Rise and Shine in the Greater Nashville Region

Amy Whidby

The Nashville area is diverse and bustling, with endless educational, professional and recreational opportunities. Still, residents won’t be able to take full advantage of them without a good breakfast and cup of joe. Here are 10 breakfast places in Nashville you’ll soon add to your list of favorites. 

Nashville 

Sweet and Savory Delights

Start off by visiting one of the best bakeries in the country, the nationally renowned D’Andrews Bakery & Cafe in downtown Nashville. 

Go sweet with a perfectly laminated s’mores croissant or savory with a bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich on housemade focaccia from this beloved bakery. 

Less than a mile away, Dose Dealer serves internationally inspired lattes, coffee and tea from a shiny Airstream trailer. Owner Kara Elion launched the spot after being inspired by her travels. 

“I wanted it to be a multicultural, diverse menu, where I collected different recipes from different places around the world,” she says. 

The result is a menu full of unexpected combinations, like a Mexican vanilla bean latte made with vanilla extract (not syrup) and brown sugar or an Italy-inspired truffle latte featuring truffle-infused maple syrup. And because one of Nashville’s famed foods is its hot chicken, Dose Dealer offers a Nashville hot latte, too: a dash of cayenne pepper, vanilla and a touch of salt give it a warming (but not too spicy) effect. 

Murfreesboro 

Southern Comfort and Coffee Creations

Puckett’s Restaurant started as a grocery store in Leiper’s Fork in the 1950s; now, it’s a market-restaurant-music venue mashup with six locations in its home state, including one on Murfreesboro’s Public Square (in addition to spots in Nashville, Franklin and Columbia). 

“A morning spent over breakfast at Puckett’s is the perfect way to really get a taste of Music City,” says Ashleigh Ford, marketing director of A. Marshall Hospitality, which owns Puckett’s. “Our breakfast menu features Southern skillets, generous platters and coffee that’s always hot. With roots as a small country store and gathering spot, we hope guests can share that same sense of community and camaraderie for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day of the week.” 

Also, stop by one of Murfreesboro’s three Just Love Coffee Cafe locations for whole coffee beans and espresso drinks spiked with chocolate, toffee, vanilla and coconut flavors. 

©Journal Communications/Jeff Adkins

Columbia 

Breakfast Burritos and Global Brews

Columbia breakfasters will never be bored at B’s Salty & Sweet: Its breakfast menu changes weekly, offering a rotation of egg sandwiches, breakfast burritos and more. Check out the spot’s website for its most recent menu as well as details on its rotating pastry selection. 

Offerings include sweet and savory croissants, housemade pastries, cupcakes, doughnuts and more. 

Just a few blocks away is Muletown Coffee Roasters, which sources, roasts and brews beans from around the globe. (Muletown also supplies local restaurants, including Puckett’s, with custom roasts.) Flavor profiles include “smoky and smooth,” “fruity and sweet” or “rich and chocolaty.” 

Coffee lovers who can’t decide on what type of bean to bring home may want to take advantage of Muletown Coffee’s subscription service. 

Clarksville 

Community Cafe and Coffee on Tap

Breakfast-and-lunch restaurant Common Ground Café serves a tight selection of breakfast entrees (breakfast sandwiches, chicken biscuits, French toast sticks, and biscuits and gravy) along with weekly specials and a constantly changing roster of sweets that includes cinnamon rolls, desserts and specialty drinks. 

The nonprofit spot is staffed by individuals with disabilities who receive job skills training as part of a paid internship at the cafe, and they stretch their culinary muscles by creating their own specialty drinks for the menu. 

Nearby, Plumb Line Coffee, which bills itself as “Clarksville’s third-wave coffee shop,” offers espresso drinks with housemade syrups (its whiskey-caramel latte is a local fav) as well as coffee on tap, cold-brew coffee (that you can get to go in a 64-ounce beer growler) and pour-over coffees. 

Springfield 

Waffled Wonders and Specialty Lattes

An ice cream shop may not strike anyone over the age of 8 as the place to score breakfast, but Deja Moo Creamery & Coffee Co., which has locations in Springfield and nearby White House, will prove the naysayers wrong. 

Its menu has a sweet slant, with waffles topped with berries, bananas, Nutella or chocolate chips heading up its entrees, but it also boasts savory versions of the breakfast dish like “tater cake” (tots crisped in a waffle iron, then topped with cheese and bacon); build-your-own omelets cooked in a waffle iron; and the Moo Biscuit, a sausage, egg and cheese-stuffed and waffled biscuit. 

Historic Perk Coffee Shop makes specialty drinks from coffee beans roasted on-site. Opt for its housemade lavender syrup and honey latte, it’s (possibly) immunity-boosting golden latte made with turmeric, or go for tropical vibes with its green tea cooler spiked with strawberry syrup and lemonade.