Top Credit Cards For Remote Workers Working From Cafes

Since the pandemic, remote work has soared.

Now, whenever I go to a cafe, I see more remote workers working on their laptops than a group of friends hanging out.

Both me and my wife work remotely. I am fully remote, while my wife works remotely 2 days a week.

That means we go to local cafes here in Atlanta very (very!) often. There are times you will see me working from cafes for more than 3 days/week.

So, being a cafe expert and a credit card enthusiast, it puts me in a unique position to do some nerdy research around what credit cards are best for someone who frequently works from cafes.

That’s what I did. I ran through my spending habits, looked online for the average cafe spending by Americans, and came up with a list of 5 credit cards that will make your coffee addiction just a little bit less expensive.

In this blog post, not only will I tell you about these 5 credit cards, I will also show you a hack to earn even bigger rewards.

Let’s get started.

Rewards Earned From Cafe Spend

There’s not a ton of research online about how much the average American spends on cafes. That’s why I will use my own spending as an example. I would consider my expense on the lower end given I live in Atlanta, Georgia.

If you are living in a bigger city like San Francisco or New York City, expect to spend much more. With that, you also get bigger rewards, though.

On average, between me and my wife, we spend around $150 on cafes every month. When we are on vacation, that number can go even higher (yes, like in our recent NYC/Boston trip!).

But, to keep calculations more realistic, I will use $150/month.

So, how much rewards can you expect to get just from your cafe spend annually? Let’s see.

We will start with cashback credit cards.

A 3% card gives you $54 annually

A 4% card gives you $72 annually

A 5% card gives you $90 annually

Now, let’s look at travel credit cards. Usually, with travel points, you can redeem them at a much higher value than cashback.

For example, I value American Express Membership Rewards (MR) and Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) points at 2 cents-per-point. Essentially, this gives me double (or even triple!) the value for the same number of points.

If I value the points earned at 2 CPP, the value of my rewards changes significantly.

A 3X card gives me $108 travel value annually

A 4X card gives me $144 travel value annually

A 5X card gives me $180 travel value annually

If I take it one step farther to 3 CPP (like some of my business class redemptions in 2024), the rewards earned start looking very impressive.

A 3X card gives me $162 travel value annually

A 4X card gives me $216 travel value annually

A 5X card gives me $270 travel value annually

Now, let’s look at the different credit cards that can help us get there.

Capital One Savor Rewards

We will start with the easiest no annual fee option - Capital One Savor Rewards.

The card gives 3% on worldwide restaurants and groceries, with no foreign transaction fee.

If you want to convert 3% cashback into 3X miles, you can pair the card with a Capital One Venture X.

I will call out 2 important factors when it comes to cafe spending:

Some cafes code as grocery stores instead of restaurants.

Sometimes you can buy cafe gift cards (like Starbucks) from grocery or office supply stores (more on this later)

Given the Savor Rewards card gives 3% on both restaurants and groceries, you are all set.

American Express Gold

Now, moving from a no annual fee to quite a high annual fee card, let’s look at the American Express Gold card.

If you are living in a big city and frequently eat out (or takeout), this is the perfect card.

Although it comes with a high annual fee, it also comes with a ton of food credits to offset the annual fee.

More importantly, AMEX Gold gives 4X on both restaurants and supermarkets. The Membership Rewards (MR) points earned can be transferred to transfer partners to get the 2-3 CPP redemptions I described above.

This is my go to food card, so if you are a foodie like me, AMEX Gold is my best recommendation.

Bilt Card

Moving back down to no annual fee cards, the Bilt Card is an interesting pick.

It gives 1X on rent, 3X on dining and 2X on travel. Clearly, the 1X on rent is its most unique offering. No other card in the market gives you that.

However, to earn points every month, you must make 5 transactions. That’s why it can be a good “cafe card” recommendation.

If you pull out the Bilt card whenever at a cafe, not only do you get the 3X points, but you can also rest assured that you will hit the 5 transaction requirement.

Bilt also has some amazing transfer partners, such as Hyatt and Alaska, that can easily give 2-3 CPP redemptions.

Citi Custom Cash

Staying with the theme of no annual fee cards, the Citi Custom Cash can be a fantastic option.

It gives 5% on your top spend monthly category.

If you make it your “cafe” card and don’t put any other spending on the card, you can “guarantee” 5% on almost all your cafe purchases.

Why do I say “almost”? That’s because the card gives 5% on ONE category. If you frequent cafes that code as grocery, you earn only 1% on those purchases.

The card also has foreign transaction fee. So, when abroad, there will be a 3% fee on every transaction.

Chase Ink Business Cash

Finally, here’s the “hack” I promised you at the beginning.

The card in focus: Chase Ink Business Cash.

This card gives 5% in office supply stores. Why do we care? Because you can buy gift cards at office supply stores.

Bigger coffee chains, like Starbucks and Dunkin, offer gift cards that can be loaded in their apps. Once loaded, when you pay with the app, it gives you extra rewards.

Let’s look at Starbucks.

Starbucks makes it very easy to load gift cards into their app. After that, when you pay through the app at checkout, you get 2-stars per dollar instead of 1-star. So, you earn stars at double the rate.

That’s a 5% discount + increased Starbucks earnings.

Summary

If you live in a big city, most likely American Express Gold will give the best bang for buck.

If you frequent Starbucks, Citi Custom Cash is the low-effort choice and Chase Ink Business Cash (with gift cards) is the high-effort option.

Finally, if you want versatile no annual fee cards, the Capital One Savor Rewards and Bilt Card are good options.