Caffe Paradiso has been the reliable café in downtown Urbana for long enough that several generations of UIUC graduate students have written their dissertations in it. It is the kind of café that has a counter full of regulars in the morning, a mix of students and professors at the communal tables through the day, and occasionally hosts live music or poetry readings in the evening.
The coffee is good, the hours are long, and the wifi is fast. A cliché worth repeating: this is what a university-town café is supposed to be like.