Coffee Shops Around the World

Exploring new coffee shops is also a hobby of ours when we travel to new places, so I wanted to share a few recommendations of places we have visited. They might be not be the one and only in the town, but we loved them when we tried them. So let's set off and travel the world - one sip at a time.

Rome

Emily in Paris went to Rome and fell in love and so did we... :)

In Italy, every corner store offers good coffee, and I don’t think Italiens embrace the cute coffee shop culture as much as North Americans do. Their coffee doesn’t need it. :)

So we went to one of the most touristy places - the L’Antico Forno at the Trevi Fountain. The coffee is probably three times the price, but the view is fantastic, it’s a prime people-watching spot and they have such delicious cornettos. Well worth the extra euros :)

Florence

A must try in Italy - Affogatos. When we arrived on an early Tuesday morning in Florence, we headed straight to the renowned Vivoli Gelateria, celebrated for its exceptional affogatos. This gem, tucked away from the tourist crowds, is a place where locals meet lost tourists like us. It took us a while to get the attention of the barista amidst the locals rushing in for their morning espresso. But eventually we each got a cup, topped with vanilla ice cream and an espresso on top, and voilà, the affogato was ready. A 10 out of 10 recommendation, it was absolutely fantastic!

Porto

I once heard that you should look out for specialty coffee in a new city because it leads you to the barista coffee shops where they work with more attention to detail.

What is the difference between specialty coffee and regular coffee? Specialty coffee is typically grown, harvested, and processed with greater care and attention to detail than regular coffee. This results in a higher-quality bean with a more complex and nuanced flavor profile. (source)

There's even a Specialty Coffee Association if you want to find out more.

So that's what we did in Porto, and rather by chance we came across C'ALMA - Specialty Coffee Room. We loved the interior, which is why I'm sharing a picture of the interior this time, but the coffee was also very good and strong. There was also a community of painter sitting by the window that looked out onto a lively street, which we thought was a lovely idea.

London

In 2022, French pastry chef Cedric Grolet opened his first pâtisserie outside France and third in total. At “Cédric Grolet at The Berkeley” in Kensington, you get the chance to taste some of his best creations. And the choice was difficult, as you can see in the pictures. We shared a few pastries - one with chocolate, one with cinnamon and one with a sweet mango creme.

Not only are the pastries worth the visit, but also the beautiful location right next to Hyde Park. It’s the perfect place to start the day and then head to Hyde Park for a stroll - or in our case - a bike ride.

Last tip: Make a reservation

Zurich

It's hard to believe that I'm having the hardest time writing about a coffee shop in Zurich. I don't know which one to choose, and I haven't lived there for a while, so I'm not up to date. So I'll tell you about one of my favorite cafés from when I lived there as a student. It's not in the typical tourist areas, it's a local place, but it might be worth getting away from the crowds as a tourist.

KAFISCHNAPS is a café-bar in the middle of Zurich on the border between the districts of Wipkingen and Unterstrass. I liked going there for the breakfast and the friendly atmosphere, and I went there to take a study break with my roommates or chat with friends over breakfast.

Source: Tourism Zurich

During my research, however, I found an article about Kafischnaps, which was written by Zurich Tourism, so perhaps it is no longer an insider tip after all.

Mexico City

Çuina - the Academy for Culinary Innovation - was a beautiful place, nestled in the side streets of Roma Norte. I love the fact that life in Mexico City happens outside and many places are half indoors, half outdoors, with lots of plants and, in the case of Çuina, even a tree as part of the restaurant.

The food and drinks were delicious and I had a latte, a pastry and a hearty breakfast. A place I would love to return to, but Mexico City has so many great restaurants that you can rarely go to the same place twice.

Montreal

It's been a few years since we've visited Montreal, but I couldn't make this list without mentioning Montreal, one of my favourite cities in Canada (oops, I said it). The last time we were there,  Tommy Cafe was one of our favorite places. We snagged a table by the window and saw Mikki Raikkonnen (it was F1 weekend). And when you're in Montreal, what do you order? That's right! Bagels! On the Tourism Montreal website, I also learned WHY bagels are so popular in Montreal:

Being a very multicultural city, Montréal’s food scene was built largely by immigrants. Eastern Europeans who settled in Montréal brought their culinary customs, the biggest contribution to the city’s gastronomic identity being smoked meat and bagels.

Tommy Cafe already had a few locations when we were in Montreal, today they have 8 locations in Quebec and one in Ontario.

---

And that brings us to the end of my coffee world tour. I hope you enjoyed it and that you don't have a caffeine rush now. Is there a city and a coffee shop you would like to add? Then let me know in the comments or write to me on Instagram.