Map: What's The Nearest Coffee Chain?

Last fall, Nathan Yau took an interesting look at which pizza joints dominated which parts of the country. But what about coffee chains?

The map above shows the closest of nine major coffee empires within a 10-mile radius throughout the U.S. and southern Canada. It's mostly a three-player game — Dunkin' Donuts dominating the East Coast, Starbucks blanketing the rest of the U.S., and Tim Hortons holding court up north — but there are some interesting regional variants. Caribou Coffee has a foothold in Minnesota and the Midwest, Dutch Bros. dominates Oregon and the northern reaches of California, and Coffee Time goes toe to toe with Tim Horton's in the greater Toronto area.* California, however, mostly insists on having its own chains: Peet's and the preposterously named "The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf."

You can check out individual distribution maps for each chain over over on FlowingData, where Yau also has an interesting discussion about why there might be fewer coffee shops than pizza places.

*CORRECTION: Readers have informed us that Coffee Time is getting its ass beat by Tim Horton's in the greater Toronto area.

[ Flowing Data]