Italian rather than Nordic: chocolate, nuts, body, a sweetness that survives milk. If your reference point is a bright, tea-like Ethiopian filter, that is not what this bar is aiming at, and it is more honest to say so than to pretend otherwise.

Where the bar does get interesting is the Greek side of the drinks list. Frappé — instant coffee whipped cold into foam, the way it is drunk across Greece all summer — is on offer here alongside the espresso drinks, and there is a frappé cappuccino for anyone who wants the hybrid. The cappuccino freddo, a cold cappuccino with a dense cold foam cap, is the drink regulars single out and the one to order on a hot day. Tea drinkers get a proper leaf selection rather than an afterthought.

Who’s behind it

The company belongs to Alexander Theoharis, who opened the West Loop shop in 2017 and has since built it into a roasting business with retail storefronts, packaged coffee, canned cold brew and a wholesale and office-coffee arm serving customers across the Chicago area. The Greek-American thread runs through everything: the pies, the frappé, the pantry.

The story that explains the room, though, is 2020. Watching what was happening elsewhere in the world, Theoharis worked out early that a café full of students and office workers was about to become a café full of nobody, and he moved before he had to. The desks and communal tables came out; shelving went in; and the shop spent the worst of that period selling granola, cereal, oat milk, protein bars, honey, jam, pasta, condiments and — memorably — dog food to a neighborhood that suddenly needed a grocery more than it needed a study table.

That pivot is why the business is still here and why it has been expanding rather than contracting since: two further storefronts have opened, one in River North and one in the Loop. It also left a trace in the room’s character. This is a café that has been, at various points, a study hall, a corner shop and a roastery outlet, and it still carries a bit of all three.

What it’s for

Studying and laptop work. This is by a wide margin the strongest reason to come, and the room is equipped for it in a way most cafés are not. The Wi-Fi is fast and free, the power outlets are genuinely plentiful rather than theoretically present, and the furniture is chosen for the job: heavy wooden tables you can spread out on, long benches, bar seating along the windows for anyone working alone. Nobody counts your hours. Students describe it as a calm room three minutes from campus, and that is exactly what it is.

A quiet meeting or a catch-up. The mix of table sizes means two or three people can talk without performing for the neighbors. It works well as a weekday alternative to a restaurant lunch.

Breakfast or a fast lunch. The hand pies do double duty as a real meal, and the local office population treats the counter as a lunch stop rather than a coffee stop.

Takeaway on the way in. It opens early, it is on the natural path between the transit stops and the campus, and a large share of the morning trade never sits down at all.

Sitting alone. Comfortable. The bar seating by the windows is designed for exactly one person with a book, a laptop or a notebook, and the natural light does the rest.

Less suited to: a big group, a long evening, or anyone hoping for silence at the peak of the academic day. When campus empties into the neighborhood, the room fills and the volume rises with it.

The space

The room is industrial in the honest sense rather than the decorated one — a wide, high-ceilinged space with large windows down one side that do most of the lighting work through the day. The furniture is heavy and unfussy: thick wooden tabletops, benches, a run of bar seating, enough variation that a solo worker, a pair and a group of four all have an obvious place to sit.

The counter and the case sit front and center, and there is still a retail component on the shelves — bags of the house roasts, canned cold brew, equipment, the odd pantry item left over from the shop’s grocery era. The acoustics are what you would expect from hard surfaces and a full room: calm and workable for most of the day, loud when the campus crowd arrives. The staff have a reputation for friendliness that comes up in almost every account of the place, and the room is comfortable enough that people genuinely settle in — journaling, studying, catching up with someone they have not seen in a while.

Beyond coffee

Yes, and the food is a real reason to come rather than a courtesy. The signature is the Greek hand pie: a golden, properly laminated crust wrapped around spinach and feta, a three-cheese filling, or ham and cheese. The spinach-and-feta version is the one to order first — flaky, warm, savory, and substantial enough to count as lunch. Ask for it warmed.

Around the pies sits a broader case: croissants, muffins (the blueberry one has a following), cakes and pastries, plus the packaged goods on the shelves. One honest note, because it comes up: the case is uneven. The pies are excellent and consistently so; the wider pastry selection depends on the day and the item, and reheating does not flatter everything in it. Order the thing the kitchen is actually known for and you will not be disappointed.

When to come

Early morning is the best window on every axis. The doors open before the first class of the day, the case is at its fullest, the room is quiet, and if you want a table you can spread out on, this is when you get it. The stretch from mid-morning to early afternoon is the working peak — students, residents and the surrounding offices all arrive, laptops go up on every surface, and the volume climbs.

Late afternoon settles down again and is the underrated slot: the campus rush has passed, the light through the big windows is at its best, and the room feels like a café rather than a library. Weekends are calmer and start later, with a residential rather than an academic crowd. This is a daytime operation and does not turn into an evening room. Current opening times are in the schedule block on this page.

Getting there

You are in the West Loop, on the stretch where the neighborhood runs into the university campus, a block or so from Greektown and a short walk from the western edge of the Loop. The Blue Line stop at UIC-Halsted is the closest rail option and leaves you a few minutes away on foot; from the eastern side of campus it is about a three-minute walk across the expressway bridge. Several bus routes run past, and the area is flat and easy to cross on foot.

If you are coming from downtown, walking is realistic and often faster than it looks on a map. If you are driving, you are in one of the parts of the city where street parking is a lottery and a garage is the sane answer.

Good to know

Three practical things. First, order a hand pie and ask for it warm — it is the item the kitchen does better than anyone in the immediate area, and it turns a coffee stop into a meal. Second, if you are working, the outlets here are the genuine draw; you do not need to hunt for the one seat with power, which is rarer in Chicago cafés than it should be. Third, if you are a student, bring your campus ID, because it gets you a discount.

Two more things worth knowing. The house coffee is sold by the bag and by the can, so if you like what is in your cup you can take the same roast home — and the same beans turn up at the company’s other two locations, which is useful if you move around the city. And if you are hoping for a light Nordic-style filter with fruit acidity, adjust your expectations: this is a chocolate-and-body house, and it is very good at being that.

One last piece of context. This café spent a year as a grocery store to survive, and it came out of that period bigger rather than smaller. That is unusual, and it is worth knowing when you are sitting at one of those heavy wooden tables — they had to be carried out and carried back in.

Questions and answers

Do they roast their own coffee?

Yes. Ground Up is a Chicago roasting company with its own blends, roasted in small batches and sold by the bag, by the can and to offices around the city. The café is the shop window for it.

Is it good for studying or working?

It is one of the better rooms in the city for it. Fast free Wi-Fi, a lot of power outlets, heavy tables you can spread out on, bar seating for solo work, and no pressure to leave. It gets loud at the middle of the day when the campus arrives.

What should I eat?

A Greek hand pie, warmed — spinach and feta first, then three cheese or ham and cheese. They are the standout item and substantial enough to be lunch.

What is the Greek connection?

The owner is Greek-American, the shop sits beside Greektown, and it shows on the menu: hand pies, frappé, cappuccino freddo. It is an American coffee bar with a Greek counter inside it.

Are there other locations?

Yes — this is the original in the West Loop, with a second in River North and a third in the Loop. Same coffee at all of them.

Is the whole pastry case as good as the pies?

Honestly, no. The pies are consistently excellent; the rest of the case varies by day and by item. Order what the place is known for.

Can I buy beans to take home?

Yes. The house roasts are on the shelf in bags, along with canned cold brew and some equipment.

How do I get there?

Blue Line to UIC-Halsted and a few minutes on foot, or about three minutes’ walk from the eastern side of the university campus. It is also an easy walk from the western edge of the Loop.

Opening hours