Spain may not be world famous for coffee in the way Italy is, nor does it have a clearly branded cafe culture like Japan’s kissatens or Viennese coffee houses. But Spaniards love their coffee.
During my previous visits to Spain, I didn’t get a chance to get into the country’s coffee culture much, as my visits were mainly educational. But my last month-long trip definitely rectified that. My sister raved about the nice little cafes all around Madrid and I didn’t miss a chance to try as many as I could.
While there are a lot of third-wave cafes with modern equipment, there are older cafes still, where, to get something similar to a flat white (my favorite), you should order cafe con leche. Or simply go for black coffee.
- The Essential Spanish Coffee Types
- How Spaniards Prefer to Drink Coffee
- Breakfast and Brunch in Spain
- Opening Hours are Rather Limited
- Service Style in Spanish Cafes
- Prices and Tipping
- List of the Best Cafes by City
- Best Cafes in Madrid
- Best Cafes in Barcelona
- Best Cafes in Andalusia
- Best Cafes in Toledo
- Best Cafes in Alcalá de Henares
- Best Cafes in Avila
- Chain Cafes in Spain
- Cheapest Coffees on the Go
The Essential Spanish Coffee Types
If the cafe you are visiting doesn’t have the coffee names you are familiar with, here is the list that can help you out:
- Cafe solo – espresso. Like in Italy, if you simply ask for coffee, you will probably get a cafe solo.
- Cortado – espresso with a small splash of milk.
- Cafe con leche – half coffee, half milk. Although in our experience it’s closest to flat white with a foam.
- Cafe americano – your usual Americano.
- Cafe bombón – espresso with sweetened condensed milk.
- Carajillo – coffee with liquor (often brandy or rum).
If you are ordering traditional Spanish coffee, it’s normally darker roasted and more bitter. You will find less of the foamy milky varieties in the old style coffee bars.
While the major cities have all sorts of milk alternatives available – usually oat and soy milk, rarely almond milk, but smaller cities and rural areas definitely won’t have them.
You will also find decaf options, but again not outside the major cities.
How Spaniards Prefer to Drink Coffee
The Spanish approach coffee very much like Italians do. Many of the older style cafes are more like coffee bars where you order and drink your coffee at the counter or small standing tables. We saw this mainly in smaller cities. For example, the most popular cafe in Toledo, Il Cappuccino has a tiny bar style space. People were chatting with the barista when we arrived – well, we couldn’t understand the conversation, but at least managed to order our coffee with a few Spanish words we knew and had our coffee at the counter😊
Major cities of course have modern specialty cafes and comfy coffee houses where you can work on your laptops and socialize.
Besides, Spaniards love their plazas and terraces. Sitting in the square chatting and drinking coffee or often something stronger is a major part of the culture. You will hear people’s loud conversations. People sitting in the sun, chatting and watching passersby.
Keep in mind: coffee is often slightly more expensive if you sit at a table outside compared to ordering at the bar.
Breakfast and Brunch in Spain
Traditional Spanish breakfast used to be a lighter affair and include toasts and coffee. Perhaps croissants or churros.
The large and beautiful brunch you will see everywhere in Spanish cities, is more of a modern, urban phenomenon. You will find these in Madrid, Seville, Malaga or Barcelona. These brunch spots are rather popular with locals and tourists alike and you may not even find a spot especially on the weekends.
Opening Hours are Rather Limited
- Opening times: I guess it’s no surprise that cafes in Spain don’t open extremely early. You will barely find cafes opening at 7-8am. Specialty cafes may open at 9am or 10am. Brunch places more like at 10am or 11am.
- Siesta: Some cafes may close for siesta during the afternoon. I didn’t like these afternoon closures, because when sightseeing I really needed my afternoon coffee 😊
- Closing times: Many specialty cafes close at around 5-6 pm. There are some open till 8pm, but they are rare. Some traditional bars can be open even later but they are more concentrated on serving alcohol and tapas in addition to coffee.
- Closure days: In smaller towns, closures on certain weekdays or on weekends are common. Same goes for holidays. For instance, when we traveled during the Spanish National Holiday, we barely found any cafes open.
Service Style in Spanish Cafes
Service in Spain is generally matter-of-fact rather than overly warm. Don’t expect constant check-ins or big smiles. Staff are straightforward and let you enjoy your own pace. You will either pay while ordering or will have to ask for the bill at the end yourself, it won’t be brought automatically.
While this may surprise some visitors, many people actually appreciate the low-key approach.
Prices and Tipping
Coffee prices are reasonable all around Spain, even in the most touristy locations of Barcelona and Seville.
List of the Best Cafes by City
Now that you have all the tips on coffee in Spain, I will give you recommendations of some of my favorite cafes in different cities. My lists mainly contain independent coffee shops or smaller chains, rather than well-known international chains, like Starbucks. The lists are based on my opinion and my sister’s suggestions (she lives in Madrid).
Best Cafes in Madrid
See my dedicated post to the best specialty coffee and brunch cafes in Madrid.
Best Cafes in Barcelona
La Papa – Pau Claris – This is one of our favourite brunch spots in all of Spain. We even took our parents after long sightseeing hours of Gaudi masterpieces. Their coffee is delicious. Plus, we all loved their eggs benedict, as well as acai bowls.
Right Side Coffee Bar – A small coffee bar offering specialty coffee fix and pastries.
Indigo Cafe & Brunch – This cozy cafe offers great specialty coffee and delicious brunch options. Come for their delicious toasts.
D Origen Coffee Roasters – This modern coffee shop has great specialty coffee and is located very close to Plaza Catalunya.
Amiko Brunch & Gelato – Located on Passeig de Gracia, this cafe has an interesting modern décor.
Best Cafes in Andalusia
Best Cafes in Toledo
Surprisingly I had a hard time finding good coffee in Toledo. I actually expected to find more delicious options, considering how close to Madrid and how popular the city is.
Il Cappuccino Specialty Coffee – This is perhaps the best coffee in Toledo. It has a tiny space where maybe five people can squeeze at the bar to drink their coffee. But the coffee was strong and just what we needed during the early morning start. I really wanted to visit again on my second visit to Toledo, but it was a weekend day and the cafe is closed on weekends, as well as during siesta hours.
Naturalmente Italian Coffee & Bakery – This cafe has an excellent location just next to the entrance of the Monasterio de los Reyes. You can sit on the bar stools at the window and look at the gorgeous monument. I can’t say they have the best coffee though – it was decent, albeit pretty mild.
Best Cafes in Alcalá de Henares
Bartolo Cafe – We loved this small cutely decorated coffee shop. We visited during the Cervantes festival – a period when this town gets the most visitors. They have tables inside and outside as well. The coffee was great, just the right flat white, not milky tasting (that’s quite a big issue in smaller towns). I should mention that even the coffee cups were cute. They also have a second branch, but we haven’t checked that one out.
Amazonia Acai – If you want a nice brunch place, check out this cafe.
Best Cafes in Avila
CATACAFE – This cafe is very close to the train station in Avila and has been on my list for long. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to try it, because of inconvenient closure times. But I will next time.
Chain Cafes in Spain
While independent coffee shops dominate modern Spanish coffee culture, you will still find cafe and bakery chains. In addition to the international ones, like Starbucks or Tim Hortons, Spain has some of its local cafe chains.
Syra Coffee – This specialty coffee chain is very popular around Spain. They have several branches in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Malaga. There might be in other cities as well, but I haven’t encountered them. Their coffee is strong, not milky tasting. Keep in mind that these cafes don’t have seating spaces. You will have to grab your coffee to go.
East Crema – This has to be my favorite coffee shop chain in Spain. It offers delicious coffee, modern cozy spaces and great locations – from what I know they are located in Seville, Zaragoza, Valencia and Bilbao in addition to Madrid, not sure about other cities. If you happen to be near one of these coffee shops, don’t hesitate to try them – they are definitely great.
Santagloria Coffee & Bakery – We ended up at one of the Santagloria branches in Avila because we didn’t find anything else with decent coffee open during the national holiday. It actually turned out to be a nice place and I can’t fault the coffee. While I don’t normally go for chain cafes, I can recommend this one, if you don’t find independent coffee shops nearby and are in need of coffee.
Granier – This is a well-known bakery chain with branches all over Spain. While their coffee may not be all that great, some of the pastries are pretty good to grab on the go.
Levaduramadre – I rather like this bakery chain. They already have a lot of brunches and expanding. No seating spaces though, you just grab bread and pastries. We quite liked the cheesy pastries for instance.
Brunchit – This chain with beautiful decor has become rather popular for Instagram photos. But it’s not only good for photo sessions. They have delicious coffee – in fact they started serving specialty coffee at their cafes. Their brunches are delicious with huge portions. We actually visited one in Madrid after a fiasco with trains being grounded. We were planning to go for a day trip and that didn’t work out. But having Brunchit food and coffee was a good consolation prize for sure 😊
Faborit – This cafe chain is more concentrated in bigger cities. It’s honestly nothing special. But we did try it once when we were visiting Retiro area in Madrid and there were not many options for independent cafes nearby. It can be all right for a quick stop when you really need coffee.
Cheapest Coffees on the Go
If you’re on a budget, you will still have a lot of options for getting a decent coffee. This normally won’t be any elaborate coffee types, but you can get good black coffee at bakeries, small bars, even at the supermarkets – they have coffee machines.
Even trains have coffee carts with machines. For instance, Iryo trains had decent black coffee available. However, don’t attempt to get them at the train stations. For some reason everything from water to coffee is priced much higher there.
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