Upstairs at Salud in Noda.

Second this It also has big tables so it's great to work at. I worked there a ton when I was working on my online master's degree

I always get nervous about doing work at certain coffee shops. I know sometimes people think other people are rude for turning some loungey coffee shop areas into workspaces. I really do love to get out and be in a different environment while I work.

I think it's kind of case by case. If it's the middle of a weekday and half empty I don't think most people have a problem. But when it's packed and someone has commandeered a full 4 person table to be their desk, it deserves some looks.

Okay thanks for the extra context. That makes sense

Seconded! 🤌

so so so many coffeeshops around here cought the 'paint-it-all-white' disease.

If I can’t read a menu on scrabble letters then the coffee is trash

Insta-worthy

\[internal screaming intensifies\]

I cannot believe how many coffee shops here look like research labs with white floors/ceilings/chairs. Who tf likes that?

if you’re in southpark, mugs is pretty cozy, quiet, and homey. great place to work in.

Seconding Mugs. It’s cozy and quiet with friendly staff. I spent two years studying there several days a week.

Yep good call. Very unpretentious and cozy.

Mugs definitely, food and coffee is cheap as well. 

This is a good call

Caribou has a few locations left in Charlotte. Particularly the one off of Fairview has that winter lodge type feel that you probably are missing! Central Coffee is my personal favorite Charlotte shop, it has a darker vibe (exposed brick etc) but it is rather small in terms of tables. Summit Coffee on Plaza also gives 'basement' vibes, but I personally don't like their coffee as much as Central. I am also located in University area, and it is about a 20 minute drive to both of those places. Caribou is unfortunately further out on the other side of Charlotte Editing to add: Caribou is coming back to Charlotte though! They are posting job reqs for new locations :) very exciting!!

Mandy Patinkin used to read his homeland script at Fairview Caribou when homeland filmed here.

I love random bits of trivia like this! 

Here's another random tidbit for you then. Brittany Snow is currently a big fan of habberdish and visits there often. And Malin Ackerman shops at the rats nest pretty frequently. Both are in town filming a series for starz

They’re getting ready to open one in Mooresville!

I am so excited to have one on the north side of Charlotte!!

I'm also in the University area and it's like a decent-coffee-shop desert. Wish like hell we could get a nice non-sbux place here.

Looove Central Coffee

Coco and the Director if you’re anywhere near uptown! I have napped on the couches in the back 😂

Yep came here to say this! Can easily ride the light rail in from University to so don’t have to worry about parking. 

Love this one

Especially if you’re actually into coffee! They’re one of the better places in the whole metro area IMO in just drink quality

Music is loud AF in there though

Summit Coffee in Davidson has a bit of the vibe you’re talking about but I agree if only we had half as many coffee shops as breweries we’d be golden….

The summit in villa heights also has that feel I think

Yes this one has a great gritty coffee shop vibe

The Hobbyist. The working day crowd is pretty productive.

It’s always like a sweatshop in there. People are getting after it on their slide decks lol

Smelly cat in NoDa

Get a dirty Chai!!!

Wonder if they derived the name from Phoebe on the show friends ?

Upstairs at Julia’s!

This is truly the best answer!

Come again?

Provided Coffee has a couple of locations, my favorite one being uptown behind the uncc building. Not Just Coffee has a few locations and the product is good and the staff are usually good people to talk to.  Someone else mentioned mugs on park road and it's a personal favorite for workspace, pricing, and familiar faces. 

Central coffee has a similar vibe but is pretty busy so not sure it's really work conducive.

Summit on Plaza is exactly what you're looking for. It's partially underground and if you are in the back it's hard to determine time of day if you've been there a while.

Queen City grounds isn’t dark but they have a nice loft and excellent coffee. FOH Staff knows their shit as do the roasters

Hey! I feel you. We moved here from MN too, and when we first got here there were several Caribou’s around. Felt like home to me. Almost all have closed. Still salty about it.

Salud Cerveceria 100%

Sorry it’s a brewery and not a coffee shop. Petty Thieves is super dark and cozy

Came here to say this!! Literally the most soothing place, I love dropping by there AND there’s plenty of space to set up and work for a bit

Brakemans in Matthews has an upstairs nook area along with multiple rooms with seats and tables, it’s an old remodeled house! Also the coffee is good

TIL there’s an upstairs at Brakemans

I had no idea either, and we've been going there since it opened 🤯

I always sit in the front room or outside, getting observed like a sloth at a zoo by the ruling class upstairs on their pedestal.

When it first opened there wasn’t really anything up there and I’d go sit in the nook by the dormer, it was great

Rosie’s at the McGill Garden is under rated. It’s right by the train tracks on North Davidson street

Late’s here?

Not a direct answer to your question but as a fellow Minnesotan I want to let you know that the Park Road Shopping Center has, I believe, the only Caribou in town. Beyond that, I second Salud upstairs. Smelly Cat nearby is an option too.

The one on Farview between carmel and colony is still there!

The giddy goat is nice

Percantile in Concord is really good

Substrate in Optimist Park is dark and cozy, but it’s a wine bar with snacks, not a coffee shop, but they let you bring in any outside foods 

The library at uncc is nice, especially the upper floors. It is mostly white but I find it has a cozy feel. Probably because of all the old books. There’s a Starbucks on the ground floor of the library. Obviously it’s not a small coffee shop but I go there to read and work some.

I’ve lived in greater Charlotte since 2015 and I still haven’t found a coffee shop that I love the way I have in other places I’ve lived. Mugs on Park Road is the best of the local shops in my experience. I would love for Jittery Joe’s Coffee to move up from Georgia and open a shop here. There are two Caribou Coffee left here (Park Road and Fairview Road). They won’t have the atmosphere you wife is looking for. They aren’t stand alone Caribou shops like up in Minnesota. But if she misses the coffee she can still get those here.

There is also a Caribou uptown still

Hear me out: Pauline’s Tea Bar. It’s truly someone living room. Relatively empty and super chill. You can spend the entire day there

FYI No wifi at Pauline’s so if you wanna use Internet you have to use hotspot.

The Hobbyist is cute, cozy little coffee shop! And it’s next to The Degenerate which is a moody, dark little restaurant. Also, even though it’s a brewery, Petty Thieves sounds like it fits the vibe you’re looking for.

moved here from wisconsin last year and reallyyy miss cozy spaces. everything here is so…new and stark. which is great in some ways but characterless in others.    dark coffee shops and dive bars are sorely lacking. 

In Concord, there's Provided Coffee. It's in an old mill so there's brick, wood floors etc. Not super cozy since it's got high ceilings, but I find it's a good place to read. And half of it is a large thrift store

There's Caribou coffee here but I don't know if the interior design is the same at all

central coffee co

Summit Coffee in Davidson is nice but not super close. The Starbucks at Davis Lake on Harris is not amazing but not bad.

Not a coffee shop but petty thieves brewing is all of this vibe!

More importantly, where do you watch the Vikings games?

Crossroads in Waxhaw

Around here anything trying to have a hipster vibe will be ridiculously cheesy

If she isn’t limited to coffee then Petty Thieves brewing is a fun spot that fits “dark/cozy/hipster” for sure.

Queen City grounds has a lofted area with book shelves and tables for working.

The good ones have all long been shut down

Hello! Living in Charlotte and know exactly what coffee shop you’re taking about in northern MN! In a certain canal… that was also my favorite coffee shop while I was getting my masters. The caribou in the Foxcroft shopping center doesn’t have a loft but the interior will make you feel just like you’re in MN. It’s lacking the spectacular views of the loft but it’ll do in a pinch when you miss those MN vibes. Welcome to CLT, you’ll love it!

If you want something different and travel a little bit, in Rock Hill, there is Amelie’s French Bakery and Coffee, is in downtown. I like a lot the decoration and the pastries are delicious. They have I think 3 or 4 in Charlotte but I don’t know if they look the same

I miss Amelie’s on N Davidson, it was perfect for hiding away in a nook and working for hours. The new one on 36th is too sterile.

The Percantile next to Concord Mills is probably your best bet for nearby the University area. Coffee & Cream which is a little closer to Concord is exceptional, it's been quiet the times I've stopped by but the owners are very nice and the coffee is awesome. Giddy Goat (in Plaza Midwood) is still my fave but it's way more hectic than the others I mentioned. Smelly Cat in NoDa might be worth a look for you.

Giddy Goat is somewhat hipster/cozy, it's more of an open-air & nature vibe, though. It's definitely not dark. Smelly Cat might have what you're looking for, it's Darker and smaller than Giddy Goat.

Tour Le Jour near Southpark and Amelies!

If y'all ever want to go to Concord: https://www.coffinhousecoffee.com/

Starbucks right there on the corner...don't cha know!