Most Nashville coffee shops open at 7am, which is fine if you’re working a normal schedule and not fine if you have an early flight out of BNA, a job that starts before 8, or a child who doesn’t understand weekend sleep-ins. The shops that open earlier than that are worth knowing specifically because the early hours belong to a different city than the one that clogs Broadway by 10am.
The earliest independent coffee you’ll find is Fox’s Donut Den in Green Hills, which opens at 5am on weekdays and 6am on weekends. This is not a specialty coffee operation. It’s a donut shop with solid coffee, and it’s been there long enough that the early morning crowd is mostly regulars who’ve been coming for years. If you want actual craft espresso at 5am, Nashville doesn’t have that. What Nashville has at 5am is Fox’s Donut Den.
Shipley Do-Nuts downtown also opens at 5am daily. Same category: donut shop with coffee, not the other way around.
The 6am tier
Milk & Honey in the Gulch opens at 6am every day and operates as a proper all-day restaurant alongside the coffee program. Getting there at 6am means you have the space essentially to yourself before the Gulch fills up, which is a different experience from walking in at 9am when the tables are packed. Their biscuit sandwich program is worth the early trip.
The Pink Hermit downtown opens at 6am daily and offers specialty drinks in a 300-square-foot micro cafe format. It’s a walk-up window situation, which means speed is the point. The “Diane Keaton” (caramel sauce, espresso, sea salt) and the Confetti Cuban coffee with edible glitter are signature items.
Dose in Sylvan Park opens at 6am on weekdays and 7am on weekends. This is the shop with the Barcelona, a $6 draft iced coffee topped with salted whipped cream that’s become its signature item. Showing up at 6am on a weekday puts you ahead of the famous Saturday line that stretches the full length of the small space.
Red Bicycle in Germantown opens at 6:30am on weekdays and 7:30am on weekends. It’s a legitimate specialty coffee operation with a crepe menu, and the Germantown location is one of the more pleasant early morning environments in the city.
East Park Donuts and Coffee in East Nashville opens at 6:30am on weekdays and 7:30am on weekends. It operates with actual baristas, not just coffee as a donut shop afterthought, and the brioche donuts are made fresh daily in a kitchen visible through a glass window.
The standard 7am crowd
The bulk of Nashville’s best coffee shops open at 7am, which includes Crema (both the downtown SoBro location and the East Nashville Duke Street location), Frothy Monkey across its multiple locations, and 8th & Roast. Elegy Coffee in Germantown also opens at 7am daily.
If you’re trying to combine early morning coffee with a full breakfast before a flight or a long drive, Frothy Monkey is the most reliable choice because every location has a full food menu and the staff is accustomed to people who need to be somewhere.
The gap that exists
Nashville does not have a true third-wave specialty coffee shop open before 6am. The gap between 5am (donut shops) and 7am (specialty coffee) is real. Hotel lobbies fill part of it, the Renaissance downtown has a 24-hour café option, but it’s not an independent coffee experience. If your morning starts before 6am and you want actual craft coffee, you’re bringing beans from home or waiting.
Sources
- Nashville Guru, “35+ Restaurants That Open Early in Nashville (Starting at 5am)” (October 2025)
- The Infatuation, “The 17 Best Coffee Shops in Nashville” (May 2025)
- NASHtoday/6AM City, “Your Guide to Nashville’s Coffee Shops” (January 2026)
- nashvilleguru.com, “Best Coffee Shops in Nashville”
- modernluxury.com, “Nashville’s Best Coffee Shops to Elevate Your Morning Routine” (November 2025)