Fortunately, there’s a growing need for quality coffee drinking and it’s high time that the misconception that really good coffee can only be drunk in Italy be dissolved. You can believe that atmosphere has its influence on what you drink but claiming that the location defines the quality of the drink is far from being even a bit rational. For quality comes down to the cleanness of the machine, the quality of the water softener and the appropriate setting of the grinder and the machine itself. In anticipation of the Creative Coffee Forum on Saturday we made a compilation of some cafés that we deem to be among the finest.
1/7
Caffé GianMario
The Italian
Lovable, personal, Italian. Come here for a fine boost of coffein Italian-style. Mario, the heart and soul of the place creates an authentic Italian feel in Bajcsi-Zsilinszky út. Espresso is made of Vergnano, a quality, dark roasted robusta arabica mixture. For the sake of simplicity their Facebook-page is in Italian, too. They’re not to be overlooked when it comes to pizza, prosciutto or croissant.
2/7
Coffee Cat
The one with the most solid regular base
One of their greatest merits is that they’ve been open for eight years and has been keeping to the same high standards since. There are quite a large number of guests day by day, which is due to the thankful regulars. The café makes effort to raise the number of said regulars and keep them coming back for more with its website, blog and Facebook-page. Good quality arabica coffee is used for the drinks. A really good café.
3/7
Costa
The one that’s fine at all times
It would be gigantic snobbery not to mention any of the café chains. Costa, that fortunately surpasses the quality of McCafé, offers the best coffee among café chains in Budapest. They’re famous for using milk by farmers and only their skinny milk is UHT. Attila Molnár, the head trainer of Costa has good chances of winning the barista competition on Saturday.
4/7
Massolit Books & Café
The bookworm
Massolit is a real melting pot. They serve the Czech Doubleshot with a Krakow brand, foreign books and fabulous American cookies. It’s all pleasant, friendly and calm. Zoli Pallai, the barista of Massolit, will also take part in the barista competition on Saturday. Just like in Printa, they also use Cserpes milk.
5/7
Printa
The new wave designer coffee
Yes, not only drugs can be “designer” but coffee, too. Printa is a screen printing workshop, design shop and one of the best cafés in town in one place. And it’s the most ambitious in the category. Three enthusiastic baristas who regard their job their ars poetica work here. They make Has Bean coffee, which is absolutely outstanding from among new wave ones. (For your information, in the case of new wave coffee the origin of the coffee beans is proudly made explicit unlike in the case of traditional Italian coffee.) The current direct trade coffee of Printa derives from a Bolivian family farm. Also, fresh Cserpes milk is used. Besides, they are famous for their cups of filtered coffee, that’s a quality alternative to lungo.
6/7
Bagatellini
The one in Buda
And finally, to satisfy others than Pest residents, here’s Bagatellini on the ground floor of Mom Park. They serve freshly roasted Daniel Moser, a 100% arabica coffee. We can’t go on without mentioning the adjoining Brót bakery, where with your one of the best coffee in town you can have the undoubtedly best croissant in town.
7/7
Café Barista
The best one for the masses
Gábor Sóvágó is a real angel. He realized that at crowded traffic hubs there’s burning need for a good coffee. Thus, he opened his first shop at Mexikói út. He has professional baristas make coffee for people working nearby, such as the employees of BKV for an affordable price.
