Durham's own Counter Culture Coffee is featured in this article on coffee from the NYTimes. Counter Culture is definitely my default choice for coffee, and not just because they're local but because they're damn good. I usually go for the French Roast, altho I quite like the Finca Mauritania (from El Salvador, not Mauritania as the name might suggest) which gets a mention in the article. I also appreciate that I can always find Counter Culture beans at the local WFMs, even though they obviously give the prime retail real estate to their house brand, Allegro. Their stuff is good but just not my favorite. I've also enjoyed some the coffee from Larry's Beans, from Raleigh. Have not bought beans from any of the local coffee places that do their own roasting. I guess I'm in too much of a rut of buying my coffee at the grocery store.