FEATURES
Built for drinkers,
not Instagrammers.
Six things Coffee Bud does that the apps you're used to don't.
THE MAP
Every indie cafe, none of the chains.
Coffee Bud's map is opinionated. Starbucks and Dunkin' are excluded from the catalog. The pins are category-shaped — espresso bar, matcha bar, roastery, bakery, neighborhood cafe — so a city block reads as a curated guide, not a wall of identical mugs. Tap a pin for the cafe detail. Hold a pin for friends-here count and walking time.
PERSONAL DRINKS
Save three. Find them anywhere.
Tell Coffee Bud the drinks you actually order. A cortado. A pour-over. An iced oat latte. We light up cafes whose menus include them — sourced from real OCR scans, AI-extracted website menus, and the actual check-ins of other regulars. Your matched cafes get the teal halo on the map and on the peek list.
VIBE TAGS
Quiet for laptops. Loud for catching up.
Every check-in lets you tag a cafe's vibe — quiet, loud, busy, work-friendly, study spot, outdoor seating, dog-friendly, family-friendly. Tags surface on the cafe detail once at least five people agree. No marketing copy, no chain-store SEO — just what regulars actually report.
FRIENDS
Find your people at a cafe.
Connect with friends. See who's online at a cafe right now (when they check in, they appear; when they leave, they drop off — automatically, via geofence). Invite anyone to a cafe with a time, a place, and an inline RSVP. Like Venmo, but for the third place.
STREAKS + RANKS
Make a habit of it.
Each check-in earns points. Five check-ins in a calendar week starts a streak; you ladder up through ranks — Bean, Sip, Brew, Roast, Master Barista, Cupping Club. None of it shows up as a leaderboard. It's a private gamification of your own habit.
PRIVACY
Public, friends, private — per check-in.
Every check-in has a privacy level. Public means anyone on Coffee Bud can see it. Friends means only your mutuals. Private counts toward your streak and rank but never shows up to anyone else. No background tracking, ever.
