Coffee Shops Worldwide

How we chose these coffee shops

The selection uses four criteria: a clear reason to visit, an identifiable coffee offering, useful visitor information and an official source showing that the venue is operating. It covers different experiences rather than ranking cafés against one another.

Our editorial preference is for a shop that helps you understand something: a roaster’s approach, the coffees of a producing country, or the relationship between a café and its neighbourhood. An elaborate interior can make a memorable stop, but it is not evidence of excellent brewing.

These are researched recommendations, not first-hand tasting reports. Descriptions of menus, facilities and opening arrangements come from the sources identified below; suggestions about who each café suits are editorial judgements.

For the broader subject, start with coffee shops and roasteries. This article stays with travel decisions rather than company histories, roasting businesses or detailed UK café rankings.

Choose the right kind of café

Use the categories below as a planning tool, not a quality hierarchy. Decide what you want from the visit before choosing the name.

Do not assume that every destination café will provide brunch, sockets or somewhere to spend an afternoon. Tim Wendelboe describes its Oslo espresso bar as a coffee showroom, while Proud Mary explicitly combines coffee with food and table service. Those are different visits, not competing versions of the same experience.

The same distinction helps at home. Use our UK chain comparison when familiarity and practical facilities matter more than finding a particular destination café.

Eight coffee shops worldwide to consider

Status checked: 2 November 2026. Each venue below had an official location page or opening announcement indicating that it was operating. Published hours are local times and should be reconfirmed before a special journey.

Oslo, Norway: Tim Wendelboe

Choose it for: a coffee-centred visit rather than a meal.

The espresso bar is at Grüners gate 1. Its official information presents it as somewhere to try freshly brewed coffee or share a coffee tasting. Published hours were 08:30 to 18:00 on weekdays and 11:00 to 17:00 at weekends.

Our suggestion is to make this your focused tasting stop in Oslo. Be careful with the address: the company’s roastery and laboratory are elsewhere and are open to the public by appointment only. A visit to the espresso bar does not automatically include access to them.

Copenhagen, Denmark: Coffee Collective, Jægersborggade

Choose it for: combining a named coffee destination with a neighbourhood visit.

Coffee Collective lists this café at Jægersborggade 57, Nørrebro, describing it as its original shop relocated into larger premises. The official page emphasises its connection with the surrounding street and neighbourhood. Published hours were 07:00 to 20:00 on weekdays and 08:00 to 19:00 at weekends.

This is our pick for travellers who want coffee to anchor a walk rather than occupy the whole day. Save the current address: an older account of the original shop may not describe the premises you will visit now.

Melbourne, Australia: Proud Mary, Collingwood

Choose it for: coffee alongside a substantial breakfast or lunch.

Proud Mary’s café is at 172 Oxford Street, Collingwood. Its official page combines its own roasted coffee with all-day breakfast, lunch and table service. Published café hours were 07:00 to 15:00 on weekdays and 08:00 to 15:00 at weekends, with the kitchen closing at 14:30.

Our recommendation is to build this into the morning or lunchtime part of your itinerary. It illustrates a useful travel rule: “open today” is not enough information if your plan depends on eating there late in the afternoon.

Tokyo, Japan: Glitch Coffee & Roasters, Jimbocho

Choose it for: exploring a clearly stated light-roast approach.

Glitch describes its focus as light-roasted, single-origin coffees, meaning coffees identified by a particular origin rather than presented as an unspecified blend. Its Jimbocho branch is at 3-16 Kanda-Nishikicho, Chiyoda-ku, with published hours of 08:00 to 19:00 on weekdays and 09:00 to 19:00 at weekends.

Choose this stop if you want to discuss what makes the available coffees different. Start by describing what you enjoy drinking, rather than assuming that the rarest name on the menu will suit you best.

Kyoto, Japan: Weekenders Coffee, Shinmachi

Choose it for: a coffee destination whose current address needs particular attention.

Weekenders’ official website announces its Shinmachi shop at 189 Ubayanagicho, Nakagyo-ku, opened on 30 September 2026. It directs visitors to the company’s official social account for further information and explicitly marks its separate roastery as not open to visitors.

This is a reminder to refresh saved recommendations before departure. Use the current Shinmachi listing and confirm the day’s hours directly. Do not substitute the roastery address simply because it appears under the same company name.

Cape Town, South Africa: Truth Coffee

Choose it for: a distinctive interior alongside a coffee and food stop.

Truth’s official café page identifies its steampunk-themed headquarters and the large roaster around which the room is arranged. Cape Town Tourism places the café at 36 Buitenkant Street and describes its copper detailing, vintage machinery, in-house roasting and food offering.

Our judgement is that this suits travellers who value the room as part of the visit. Treat its visual appeal and your assessment of the drink as separate things. Check current service hours directly rather than relying on an older photograph of a menu.

Bogotá, Colombia: Azahar, Parque 93

Choose it for: making a café stop part of a visit to Colombia.

Azahar’s official locations page lists Parque 93 at Calle 93B No. 13-91, with daily opening from 07:00 to 20:00. The same page identifies other branches separately, so make sure your saved destination is Parque 93 rather than another Azahar location.

Our suggested approach is to ask which coffees are being served and what the team recommends comparing. Make this a conversation about the current offering, rather than arriving with a fixed expectation that every Colombian coffee should taste alike.

New York, United States: Devoción, Williamsburg

Choose it for: a Colombian-focused coffee stop with an educational option.

Devoción’s Williamsburg café and training laboratory are at 148 Grand Street, Brooklyn. Its official page describes Colombian coffee sourcing and public classes, tastings and training activities. Published café hours were 07:00 to 18:00 on weekdays and 07:30 to 18:00 at weekends.

This is our choice for travellers who might want more than a drink. Check the separate class schedule before planning around an activity: a café being open does not establish that a tasting or lesson is available that day.

Look beyond the modern speciality café

Do not make every coffee stop another version of the same tasting bar. Leave room for traditions in which preparation, conversation and hospitality are inseparable.

UNESCO inscribed Turkish coffee culture and tradition in 2013. Its account describes finely powdered coffee brewed slowly in a pot, served in small cups with water, and a coffeehouse culture built around conversation and shared social life. The inscription recognises a cultural practice, not a quality award for an individual café.

For a visit to Istanbul, that suggests a useful alternative to chasing an international speciality shortlist: seek out a traditional coffeehouse and ask about its preparation and serving customs. Judge the experience on its own terms, rather than expecting it to resemble a filtered-coffee tasting.

How to find great cafés when travelling

Use this checklist before committing a morning to a recommendation.

1. Start with your preferred drink. Search for the experience you want: espresso, filter coffee, traditional preparation or breakfast with coffee. Do not let a famous name choose your order for you.
2. Find the official branch page. Match the address, neighbourhood and entrance. Check whether the premises are a café, roastery, office or training room.
3. Check the evidence date. Use recent reviews and photographs to generate questions, then confirm important details with the operator.
4. Check access separately. Ask about steps, toilets, seating and dietary requirements where these affect your visit. An attractive photograph does not answer those questions.
5. Confirm activities directly. Treat café hours, kitchen hours, tours and classes as separate arrangements.
6. Check the wider journey. For UK travellers, consult the FCDO’s country advice for entry requirements, safety, health risks and legal differences. A café recommendation is not a travel-safety assessment.
7. Keep a nearby alternative. Save another suitable stop and avoid making one café the only reason an otherwise impractical journey works.

For a UK trip, our independent café guide provides a more geographically focused next step.

Make the visit useful, not just memorable

Before ordering, explain your preference plainly: “I like chocolatey coffee with milk” or “I would like a black coffee with a lighter, fruitier character.” Ask what on today’s menu fits, and whether there is something contrasting worth trying.

If you want to learn from the visit, record the coffee name, preparation and your own impression. Keep the note concrete: sweet or drying, light or heavy, familiar or surprising. You do not need an elaborate tasting vocabulary to recognise what you would order again.

The most useful way to explore coffee shops worldwide is to choose deliberately, verify the practical details and leave enough time to notice the place around the cup.