Every month I’m in a new city, with no friends, and no schedule. So I had to make some sort of routine, which includes one simple rule: find a good café.
There’s a specific feeling when you walk into a café and immediately feel good, like ¿¿is it flirting with me?? that’s the feeling I want.
It could be a meeting place, a hiding place, a place to read, to work, to people-watch, to absorb some good coffee.
Looking back over the last 7 months off full-time travel, these are 7 cafés that stuck with me – listed in chronological order.
1. Albania — Kuzum Baba & Cold Freddó
I have a strong affinity for Albania. So much, I already wrote a separate blog about why I love her, and also all the cafes I tried while in Vlorë.
Albania is surprisingly undeveloped… one small side effect of that – some restaurants or stores aren’t even listed on Google Maps – like this place. It’s a café that overlooks the city, attached to a semi-abandoned venue.
My signature drink while in Albania was the “cold freddo” – it blends a hot double shot of espresso with ice and sugar in a drink mixer, creating a signature foam. Yum.
Fun fact: Albanian café culture traces back to Ottoman rule, where coffeehouses were political and social hubs. Multiple cafes on EVERY block.
2. Copenhagen — Cinemateket Rooftop
This one wins for context. It’s a rooftop cafe, on top of a cinema, that directly faces the Rosenborg Slot castle across the street. I get to drink coffee, on a rooftop, there’s a movie theatre downstairs and I’m starring at a castle built in 1606. “My dream date.”
Fun fact: Denmark is consistently ranked as 1 of the top 4 coffee-consuming countries in the world per capita, usually following Nordic neighbors like Finland, Sweden, Norway.
3. London — The Hackney Coffee Co.
This café is also a wedding venue, which immediately makes sense once you’re inside. It’s huge, airy, and genuinely inspiring, and actually does matcha right. This is the kind of space where you can walk in scatter brained, and walk out with purpose. lol.
Fun Fact: Coffee first arrived in London around the 1650s, brought by traders and merchants from the Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey and surrounding regions – like Albania). The first English coffeehouse opened in 1652.
4. Rio de Janeiro — Cafe Heimen in Santa Teresa
Rio actually has pretty bad café culture, which made this find even better. We just happened to walk by in the Santa Teresa neighborhood. It’s an open garage with vintage furniture perfectly place. A minimal interior mixed with subtle 1950s diner energy and a tiny library. and the capuccino was really freaking good.
Fun fact: Brazil is THEE world’s largest coffee producer since the 1800s, BUT much of its best coffee gets exported overseas.
5. São Paulo — Futuro Refeitorio
São Paulo is the largest city in the America’s – its the art and culture hub of Brazil, and this cafe reflects that. I explored my little neighborhood pocket — Pinheiros — pretty well, and this place was our favorite. It’s like you walk in and immediately know “oh this is the cool place to be.” Every table is full, everyones chatting. I didn’t get a picture of the full vibe because I didn’t want it to be obvious I’m a tourist.
Fun fact: São Paulo holds over 20,000 coffee shops and is a major center for specialty coffee, particularly around Pinheiros and Vila Madalena.
6. Kampala, Uganda — Kardamom & Koffee. Garden Oasis in the City
My college friend owns this cafe, so that of course makes it incredibly special. But, it’s also just a major “cool” safe haven in the city, that’s connected to a garden, an art studio and has an extensive menu.
Fun Fact: Uganda is actually the ancestral home of Robusta coffee — it originated in the forests around Lake Victoria and still grows wild in parts of the country today.
7. Kigali, Rwanda — Indabo Cafe
Kigali is often called the utopia of East Africa, or “the Switzerland” of Africa because it’s so clean, green and luxurious…and it’s because of places like this. + Rwandan coffee is the best I’ve tried…like ever?
Indabo Cafe stood out because of its garden, its food, and paintings on display. There is an art studio upstairs, by artist David Mugire. and I LOVED his work.
Fun fact: Rwanda’s volcanic soil and high-altitude climate (between 1,500 and 2,000 meters) create ideal conditions for Arabica coffee with complex acidity and floral notes.
Final Thoughts
Visiting cafes in every city I go to is a basically a part of my job now…
I didn’t even used to drink coffee. Somewhere between coffee farm tours in Colombia, Guatemala, and Rwanda, I’ve become mildly snobby about coffee beans, and I love that for me.