New wave and traditional: eight cafés in Budapest among thousands

New, specialty or classic coffee, dark or light, small or quiet café: everyone can find a place that suits their taste and their agenda. Fans and professionals focus on the coffee machine anyway, and the rest should enjoy the taste and aroma of perfectly brewed coffee made from perfectly roasted beans.

Collecting the best cafes in one article is difficult to do. Therefore, we took editorial likes and preferences as a basis, whether it be a small place where we sit for our morning paper or ristretto, or a more spacious room where we can sit for hours. Opening in the morning is a crucial point, so even those who work in an office with a strict work schedule can have coffee before work.

Early Bar Specialty Coffee

Let’s start with Újlipotváros, including a very small place, early. Although the café is very close to transportation hubs like Nyugati Railway Station, it is located on a quieter street. It’s definitely worth a visit, especially since it’s already open at 8:30 in the morning. In December last year, the owners of the café on Chris Giza Street took over the running of the café. At first, as street people, they came here to have coffee, then they joked that they would buy it, and finally they decided to buy it. Really became owners. Anna Fotyski and Tamas Borowitz shaped the place to their own taste, traveling constantly to create the coffee collection. The owners of Early Specialty Café love to tell you about the coffees you can choose from, and since they change the offer often, you can’t get bored. Of course, if the audience really likes something, it stays in the factory longer.

Title: Thirteenth. Chris geza area utca 38.

Early Café Specialty Bar Facebook page

Photo: Facebook

Daji Cafe

If you want real Italian espresso, visit the corner of Pozsonyi út and Katona József utca, where you can drink life-saving black coffee from 7am. If you’re not a fan of the specialty font, this may be your usual place. Many may remember the café, which opened in 2017, because of its unusual and inexplicable working hours, so Riccardo, its Italian owner, explained the reason: “Who remembers a café that opens from 7 to 4?”

Title: Thirteenth. Katonah joseph area utca 37.

Daji Cafe Facebook page

Espresso Embassy/Photo: Facebook

Espresso Embassy

The Espresso Embassy, ​​named after Tibor Várady and Lívia Szőlőssy, was opened on Arany János Street in the 5th district in 2012 as one of the first representatives of the new wave trend. They first started in a design store with a niche offering that was still new to the Hungarian audience at the time, and as they expanded the store, they moved to larger venues. It’s one of the first cafes we walked into with reverence and said, “We want a flat white.” Since then, these requests have become popular, but the Espresso Embassy still maintains its status.

Address: District V, Arani Llanos utca 15.

Espresso Embassy Facebook page

My Little Melbourne Cafe / Photo: Facebook

My Little Melbourne Coffee / Melbourne 2.0

Also considered a pioneer in the specialty line, the old biker My Little Melbourne, opened in 2012 in District 7, maintains stable quality, as well as its “little brother” in Óbuda, Melbourne 2.0, which is waiting for specialty coffee lovers on the The other side of the Danube as of September this year, in Graphisoft Park. Here you can drink coffee without sugar, and there is an honor box instead.

Address: Seventh. Madách Imreút area 3., III. Ghazgiar area utca 3.

My little coffee shop in Melbourne Facebook page

Padro Cafe / Photo: Facebook

Padro Cafe

It pays to walk around Budapest with your eyes open, because the newest café to be discovered is a café with only 3 tables in the basement of a ten-storey apartment building in Úbuda. Café Padru is also a new wave venue, where you can choose between two types of coffee, one from a Berlin roaster, light roast, with a southern fruit flavour, and the other from a local small roaster, a Brazilian and Colombian blend, dark roast, with a nougat and chocolate flavour. The prices are surprisingly friendly, and for that reason alone the Café Padro ad deserves a regular spot.

Title: Third. Szőlő utca 80 area.

Padro Cafe Facebook page

Caffeine espresso bar (Kálvin tér/ Lövőház utca)

The first unit was opened in 2016 in Buda, which at the time was performing less well in the specialty café space, followed in 2018 by Kálvin tér on the Pest side. You can also drink specialty coffee here, including the Has Bean brand and farm-selected coffees, while sitting on chairs and sofas, with the feeling of being in a cigar room.

Title: Eighth. Paros Street 6, II. Lövőház area utca 27.

Caffeine espresso bar Facebook page

Zergy Cafe / Photo: Facebook

Zergy Café

Café Zërgë was opened in Víziváros five years ago by a couple, a chef and a pastry chef. Zërgë is located in a Fő utca, which feels more like an upscale living room than a café. But if we drink our coffee at the tables facing the crowded Fő utca, we don’t feel like… Uncomfortable, especially since the owners really like to socialize with everyone. Zërgë also serves specialty coffee.

Address: District 1, Fő utca 7.

Zergy Café Facebook page

Madal Cafe / Photo: Facebook

Madal Cafe – Specialty coffee bar

Madal, now a chain, is inevitable when looking for a café, but that doesn’t mean its quality doesn’t leave anything to be desired. It is also important to mention that at Madal, both newcomers and those who love Italian coffee can drink coffee. After the unit in Újlipótváros, the second store was opened in Ferenciek Square, and the third in Alkotmány utca, approximately in Kossuth tér, two years later. The latter is the largest madal, at 280 square metres, you can have a coffee and even work or study.

Title: Thirteenth. District Hollán Ernő utca, District V. Alkotmány utca 4., District V., Ferenciek tere 3.

Madal Cafe Facebook page

What is your favorite café?