Coffee & tea – All our local tips

One of the most important advantages of living in Barcelona is discovering its wish of becoming a cosmopolitan city every day. I know that someday, near in the future, Barcelona will be what it could be thanks to the effort of those persons who come from other regions of the world to bring their vision, their colors and original flavors.

A Casa Portuguesa is a great example of the cultural riches you can enjoy while living here.

A Casa Portuguesa is a little place located at Barrio de Gracia that proudly offers a wonderful selection of the very often unknown culinary treasure of Portugal. It’s not really a restaurant but more of a Portuguese sampler; A place to find lost flavors and scents that can describe a beautiful heritage.

Just entering you feel you’re in a special place. You will find a good selection of wines and some other delicatessen from Portugal. Attention is polite and warm. If you’re lucky you could enjoy their well cared patisserie or confectionery with a cup of coffee or tea comfortably at one of their few tables.

If you feel yourself curious to taste the flavors from a past you never knew about, go there and try a Pastel de Belém with sugar and cinnamon topping. Don’t say later I did not talk about this place.

Nice trip!

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A Casa Portuguesa | Coffee & tea
Verdi 58 | Gracia | +34933683528
Tue – Wed 17:00 – 22:00, Thu – Fri 17:00 – 23:00

Get ready. I’m going to give you some information that you won’t find anywhere else. I want to recommend to you a very special place. I’m talking about Bocí, one of these places where is really easy to find quality and great care about products and service.

What would you like to taste today? It doesn’t matter how complicated is your appetite or how demanding is your palate, Bocí knows perfectly how to satisfy your needs.

As frequent customer I know that Bocí offers much more than what I’m used to consume there. If I have a high regard for somebody I go to Bocí to find some box of chocolates to make a special gift or perhaps some delicious birthday’s cake. It’s also a great place to have a breakfast or ask for food to take away packaged carefully.

The staff is polite and they take good care of every single detail to present their goods. It’s one of those places where you go and think “I don’t know where to start” because you feel tempted to ask almost everything. The price reflects its quality but I know you won’t regret to pay for it.

Enjoy.

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Bocí | Coffee & tea, Shopping
Vía Augusta 112 | Above diagonal | +34932371313
07:00 – 22:00 daily

For those who love tea, there’s not another place like this one in Barcelona. Located in the Gotico, just behind the cathedral in the hearth of the Jewish neighborhood, it’s the ideal place for a little break while visiting this neighborhood.

It’s also a good place to go when you have to study or the concentrate on something as it’s even more peaceful than a library! A good place too when it’s raining outside: a good conversation and a good tea, there is nothing better to cheer you up. And now you can have breakfasts too as they open on mornings too.

The decoration is a mix between bohemian and oriental with a lot of coffee tables and comfortable chairs. The cups and the teapots are also very stylish. The light is subdued and the teas, prepared in a simple way are very high-quality. The music is relaxing and so are the colours.

It can be hard to find the first time you go but it’s worth to try!

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Caj Chai | Coffee & tea | Tea € 3.00
Calle Sant Domenes del Call, 12 | El Barrio Gotico | +34933019592
Mon 15:00 – 22:00, Tue – Sun 10:30 – 22:00

What you see is what you get! Nor fancy outfit neither gourmet extravaganza, just warm and family atmosphere, hospitality, gentle touch, interesting chat, contagious mood, great Mediterranean food and better prices.

It’s located in the heart of the gothic quarter, at 3 minutes walk from the city hall and 10 minutes from the gothic cathedral.

Don’t miss their falafel and humus wrap.

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El Cocinero de Damasco | Coffee & tea, Snacks, Restaurants | falafel / wrap € 3.50
Templers 2, corner with Palau | El Barrio Gotico
Tue – Sat 11:00 – 23:00

Situated uptown, you will find this nice and colorful shop that sells products from different countries in the world. You can find clothes, accessories, food (ecologic products), books (quite spirituals), arts and craft objects, music, movies, decoration objects…

It’s a good place to get lost because they have a lot of curious stuff. And once you get tired there’s a beautiful garden at the back of the store where you can sit down and have a coffee (probably from Colombia or Brazil). It’s peaceful and romantic.

Also when you buy in Olokuti you are contributing to responsible consumption and to some ethics rules.

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El Olokuti | Coffee & tea, Shopping
Calle Asturies, 36 | Gracia | +34932170070
11:00 – 20:00 daily (closed for lunchtime)

I’ve been visiting this place since 1987 and I still can’t decide whether I love it or hate it.

It’s featured in my novel After Goya. Why would I hate it? Well, though it has improved over the years, the museum has adopted a very traditional way of displaying the collections – all glass cases, broken pots and coins and very little interpretation – it reminds me of compulsory school museum visits.

And why do I love it? It has a fascinating, very extensive, collection of everyday bits and pieces and paper ephemera from the late 19th century.

Frederic Marès was a sculptor and an eccentric, avid collector of things – crucifixes, walking-sticks, opera-glasses, fans, dolls, toy theatres, pipes, cigar-bands, cigarette papers, printers’ handbills, business cards, tram tickets, it goes on and on and on.

As you wander through the galleries you’ll build a fairly strong picture of the leisure preoccupations of the moneyed classes of early 20th century Barcelona.

Through the museum’s omission of any mention of working-class existence you’ll begin to understand the simmering resentments which fueled the class struggle that climaxed with the Spanish Civil War. Marès designed the column, erected to celebrate Franco’s victory, situated at the intersection of Paseo de Gracia and Diagonal.

Another good reason to visit this curious museum is the courtyard and summer café – a lovely spot to chill out with an iced-coffee and a good book. Go there on Wednesday after 14:00, it’s free admission, though one of the galleries will be closed.

IMPORTANT: Was it something I said about the staid feel to the way the collection is displayed? No matter, the important thing to note is that the museum will be closed to visitors for extensive refurbishment until MID 2011 – However the courtyard and café will be open – the courtyard will feature temporary interactive displays and the café will be open all through the year – so, still worth popping your head in to take a look-see.

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Frederic Marès museum | Art & culture, Coffee & tea | Free
Plaça Sant Iu 5-6 | El Barrio Gotico | +34932563500
Tue – Sat 10:00 – 19:00, Sun 10:00 – 15:00

Perhaps the best way to describe the Catalonian coque (English – coca. Pronounced cohcah) is this: Crusty thin and long bread as versatile and multipurpose as a pizza. It’s not a pizza at all, I know, but I need to use it as a reference because it’s much more known than coques for sure. Coques can be sweet or salted, you can eat them at any temperature. Wow! Now that I think about it, maybe astronauts should carry coques to outer space.

Indeed. Most human beings don’t know coques and pizzas represent one of the most common flavours of the Mediterranean Sea, but this fact is kept by the locals as a secret and coques mean a sort of regional proud always present in their traditions and holidays.

You should consider La Coqueria as a bank of regional secrets, a place to find a good selection of wines, cheese and sausages; a sophisticated spot to know the other side of these Mediterranean flavours you don’t know yet.

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La Coqueria | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks, Restaurants (Spanish) | Meal € 18.00
Saragossa 66 | Above diagonal | +34934161560
Mon – Sat 09:00 16:00 & 18:00 – 00:00

Located in one of the most beautiful, romantic and hidden place of Barcelona, La luna de Jupiter is like a peaceful oasis in the crowded center of Barcelona. You can enjoy a nice tea or a glass of wine while listening to the birds chirping on the trees.

The decoration is very home style. A few tables with different tablecloths, a few chairs all different: armchairs, sofas so comfortable you almost could fall asleep. It looks kind of chaotic and first sight but the feeling of being home overwhelmed you totally after a few minutes.

They also make salads, sandwiches, and homemade cakes and maybe after eating you still can go to the Marina Maas (check the Marina Maas article) shop situated just in front of the bar.

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La luna de Jupiter | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Meal € 15.00
Placa Traginers, 8 | El Barrio Gotico | +34933196432
21:00 – 00:00 daily

Situated on one of the most interesting little streets in the barrio, linking Calle Portaferrissa with Placa del Pi, La Pallaresa has been serving locals with thick, sticky hot chocolate since 1940.

It’s a very traditional granja – or snack bar – serving light bites such as croissants, melindros and bikinis (toasted ham and cheese sandwiches). Just the place to rest your feet and read the newspaper when out shopping or just sightseeing around the barrio.

It’s just a few doors up the street from Sala Parés (check the Sala Parés article), the wellknown art gallery. I often call in for a good cup of chocolate or coffee, or a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice after visiting an exhibition.

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La Pallaresa | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Coffee € 1.10
Calle Petritxol 11 | El Barrio Gotico | +34933022036
Mon – Fri 09:00 – 13:00 & 16:00 – 21:00, Sat 09:00 – 13:00 & 17:00 – 21:00

Located next to the Universitat square, one of the neuralgic centres of Barcelona, you will find all kind of traditional Spanish products like the nougat we have at Christmas time or “horchata“, an orgeat, very typical in Valencia, almond milk….

They also do very tasty ice-creams with various flavours, good cakes and they serve you all kind of coffees and juices. They do everything in a homemade style.

During lunch time they prepare good salads.

This has been one of the oldest and most traditional places in Barcelona since it opened in 1910 and it’s the only place where you can have orgeat all year long.

It’s a true reference for all the Barceloneses.

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La Valenciana | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Coffee & cake € 4.50
Calle Aribau, 16 | Eixample | +34933172771
Mon – Sat 08:00 – 01:35, Sun 16:00 – 22:30

I must confess one of my all-time favourite hobbies is seeing people. I can’t help it, I’m very curious about people. Personally, sometimes I like to go to La Virreina square, located at Barrio de Gracia, to spy the “urban fauna” and seeing their behavior and fashion. I enjoy imagining what they do, what they think or where they’re going.

The whole place is a great scene to interact with other persons.

It’s one of my loved spots because it offers so many options. I see that place as a beginning of a great night. Sometimes I propose that place as a meeting point with my friends.

Once we’re together and considering our mood we can stay there in the meanwhile or pick a terrace from the three options of bars you can find located there or perhaps giving a hike by the area looking for some new bar or restaurant.

Have you tried a “clara” before? I can’t imagine a best way to taste a clara for the first time than sat at some of those terraces located at La Virreina square, surrounded by such special neighborhood.

If you want to experience a typical Barcelona’s night away from the city`s center you should start here. A magic night is almost guaranteed.

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La Virreina’s Square | Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Snacks
Plaça de La Virreina | Gracia
24 hours daily

Visiting Rambla del Raval is a must during your stay in Barcelona. The multicultural and diverse neighborhood El Raval shows you how Globalization brings people together from all over the world.

On its very own Rambla, Moroccan cafes, Turkish fast food places, Italian pizza restaurants, and Indian and Pakistan eateries go hand in hand, sharing their multinational clientele.

Also Catalans found their place back in this buzzing mix: cafe-bar “Les Delicies” is the perfect place for a relaxed afternoon beer (go local with Moritz beer!) and some olives, or a Cortado (coffee shot with milk) with yummy American chocolate cookies a la Catalana.

It’s also a perfect place for a cosy dinner with friends (highly recommendable: vegetarian lasagne for 7 Euros), preferably on their terrace directly on the Rambla del Raval.
Nice side effect: watch the Arabian men and Catalan seniors having a chit-chat at sunset.
After dinner, go and chill in the lounge area in the back of this pretty cafe.

Until recently I didn’t now that the 70’s Jukebox in the back of the bar is really working. Try it out and relax in the cosy sofas in the back while listening to the worst music ever!

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Les Delicies | Bars, Coffee & tea, Restaurants (International) | Lasagne € 7.00
Rambla del Raval 47 | El Raval | +34934415714
Sun – Thu 19:00 – 02:00, Fri – Sat 19:00 – 03:00

As coffee lovers we know perfectly that having a good cup of coffee it’s not just drinking a coffee.

This magical beverage needs some conditions to be properly enjoyed. At Liadísimo Café you will find the most of these conditions. Perhaps the first and most important it could be the kind attention you will receive for sure. Ohh! I know! A good service could be hard to find sometimes… But at Liadísimo’s this good service is guaranteed.

I know this place since it opened a couple of years ago. It’s very near to my house so you can find me there almost every afternoon around 6:00 pm. The Liadísimo Café is a sort of “Central’s Perk” for me and my friends. We’re used to meet there and share some drinks and talk about our day and plan some common projects and keep updated with our lives.

I recommend you to go and enjoy a coffee there, never mind if you’re alone or not, you can ask for the wide variety of teas and other drinks they can offer always with a big smile attached to the service. They’re also English speakers and I’m sure they would help you if you have any doubts about this city.

Once you’ve gained new energy to take another hike you can walk to see another Gaudi’s oddity: Casa Viçens, located just two blocks away at Barrio de Gracia. Feel free to explore this neighbourhood; I’m sure you will discover new places and experiences.

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Liadísimo Café | Coffee & tea | Meal € 10.00
Guillem Tell 23-25 | Above diagonal | +34933682630
Mon – Fri 07:30 – 21:00, Sat 09:00 – 21:00

Mendizabal bar is a Barcelona golden oldie – a gathering point for people from all backgrounds and nationalities.

Its perfect location right on a street corner just one block from the Ramblas makes it a very integrated and easy to find place to meet people and start the day with a newspaper and a coffee – or the night with some beers and olives.

The coffee and sandwiches are delicious (try the mango and melted brie or the jamon and avocado sandwich). You can enjoy them while just watching the different kinds of tourist, freaks and locals passing by or the dogs playing in front of the cafe.

Lean at their bar, or sit down at one of the colorful tables on the opposite of the street and let Barcelona’s spirit inspire you.You also have the luxury to enjoy the view on one of the most beautiful streets in Barcelona- Calle Junta de Comercio.

Mendizabal shows how Barcelona is meant to be: a relaxed yet arty place where people meet casually, and locals mix with tourists.

Mendizabal also offers several freshly squeezed juices of the day (€ 3,50), all full with vitamins to jazz you up and recover from last night’s heavy drinking. All in all, the best start for a great day.

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Mendizabal | Bars, Coffee & tea | Sandwich € 4.50
Carrer de la Junta de Comerç 2 | El Raval
Jun – Oct 10:00 – 01:00 daily | Nov – May 10:00 – 00:00 daily

Every morning, I go there to have my Galician baguette and my Madeleine for breakfast. Among all the bakeries I have tried in Barcelona, this one is by far the best. That’s why it’s always crowded and the shop assistants are always very busy.

Located in the very center of Barcelona next to the Universitat place, this small red bakery has been run by the same family since 1879. The Mistral Bakery offers you all kind of homemade breads and much more: typical pastries from Cataluña like San Joan’s coca, San Jordi’s bread, sweet and salt cakes…

You need to take a ticket at the entrance and wait for your turn. If you prefer you can go to the cafeteria they have and enjoy a nice coffee with a good chocolate croissant. Or you can see too the workshop just next to the bakery where bread is exposed.

Even if it’s a little expensive, the high quality of the products justify the prices.

It’s one of the most emblematic place in Barcelona.

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Mistral | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Baguette € 1.00
Ronda Sant Antoni, 96 | El Raval | +34933018037
Mon – Sat 07:00 – 21:00

Located at Vila de Grácia square (ancient Rius i Taulet’s square) -one of my favourite squares in Gracia-, you will find a good place to try the typical flavours of Spain and Catalonia. The Nou Candanchú offers the right ambient to enjoy the best and most known Spanish tapas, seafood and other typical dishes.

I like this place despite some the most common failures it will show the day you go there. It’s strange, actually. Not every time you will be entirely satisfied and the issues can vary some days, but I promise this place worth it.

For example, in the last 2 years I have gone to the Nou Candanchú maybe 5 times, all of them because I wanted to introduce some foreigner friends to the most typical flavours of this country. Some of those times attention failed and some others it was just perfect. I’m not able to confirm that The Nou Candanchú keeps -let’s say- an “integral” quality, but I can affirm that the whole experience worth it.

My advice is simple: Ask for those dishes and tapas you know they must be prepared regularly and I’m sure you will enjoy it. Don’t forget to ask for Russian salads, patatas bravas, octopus or Spanish croquetas.

If you’re smart you will try it. If you’re lucky you will find a table. If you go you will repeat.

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Nou Candanchú | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks, Restaurants (Spanish) | Meal € 15.00
Plaça de Rius i Taulet, 9 | Gracia | +34932377362
Sun – Mon & Wed – Thu 07:00 – 01:00, Fri – Sat 07:00 – 03:00

The Gothic Barrio is plenty of great and magical places. All you need to find them is a bit of good luck, some patience, love for walking and some other times the wise advice from a friend, which is my case [ thanks Tuti for recommending this place to me! ]

Located at George Orwell’s square, also known as Plaza del Tripi, there’s a door you have to cross to get into another universe. From the outside you will think it’s just a common door but I’d say it works like a time and inter-dimensional portal between a crowded and usually noisy open space and a special refuge.

Once you’re in, it’s pretty easy realizing you’re at a very special place; a place where some rules just have changed. Even people’s behaviour changes at Oviso Oasis Bar. Let’s say that the 50% of flavours you will taste there are improved with the mood of persons sitting around you. Suddenly someone talk to you, suddenly you’re involved in a sort of role’s game where human interaction rules the rhythm of your night.

Warm colours healing some cold souls, smiles and joy. Open-minded persons eating and drinking the same you do, sharing a moment you won’t find at any other place.

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Oviso | Bars, Coffee & tea, Restaurants (French) | Main & drinks € 15.00
Arai 5 | El Barrio Gotico | +34637589269
Sun – Thu 10:00 – 02:00, Fri – Sat 10:00 – 03:00

If you happen to be lost in the alleys and tiny streets of the gothic quarter, as if you were looking for your way out of yarn woven across the warp in weaving, and after spining around the whole afternoon you realized you were destined to enjoy sooner or later that sense of comforting warmth of a pilgrim shelter.

Yes, once in the back of the Palau de la Generalitat, the smell of incense, the wide range of teas, the really tasty pita sardos in any of their varieties and the charming music evoke the atmosphere of an old tea shop in any Mediterranean harbor and make you forget about that palace of politicians and their struggle to secure their welfare in order to perpetuate themselves representing simple pedestrians like us throughout eternity to try to return the favor for their wealth by making our pitiful fate a little less wretched.

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Salterio | Art & culture, Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Turkish coffee € 2,50
Sant Domenec del call 6 | El Barrio Gotico
Sun – Thu 17:00 – 02:00, Fri – Sat 17:00 – 03:00

The beach side of Barcelona is hosting many different cafes and restaurants, but Santa Marta is definitely the most stylish one.

Offering fancy tapas, guacamole and delicious salads served by their friendly staff, this cafe/bar/restaurant is an exception in the line of overpriced and very touristic eateries in Barceloneta, Barcelona’s neighborhood right at the sea.

Sit down and enjoy a refreshing Clara (beer with lemonade), or the specialty of the house, the Italian inspired Spritz (ask for Aperol, not Campari!) while watching the sea and the surfers (drinks for 3,50 – 10 Euros). You can linger the whole day at the same table, breathing the fresh sea breeze and after sunset you just continue inside the cozy bar.

They also offer wifi internet which is a perfect solution for those who want to check their mail or have to work while enjoying a delicious apple cake.

Sometimes Santa Maria is hosting DJs. Don’t miss to hang out at the bar while listening to their funky tunes.

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Santa Marta | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Drinks up to € 10.00
Carrer de Grau i Torras 59 | Barceloneta | +34691236801
10:00 – 22:00 daily

The Teatreneu is a big place. Actually it is big enough to develop a bar, a restaurant for smokers and non-smokers, a small terrace and an alternative theatre without interference between all these activities.

Let’s talk about the restaurant. The concept is pretty simple: it doesn’t matter what you would like to ask for eating, every dish worth exactly the same and just the drinks would affect the final receipt. It’s a great place to meet with a group of friends, there’s space enough for almost everyone.

The theater offers what bigger places perhaps wouldn’t present attending commercial interests, even though the Xavier Fabregas hall is not as small as you can imagine. Some of them are quite good!

You don’t need to leave the place to discuss the actors, the scenery, the direction or the general performance of the show. Before or after the playing you can drink or eat something at L’Escenari restaurant.

The Teatreneu is a place you need to be acquainted with it if you love theatre, food and Gracia.

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Teatreneu Café -Theatre | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks, Theaters, Restaurants (Med) | Meal € 12:00
Térol, 26 | Gracia | +34932853712
Mon – Fri 19:00 – 01:30, Fri – Sat 19:00 – 03:00