Locally Owned Idaho Coffee Shop Named One of the Best Cups of Coffee in USA

In the Treasure Valley there are all kinds of ways to get your morning started. A sunrise run in the Foothills. Pancakes or an omelet at Goldy’s. A Mega Mary and football at Homestead. But there’s one way to start the morning that is not only enjoyable but necessary for so many of us.

We bet it didn’t take you long to guess that we’re talking about starting the morning with a cup of coffee. A good cup of coffee can set the entire tone for your day. When that sugar/creamer to coffee ratio is just right, it revs you up and you feel like you’re unstoppable when it comes to tackling your to-do list. 

The Pacific Northwest is somewhat of a coffee paradise. Seattle and Portland really helped shape America's specialty coffee scene. Boise’s done a pretty good job of trying to keep up. There are enough places to satisfy your caffeine craving that you can sip your way through the city from “A-to-Z.” We all have our personal preferences for which coffee bar is the best, but according to Lyft’s “City Guide” for Boise, there are 10 that their customers ask to be taken to more than any others in the city.  

It’s great to see so many locally owned shops on that list, but these locations aren’t the coffee shop that got some major national attention! The food bloggers at Eat This, Not That put together a list of the best cup of coffee in every state in the nation. When they reached the Gem State, the honor went to Flying M!

Get our free mobile app

In choosing Flying M, they said:   

“It's as known for its quirky gifts as it is for the home-roasted coffee. It's nearly impossible to leave without snagging a souvenir or a pastry made from scratch.”

Flying M is a name that Boise's known and loved for years. They got their start in 1992 when they were located on 5th Street where Guido's is now. Known for their quirky gifts and quality coffee, Flying M's raised an incredible amount of money for groups working to support those with HIV/AIDS through their Valentine for AIDS art show. They were also selected by Netflix to be part of a very special Gilmore Girls-themed pop-up in October 2016. 

The event was put together to celebrate the show’s 16th anniversary and promote the Netflix reboot, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. During the pop-up, Flying M rebranded as Luke’s Diner, which fans know and love from the show. The staff even rocked Luke Danes’s iconic flannel, backward ballcap and Luke’s Diner aprons. As Gilmore Girls stans, we woke up at silly o’clock in the morning to grab some photos all those years ago. Flying M was the ONLY coffee shop in Idaho selected to be part of the event. 

Over the years, Flying M expanded out of Downtown Boise. They opened a second location in Nampa in 2006. In 2018, they added a location near Indian Creek Plaza in Caldwell.