Drinking coffee is a huge and important part of Athenian social life. So no matter where you are in the city, there will always be a café just around the corner bustling with life. Most of these cafes will serve traditional dark roasted coffees. But in recent years more specialty coffee shops have opened their doors in Athens (often in upcoming and creative neighbourhoods away from the touristy city centre). Here coffeelovers can enjoy (pour-over) coffees made with single-origin Arabica coffee beans. Dive with me in the third wave of coffee with below tips about the best specialty coffee bars in Athens.
Behold Theman
If we would live in Athens then Behold Theman would definitely be the place where you could find us every single weekend. This creative café with positive vibes lies in a building with high ceilings and huge windows, and has a nice terrace on the sidewalk. The owners have a love for architectural and artistic movements like Bauhaus, De Stijl and DaDa. On every wall you will find primary colours, graphic figures, drawings and stickers which makes this a unique place. On the menu is, besides coffee from Omsom Coffee Roasters, a wide variety of teas and chocolate drinks. We were very happy with the taste of the V60 pour-over which was perfectly balanced, and probably the best we had in Athens.
ANÄNA Coffee | Food
Another place which stole our heart was ANÄNA with its inviting atmosphere. This pleasant café is situated in a beautiful Art Deco corner building with a unique indoor terrace/patio. They are committed to source high-quality coffee beans with a scoring of 84+ (coffee is graded on a 100-point 'coffee review' scale), so you can be sure to enjoy an excellent cup of coffee here. Coffee is roasted on site and available as whole beans in the café as well. We truly enjoyed an extremely good pour-over coffee at one of the places by the window. It is also a great stop for plant based food.
ĒRE Athens
In the lush and atmospheric residential neighbourhood of Koukaki (which is definitely our favourite area) you will find ĒRE Athens. This stylish and modern coffee shop with home made pastries and lifestyle objects is a great place to retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city. The incredibly friendly and passionate owners are sisters-in-law who both have lived for many years abroad in Amsterdam and Cologne and Düsselfdorf. They took their experiences of Northern Europe back to their hometown and combine it with Greek high quality products. Their coffee comes from Samba Coffee Roasters, a Greek family business which was established in 1979 of which the CEO was one of the first to bring specialty coffee to Greece.
MOTIV
The word 'motiv' comes from the Latin word 'motivus', which means to move forward. And that is exactly the aim of the owners of MOTIV > moving forward in terms of selecting coffees that are rated 86+ on the rating scale while striving to support local communities and economies at coffee production countries by paying a fair price for their coffee beans. They have two locations, one reasonably close to the city centre and one in a neighbourhood east of the city center. We have visited the one on Emmanouil Benaki street near Omonia Square. This street is known as 'the coffee street' in Athens, because there are many small coffee shops located here.
A tot Coffee & Organic goods
I guess A tot is the tiniest coffee shop of Athens. This cute little café is the typical 'hole in the wall', with only two wooden benches to sit on. I loved taking a break here, because it is situated on a nice narrow street and there is lots to see while sipping on your coffee. The owners call it 'a tiny coffee shop with a big heart', and I can say it feels indeed very intimate and authentic. The home baked sweets are vegan and gluten-free, and (best of all) very tasty! Their coffee comes from the Greek company Samba Coffee Roasters.
Taf Coffee
The most prize winning coffee bar of all of Athens is probably Taf Coffee. Taf is therefore not only famous in Athens but also far beyond. Their CEO travels to the best coffee farms in the world to personally carry out their mission to search for and to import high quality green coffee. We ordered a filter coffee and choose a Geisha bean from Panama which is known for its outstanding flavour and aroma. It was made with the pour-over Modbar by La Marzocco. We both got 3 cups to pour our coffee in to be able to experience the unique flavours and characteristics of the coffee to the fullest. Because the shape of the cup contributes to the experience of the taste. 1 = aroma, 2 = taste and 3 = body.
Dope Roasting Co.
Unique blends and single origin beans are roasted daily in house in small batches at Dope Roasting. They have 3 locations in Athens and the one on Vissis 25 is found downtown nearby several historical sights. A wide selection of baked pastries, sweets and sandwiches are waiting to accompany your cup of coffee. We sat in the open large window and had filter coffee with pistachio cake while overlooking the busy street and tropical plants in front of the café.
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