Crown your caffeine king: Vote for your favorite Midlands coffee shop in this poll

Despite what the the thermometer says — Columbia’s daily temperatures are still hovering in the 80s — the calendar tells us fall has arrived.

And with that turn of the calendar come all the hallmarks of the fall season. Football, the S.C. State Fair, Halloween, pumpkin everything, the changing of the leaves and (eventually) cooler temperatures. And while folks certainly look to get their coffee fix year-round, there’s no doubt that the fall is also coffee shop season. That time of year when you look for something warm and tasty to drink in a cozy spot.

In Columbia and the Midlands, there is an abundance of coffee shops across the area where residents will always find a fresh cup brewing. Now, The State wants you to vote for your favorite coffee shop in the Midlands from a list of 19 places, selected by the newspaper’s staff, in the poll below.

For this poll, we stuck with mostly locally owned places or very small chains, rather than include any larger national chains. (Sorry, Starbucks, Biggby and Scooter’s folks.) And we tried, for the most part, to stick with shops whose main function is making and serving coffee.

To be absolutely certain, this is not an exhaustive, comprehensive list of every establishment in the Midlands that sells coffee. Rather, it is simply a sampling of some of the many coffee shops in the area.

You have until 11:59 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, to vote in the poll below.

So vote early and vote often, and don’t forget the cream and sugar.