Bucharest Coffee Shops – Specialty Coffee – Guide & Map

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Bucharest coffee scene is a flourishing one, with new specialty coffee shops opening every two months in the past couple years, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

26 specialty coffee shops are now open in Bucharest, making my home city a new pin on the European coffee destinations map. At this opening rate, it’s hard even for a local to test them all, but that’s a sweet goal for any coffee lover.

My Bucharest Coffee Guide includes all specialty coffee shops I know in the city, insights, and observations, tested cafés, photos, and a Coffee Map of Bucharest.

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Specialty Coffee Scene in Bucharest

Many specialty coffee shops in Bucharest use Origo or Guido as local suppliers, probably because they bring the best coffee from top farms in Ethiopia, Brazil, Colombia, Tanzania, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Kenya, Mexico, El Salvador, Panama, Peru, and Argentina.

I love coffee a lot but have little knowledge about the magic process behind making the lifeline drink.

(*At home, I use a stovetop coffee maker from Bialetti (for two years now), and it completely changed the way I experience the magic drink. It also helped with the serving because it’s much stronger now, therefore I only add almond milk (no sugar). Once every two months, I pamper myself with a real milk cappuccino because my Roma Creamer from Frabosk makes an airy coffee-cream mousse like no other.)

Nevertheless, I find alternative brewing methods and makers fascinating and I noticed almost all specialty coffee shops in Bucharest use Aeropress, Siphon, French Press and drip coffee makers like Hario V60.

Origo stands out because it’s one of the first coffee shops in Bucharest, and they make a bold interior decor statement with their impressive number of coffee cups and Hario V60 makers repurposed into lamps above the coffee bar.

Orygyns Coffee Shop is also worth mentioning because of its unique concept for Bucharest – they change their coffee source every two weeks, thus offering a new experience every time.

When it comes to types of coffee servings, I enjoy Almond Flat White the most, but that’s pretty hard to find in Bucharest. So my usual order is a Flat White, but I also loved testing a cold brew of cherry flavored coffee at Bloom Specialty Coffee this summer.

Specialty coffee in Bucharest vs. Florence, London, Budapest

When comparing Bucharest specialty coffee with the ones in other countries, I find the local brews stronger than in Florence, Italy (La Ménagère), but milder when compared to the Hungarian way at Madal (Budapest) or the Monmouth brew (London).

My observations are about the brew and serving methods and not about coffee quality or origin because I believe those are pretty similar.

When reading this guide, please keep in mind I’m not a specialist, but a simple coffee lover that wants to put all of the specialty coffee places in Bucharest on a single map.

Bucharest Specialty Coffee Tour

I’ve tested 10 out 26 coffee shops in the last year but managed to put them all on a Bucharest map (find below), in case you want to explore more.

If you’re a tourist in Bucharest, the most accessible coffee shops are Origo, Creamier, Orygyns, Artichoke, Meron and Van Fruct Câmpineanu. I’ve chosen them due to their proximity to main Bucharest attractions (only from the ones I’ve tested).

If you’re a coffee aficionado, the map will help you explore the city in search of the best coffee in Bucharest.

Please remember that most coffee shops on this list have only a few sitting areas, so they’re not a meeting place. The ones with more seats than average are Origo, Creamier, Artichoke, Meron and M60, and the first three also have a summer terrace.

Tested Specialty Coffee Shops in Bucharest

Origo – Address:  Lipscani Street 9, near Cișmigiu Park

Orygyns – Address: Jules Michelet Street 12, near Magheru Boulevard

Van Fruct Câmpineanu – Address: Ion Câmpineanu street 21, near Calea Victoriei and Novotel

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Ivy – Address: Carol I Boulevard 23, near University Square

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Creamier – Address:Benjamin Franklin Street 5, neat Romanian Athenaeum

Meron – Address: Calea Victoriei Street 155, Building D1, in Piața Victoriei

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Artichoke – Address: Calea Victoriei Street 45, near Kretzulescu Church

T-Zero – Address: Dianei Street 1, near University Square

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Bloom Specialty Coffee – Address: George Vraca Street 7, near Cișmigiu Park

Two Minutes – Address: Constantin Aricescu Street 50A, near Piața Dorobanți

*see all of them on my Bucharest Specialty Coffee Map below

My personal favorites so far are Orygyns, Origo, Two Minutes and T-Zero because they balance all the elements of what I consider a great coffee (to my taste, ofc) – coffee type, origin, brewing process, and coffee serving.

Two Minutes and Van Fruct Câmpineanu have the friendliest baristas from all the coffee shops I’ve tested so far. Van Fruct also has the most cheerful decor, the others tending towards minimalism in their interior styling.

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Bucharest Coffee Shops next on my list

There are 16 other coffee shops in Bucharest that I haven’t visited yet, but we’ve worked a bit on placing each one on the map. If you’ve tested some of them, I would love to hear your thoughts about their coffee.

Beans and Dots – Address: Ion Brezoianu Street 23
Steam Coffee Shop 1 – Address: Uruguay Street 22
Frudisiac – Address: Intrarea Bitolia Street 4
M60 – Address: D. I. Mendeleev Street 2
Labirint Concept Store – Address: Splaiul Independenței Street 42-44
Two Minutes 2 – Address: Joseph Lister Street 1
Dose Cafe – Address: Calea Dorobanți Street 56
Fellow One – Address: Calea Victoriei Street 143
Boiler Coffee Shop – Address: Constantin Daniel Street 25
Coftale – Address: Ștefan Mihăileanu Street
C-O Fi Factory – Address: Puțul lui Zamfir Street 60-62
The Coffee Factory – Address: Regina Elisabeta Boulevard 54
Steam Coffee Shop 2 – Address: Visarion Street 2
Spațiul M60 2 – Address: C.A. Rosetti Street 2
T-Zero – Address: Buzești Street
Guido – Address: Mihai Eminescu Street 182 (roastery & shop)

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Bucharest Specialty Coffee Map

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All Photography ©Ana Matei  | 2016 & 2017 | Instagram: @MateiAna

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Hope you liked this selection of the best coffee shops in Bucharest and now you have a pretty good idea about the best places to drink Specialty Coffee in Romania’s capital city.