The 13 best cafés in Barcelona

At this coffee shop and roaster that first opened in 1989, you'll find straight-up coffee, wholesale of single-origin coffees and exceptional blends – from hot to cold brew to shakerato. But the space is also just a lovely place to enjoy a cup of coffee. It’s not cheap, but the high quality of the coffee is worth the extra coins once in a while. The cappuccino is especially delicious.

Find La Roseta near the beach, a tiny spot with seriously good pastries and desserts; brownies, doughnuts, cakes, sandwiches, vegan and gluten-free options. The place is exquisite; white tiled floors, exposed brick walls, wooden furniture, newspapers and magazines. And outside, there are tall stools to watch life go by. The coffee is great and reasonably priced: don't expect fancy terms or overpricing, just three options: black, with a dash of milk, or with milk.

Grab an amazing coffee to go at Dalston Coffee, a one-man establishment which barely has room for a bar, but does it anyway. That’s where Borja Rosselló serves up magic with an espresso machine and a Moccamaster filter; the espresso, filter, flat white, capuccino and cold brew are all very good.

After Satan’s Coffee Corner closed in 2023, Barcelona needed something to fill its shoes. Luckily, Right Side opened in its spot. And we love it; on the table you’ll find a small menu with tasting notes for the coffees they have in rotation, like the Ethiopian chenji challa with hints of rose, currant, and orange, or the cortado they serve with a liquorice flavour and the unmistakably fresh taste of a herbal infusion. 

With only a couple of tables, Bon Mercat is not a place to sit for a leisurely cup of coffee. But this small café deserves a visit when you’re in the mood for a good brew. Its tiny bar is very popular and if you stop in, you'll know why. They toast the coffee themselves, bright and early every day, and in addition to the usual flavours, you can try their special ones, like the Hawaiian blend. Let the expert staff advise you, and if you like what they suggest – and you will – you can buy a bag of it, ground in a moment and ready to take away.

It's hard to classify this space that’s not so much a café or coffee shop as it is a workshop with its doors open to the public. With the beautiful Giesen roaster in plain view and a small and lovely interior patio space, they open their workshop so everyone can taste seasonal coffees from around the world. They’re enthusiastic and, if you want, they'll explain in detail whatever you want to know about the production, origin, the thousand nuances of coffee, and everything they work with (bread, oil, milk...). This is exactly the kind of project we all need right now.

Jordi Mestres studied design at Elisava in Barcelona, and then emigrated to London, where he discovered the world of speciality coffee, and had his own mobile coffee cart called the Nomad. When he got back to Barcelona, and in record time, Mestres had established Nomad – coffee roasters, café, wholesale and retail shops, training – as ground zero zone of speciality coffee in Catalonia. At the Nomad Coffee Lab & Shop, they experiment with coffee, and you can go to try brews that are prepared in a variety of ways, such as espresso, flat white, V60, aeropress, cold brew or cold drip.