The Wormhole Coffee ★9.3

There is a DeLorean inside. That is the sentence everyone uses, and it is true — a full-size time machine sits in the back of the room under a ceiling of movie posters, with a Nintendo nearby and arcade cabinets against the wall. What that sentence gets wrong is the order of importance. The Wormhole Coffee has been open in Wicker Park since 2010, and two years in it did something no theme café ever bothers to do: it started its own roastery. The 1980s decor is what brings people through the door the first time. The coffee is why a serious share of the neighborhood is still here on a Tuesday morning with a laptop open.

Highlights

• Open since June 2010 — one of the founding rooms of Chicago’s modern specialty scene, and still independently run.
• Its own roastery: founder Travis Schaffner launched Halfwit Coffee Roasters in 2012 as the café’s in-house roasting arm, and it now supplies several Chicago brands from a warehouse on the northwest side.
• A rotating guest roaster changes monthly and single origins turn over every few days — the offer genuinely moves.
• Filter treated as a discipline: bulk brew alongside AeroPress, V60 and Chemex, with the method chosen for the coffee.
• The most committed 1980s interior in the city — a full-size DeLorean, a working Nintendo, arcade cabinets, and walls of sci-fi and horror memorabilia.
• A genuine work café: free Wi-Fi, actual power outlets, sofas and communal tables, and the longest opening hours of any coffee bar on this list.

What’s in the cup

Start with the roastery, because it is the fact that separates this place from every other themed café in America. Two years after opening, the founder set up his own roasting operation, Halfwit, initially in partnership with an established local roaster and later merged into a larger Chicago coffee business. It now roasts out of a warehouse on the northwest side and supplies several brands, but the café was and remains its home bar. The house blends carry the same sense of humor as the room — the flagship espresso is named after a video game artifact — and the roasting style leans toward clarity and sweetness rather than the dark, heavy register.

The bar is built for range. The espresso side offers the house blend, a rotating single origin and a decaf, which means you can order the familiar thing or the unfamiliar thing from the same counter without a negotiation. Filter is a real program: alongside bulk brew there is AeroPress, V60 and Chemex, prepared to order, with the method matched to the coffee rather than the other way around. The single origins turn over every few days, and there is a guest roaster slot that changes monthly, so the board is one of the few in Chicago where a regular genuinely cannot predict next month’s menu.

Then there is the other half of the menu, which is where the café’s personality lives. The signature drinks are inventive to the point of being provocative — a latte built on white miso, caramel and black sesame; a pear-and-citrus soda cut with thyme and rosemary; drinks named after cult television and horror films. Milk options and decaf are covered as standard. The unifying idea is that neither half apologizes for the other: you can drink a hand-poured single origin in near silence, or you can order a drink named after a ghost, and the same bar takes both requests seriously.

Who’s behind it

Travis Schaffner opened the café in 2010 with an aesthetic nobody else was attempting — not mid-century, not Scandinavian, not industrial, but the specific visual world of an American childhood in the late 1980s. The gamble was that the nostalgia would carry the room and the coffee would keep it. Two years later he made the second half of that bet permanent by founding a roastery instead of buying beans, which is a far larger commitment than a themed café needs to make.

That roastery has since become a substantial Chicago coffee business in its own right, merging with another local company and moving into a large production space. What it kept is a reputation for taking training seriously — the bar has run notoriously long apprenticeships before anyone is allowed to pull shots for customers, which is the sort of policy that does not show up in the decor but does show up in the cup. The café itself has stayed independent and stayed put, which in a neighborhood that has churned through a decade and a half of openings and closings is its own kind of statement.

What it’s for

Working on a laptop — the best case on this list. Everything lines up: free Wi-Fi with a code from the counter, real power outlets, sofas and communal tables as well as small ones, and doors that stay open into the evening while every other café here closes in the afternoon. Nobody moves you along. The one caveat is that the good seats — the sofa, the back corner nook, the window bar — go early, so a session that starts mid-morning is starting late.

Tasting coffee properly. Ask what is on the guest roaster and what the single origin is today, and order it as a hand-poured filter. The rotation is fast enough that this question always has a real answer, which is not true in most cafés that claim a filter program.

A long conversation. The seating mix helps — a sofa or the back nook gives you a pocket of the room to yourself, and the sound level is moderate rather than restaurant-loud. This is a good place to talk for two hours.

A first visit to Wicker Park. If you have one coffee stop in the neighborhood, this is the one that will explain the neighborhood to you. It is also, plainly, a photograph: the DeLorean is at the back and nobody minds.

Sitting alone. Counter stools, window bars and the fact that half the room is doing exactly the same thing make this unusually comfortable for a solo visit with a book.

Evening coffee. Rare and worth knowing: this is one of the few specialty rooms in the area still serving well after the offices empty, which makes it a real alternative to a bar for an early-evening meeting.

The space

The exterior gives away nothing — a plain shopfront on Wicker Park’s main diagonal. Inside, the room is a densely furnished, warmly lit cabinet of curiosities: movie posters covering the walls, sci-fi and horror collectibles on every shelf, arcade cabinets, a Nintendo that people actually play, and at the back the full-size DeLorean that gives the place its reputation. It should feel like a gimmick and mostly does not, because the collection is deep and specific rather than a set of props bought in bulk.

Seating is unusually varied for a café this size, which is a large part of why it works as a workplace: a window bar for solo visitors, a six-seat communal table, sofas, a counter with a handful of stools facing the bar, and a corner nook at the back that regulars treat as the prize. Outside there is bench seating separated by planters for the warm months.

The honest weaknesses: it is a small room by absolute standards, and it fills. When it does, the density of furniture that makes it charming also makes it tight, and the sound level rises. If you are coming to work, the difference between arriving early and arriving at midday is the difference between a sofa and standing room.

Beyond coffee

Food is deliberately limited and honest about it: a pastry and cake counter rather than a kitchen. There is no breakfast service, no sandwiches made to order, no brunch. What there is fits the room’s humor — including a cereal-and-espresso creation that is exactly what it sounds like, and baked goods themed to the drinks board.

Tea and non-coffee drinks are taken more seriously than in most specialty bars, and the house sodas — herb-infused, seasonally rotated — are worth ordering on a hot day. In short: come hungry and you will need a plan; come for coffee and a slice of something, and you are exactly the customer this counter was built for.

When to come

The great practical advantage here is the length of the day. This café opens early on weekdays and stays open into the evening, seven days a week, which no other room on this list does. That gives you options nobody else offers: an early filter before work, a mid-afternoon session when the rest of the city’s cafés are closing, or a coffee meeting after the offices empty.

The trade-off is competition for seats. Weekday mid-mornings and all of Saturday and Sunday are the busiest, and Wicker Park at the weekend brings a browsing crowd that comes as much for the DeLorean as the coffee. For a working session, the first hour after opening on a weekday is the reliable window. For the full character of the place — the noise, the games, the neighborhood — come on a weekend afternoon and accept that you will be sharing. Current opening times are in the schedule block on this page.

Getting there

You are in Wicker Park, a couple of minutes from the six-corners junction that is the neighborhood’s center, and the transit approach could hardly be simpler: the Damen station on the Blue Line is essentially at the door, which also means the café is a direct ride from both the Loop and O’Hare. The Flat Iron Arts Building, the park itself, and the neighborhood’s record shops and bookstores are all within a short walk, so this fits naturally into an afternoon spent on foot. Driving is the poor option — parking in Wicker Park is competitive at almost any hour — and cycling is well served, as is the whole neighborhood.

Good to know

Three things. First, ask what the guest roaster and the single origin are; the rotation is the point of this bar, and the answer changes on a timescale of days. Second, if you are here to work, come early and aim for the back nook, the sofa or the window bar — the Wi-Fi code is at the counter and there are genuinely usable outlets, but the good seats do not stay free. Third, yes, you can photograph the DeLorean, and no, you are not the first person to ask.

One piece of context that explains the café’s standing. In 2010 a coffee shop decorated with childhood memorabilia would have been dismissed as a novelty in most cities. What made this one durable was the decision, two years later, to roast rather than buy — a theme café that builds a roastery is making an argument about which half of the business it takes seriously. Fifteen years on, the roastery supplies a chunk of the city and the café is still the room where its coffee makes the most sense.

Questions and answers

Is there really a DeLorean inside?

Yes — a full-size one at the back of the room, under a ceiling of movie posters, with arcade cabinets and a Nintendo nearby. It is the most photographed object in any café in the neighborhood.

Do they roast their own coffee?

Yes. The founder started an in-house roastery in 2012, two years after the café opened. It has since grown into a substantial Chicago roasting business supplying several brands, but this café remains its home bar.

Can I work here with a laptop?

Yes, and this is the strongest laptop café on the list. Free Wi-Fi with a code, real power outlets, sofas and communal tables, and hours that run into the evening. Arrive early if you want a good seat.

Espresso only, or is there filter?

Both, and filter is a real program: bulk brew plus AeroPress, V60 and Chemex to order. Single origins rotate every few days and there is a monthly guest roaster.

Is there decaf and non-dairy milk?

Yes to both — there is a dedicated decaf espresso option alongside the house blend and the rotating single origin.

Can I eat here?

Only lightly. There is a pastry and cake counter but no kitchen — no breakfast service, no made-to-order food. Plan a meal elsewhere and come here for coffee.

Is it open in the evening?

Yes, and it is one of very few specialty cafés in the area that is. That makes it a genuine alternative to a bar for an early-evening meeting.

Is it a good place for a quiet conversation?

Reasonably, if you get a sofa or the back nook and avoid the weekend peak. The room is small and densely furnished, so when it fills, sound carries.

How do I get there without a car?

The Damen station on the Blue Line is effectively at the door, with direct service from downtown and the airport. Driving is the worst option — parking in Wicker Park is difficult at almost any hour.

Opening hours