9 East Coffee

Excellent coffee, yummy hot chocolate for the kids, great salads, gf bread :), warm & friendly service always! We go here every time we’re in town. There’s space to spread out and do computer work on wifi as well.

I’m not sure what all the hype is about this place. Have been there a few times, and not because it is my choice but because other people insist on going there for good coffee. I have never had an above average drink and do not know why people insist on it. Frapuccinos and Lattes have been so unflavored. I was there last week and my friend had some coffee and oatmeal cookies, she said they were real hard, like they were left out from yesterday lol

Great local coffeehouse. Fresh and varied selection of homemade pastries. Solid menu and reasonable prices. The atmosphere and staff are delightful. And… Intelligentsia Coffee. If you find your way to «pretzel paradise» (Freeport, IL), head over to this gem.

I always look forward to nine east when I come home. The variety of coffee is amazing and the taste and flavors are delicious. Not your typical coffee shop and in my opinion the coffee is way better than Starbucks or plasticy tasting keurig. It is in a quaint historical building with exposed original brick, old wooden floors and rounded arched doorways which speak to the past of the building. It is nice to bring a book and read on the patio on a summer day or dine indoors on a cold day. The staff is extrememly friendly and the padteries and baked goods are to die for. I wish they were open later to accommodate an afternoon crowd but u understand the finincial impact that would put on the owner to keep it running longer. I’m curious if they did a trial period with later hours or even summer hours that run later if it would pay off to keep it open later. Overall best coffee shop in Freeport.

Really friendly, efficient and accommodating service, great tea and espresso, wifi, good egg and cheese sandwich to go. Fresh bakery bread and fresh fruit in the salad would have earned them another star or two. Nice addition to what seemed at brief glance like an admirable effort to vitalize a historic town center. The best option for miles around.

This place could spring to life if the proposed renovation of a nearby industrial building into artists’ lofts goes through, but as things stand, it’s hard to recommend. The coffee is top-​notch (Intelligentsia!), the breakfast offerings are all right, and the owners are terrific people. The main problem, and it’s a serious one, is that the hours are severely truncated: 9 East closes no later than 3 PM every day. 3 PM! Not only can you not spend an evening here, you can’t even spend a whole afternoon. The hours are strictly commuter-​crowd, and the clientele seems to be mostly retirees. Aside from that, there’s so much empty space between the tables that every seat in the place could be taken and it still wouldn’t feel full; and the décor is inconsistent, like the designer had great ideas but ran out of money early on. The result is a coffeehouse that never really feels alive.
I know the owners have had to make some tough decisions with respect to the hours, and they’ve probably had to do the same with the décor. If this is what it takes to keep a business going in downtown Freeport, well, I’m sorry it has to be this way. But for someone like me, who doesn’t start craving coffee until after lunch and who likes to loiter, 9 East serves no purpose.
P. S. The bike rack outside is a nice gesture, but it weighs about 20 pounds, and it’s not secured to anything! Any self-​respecting thief would simply pick it up and carry it off along with the bike.
P. P. S. Free wi-​fi.