Apparently the Irish drink more tea per capita than any other people in the world. As soon as I moved here I had to find where I would get my tea.

The Berliner Teesalon on Invalidenstraße proudly states that it has “tea specialities from all over the world”. And it does! This charming old-style Laden is home to over 250 types of tea including a whole shelf devoted to my own beloved Barry’s Tea! (I’m sipping it now as I type.)

It was only after I left Ireland that I realised there was more than one type of tea and the Berliner Teesalon seems to have all of them under one roof: black teas from India, white teas from China, green teas from Japan… Oolong, Pu Erh, Darjeeling, Sikkim, rooibos, Jasmine and flower teas – they’re all in tins and boxes which line the shelves in this veritable treasure trove of tea. Of course there are all sorts of tea implements available too, from teapots of all shapes and sizes to strainers and sieves to ensure the perfect cup.

To help tea aficionados with their choices, once every month or so customers are invited to try a selection of teas over a couple of hours for €12 (check website for dates). House-mixed teas in colourful tins prove very popular as gifts. “Es gibt nicht den Tee,” replied the woman when I asked which was the best. It just seems I’ll just have to try them all.

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Berliner Teesalon | Coffee & tea, Shopping | Barry’s Gold Blend (80 bags) € 7.25
Invalidenstraße 160 | Mitte | +493028040660
Mon – Fri 12:00 – 19:00, Sat 10:00 – 16:00

Long one of my favourite haunts, the only disadvantage bohemian Café Cinema has for me is that it seems to be one of everybody else’s favourite haunts too. It can be hard to find a table!

I first stumbled in here in 2004 and I’ve been stumbling out of it pretty often since.

Old movie posters and film snaps decorate the walls, overseen by film-set lighting above, but it’s the classic lines of its simple and tasteful furniture, with candles adorning the tables, which give this cosy Berlin institution (in operation since 1990) its cosmopolitan air.

But for the music which is always great, (I’ve never heard a bad song here), you would imagine you were back in the 1920s, a wonderful time to be in Berlin by all accounts. (I’m not that old.)

Friendly prices ensure regulars return, with coffee just €1.50, beer (.5l) for €2.90, and proper Cuba Libres being set free for €4. Snacks range from cake for €1, stew with bread for €2.50, a mixed salad with sheeps’ cheese and tuna for €3.70, or (from 18:00) two fried eggs with salad and your choice of tomato, ham or mushroom, or a combination, for no more that €3.50.

Café Cinema is a favourite meeting place for Berliners and it stays open late too. That’s probably not a coincidence.

Don’t forget to check out Haus Schwarzenberg (check the Haus Schwarzenberg article) just behind it while you’re here.

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Café Cinéma | Bars, Coffee & tea, Music, Snacks | Cake € 1.00
Rosenthaler Straße 39 | Mitte | +49302806415
12:00 – late daily

A short tram ride east will bring you all the way to Asia. Well, not quite – Berlin’s public transport isn’t that good – but the M8 will bring you as far as the Dong Xuan Center where a thriving Vietnamese community is blossoming on what used to be decrepit industrial wasteland.

‘Little Vietnam’ consists of an untidy collection of huge hangers stuffed to the brim with shops upon shops selling all manner of stuff you never knew you needed. Tacky and flashy are the order of the day – this is the place to come for neon shop signs, plastic flowers, cheap wedding dresses, rubber reindeer or plastic figurines. Those friendly one-armed waving cats can of course be found here, as can porcelain pigs engaging in activities no decent porcelain pig would normally be found in.

Weird wares are scattered all around, sandwiched between karaoke bars, shoe shops, barbers, hair salons and nail salons. It’s another world. Old men play cards at a furious pace around tables under clouds of smoke, money changing hands quicker than the eye can see. Live carp patiently await purchase in huge tanks at the back of supermarkets crammed with tins of things I’d never heard of and crazy fruit I’d never seen before.

Browsing through the hustle and bustle is hungry work and a number of restaurants of questionable hygiene offer authentic Vietnamese cuisine. Again, you might have no idea what you’re eating but hey, it’s cheap, cheerful, and certainly an adventure!

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Dong Xuan Center | Bars, Coffee & tea, Shopping, Snacks, Restaurants (Vietnamese)
Herzbergstr. 128 | Outer – North&East | +493055152038
Mon – Sat 09:00 – 18:00

The heavenly smells wafting from Schwarze Pumpe will draw you in from the cold, or long day of exploring, even before you’ve realized whether you’re hungry or not. In fact, you may wander in for just one Hefeweißbier (€ 2.90) and find yourself ordering a delicious Chili Con Carne (€ 4.50) too, as I did.

This cozy little pub/café/Kneipe has long been a favorite with locals, offering heart-warming (limbs too) German fare at its most tempting since it opened in 1993. Daily specials like Fenchel-Tomaten-Suppe (€ 3.50), broccoli and potato bake (€ 6), cheese Spätzle (schwäbische noodles) with salad (€ 6), or Grünkohl in Kräuter (cabbage in herbs, € 3.50) are written on a board and taste much better than they sound. (Thankfully this rule applies to most German cuisine.)

A menu also offers set dishes at very reasonable prices – breakfast, including the typical Rühreier (scrambled egg) with bread for € 3.20, is served from 10:00 -14:00, the kitchen remains open to 23:00, and a very popular Sunday brunch is available for just € 5 every… well, Sunday.

This old-fashioned joint looks like it hasn’t been done up in years, exactly as I like it, and the homely feeling is extenuated by the friendly staff who seem to know everyone who walks in the door.

With the day’s newspapers available for perusal, good music, a cozy atmosphere, simple wooden decor and delicious food and drink, you might find yourself staying longer than originally planned.

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Schwarze Pumpe | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks, Restaurants (German) | Apfelschorle € 1.50
Choriner Straße 76 | Mitte | +49304496939
10:00 – 01:00 daily (Kitchen ’til 23:00)

Russians know how to party. One of the most famous ones in Germany is the writer Wladimir Kaminer. He came to Berlin in 1990 and started a Russian Disco at the Kaffee Burger 8 years ago.

Soon the Russendisko turned into a real Berliner institution. The two DJs, Kaminer and Yuriy present famous Russian Pop, Hip Hop, Rock, Ska and Reggae twice a month on Saturday.

Kaffee Burger used to be frequented by actors, authors and singers in the 70′s and the atmosphere is still authentic. Old velour wallpaper, dark wooden chairs, leather lounges and dim light make this place perfect for Russian parties where Vodka flows freely and the joint is always jumping. An old GDR-list of beverages on the wall and the huge soldier’s head next to the checkroom remind you of times when one part of Germany was run by a socialist regime.

Now people from all over the world dance together to the beat on the rather small dance floor. Hot air and lots of romping people create a frenetic party atmosphere that generally gets started around midnight and lasts until 4 or 5 in the morning.

Aside from Russendisko on Saturday nights, it’s also worth it to visit Kaffee Burger for other events. Almost every day they offer readings, live music, movies or parties. Kaffee Burger Bar itself is always open on Friday and Saturday evening.

The next Russendisko dates you will find here.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Kaffee Burger | Bars, Coffee & tea, Music | Entry fee € 5.00
Torstraße 60 | Mitte | +493028046495
Fri – Sat 22:00 – open end, Sun – Thu open during events

In the neighborhood of minimalistic Asian restaurants and newly built hotels you will find one of the many typical shabby Berlin coffee places. But this one is not only furnished with second hand seating accommodations surrounded by grey walls.

The coffee place “Mein Haus am See”, which means in English “My house at the lake”, is a quite new location which established near Rosenthaler Platz in December 2009. After entering the place through a big window you will find a high spatial with lots of space for all the inviting couches.

In the back there is a stand where you can sit on big stairs. The walls look like they do after an incomplete renovation, but they have beautiful drawn pictures on them. Next to the small room you find a separate smoker’s area behind a glass wall – a real luxury for smokers in Berlin!

Besides the interior there is another fact, which makes this location unique: “Mein Haus am See” is open 24 hours every day. They serve not only coffee, but also tea with fresh peppermint or ginger, different breakfasts and snacks, cakes and more. This is definitely a second living room!

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Mein Haus am See | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Latte Macchiato € 2.50
Brunnenstraße 197-198 | Mitte | +493023883561
24 hours daily

Normally a “Datscha” is a seasonal second home often located in the exurbs of Russian cities. But this Datscha is situated in the middle of Friedrichshain Kiez (neighbourhood) and is a temporal second home for people who want to experience another culture.

Café Datscha represents the house of an old, rich Babushka, with high ceilings, wooden furniture, wide doors of colorful glass and many tiny framed pictures on the wall. On her menu she has everything the Russian/Ukraine/… grandchild can imagine: Borscht, Blintz, Pelmeni, Vareniki and much more.

If you want to try the wide range of snacks, sweets and warm food you have to visit the café on Sunday. Then they offer a big brunch (10:00-16:00) for 9 Euro (children 6 Euro).

So, Приятного аппетита (prijatnogo appetita!)

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Café Datscha | Coffee & tea, Restaurants (Russian/Ukraine) | Blini € 5.50
Gabriel-Max-Straße 1 | Friedrichshain | +493070086735
From 10:00 daily

Chocolate, Ice cream, cakes and coffee – in this cafe you are spoilt for choice!

In a small oriel of a grand building which is situated near Savignyplatz, people with a passion for sweets will feel at home. In summer you can sit outside and watch the passers-by while enjoying your ice cream, in winter the small cozy interior invites you to a hot chocolate. In the tubular room you will find two big vitrines for ice cream and cakes in the front and comfortable armchairs in the back.

The ambiance is perfect for enjoying special coffee drinks like Chocolate café to the full. Also breakfast, yogurt with fruits, baguette, antipasti and wine is offered.

If you want to go there more often you should get a Bleibtreu-Karte (loyalty card) which gives you a loyalty bonus (a free coffee or ice cream) after 9 visits/stamps.

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Chokocafé | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Hot dark Chocolate € 2.80
Bleibtreustraße 15/16 | Charlottenburg | +493060927872
Mon – Sat 11:00 – 19:00, Sun 13:00 – 19:00

Coming to Berlin but starving for an original American breakfast? Then you have to check out “The California Breakfast Slam” in Neukölln. It’s the only place where you can find “Fluffy Pancakes”, “Texas Style Turkey Sausages” or “Organic Poached Eggs on Cured Ham Slice”. For us Germans who are used to “Brötchen” (buns) and marmalade it is maybe a little bit unusual to have a hot meal for breakfast but in Berlin you can not escape the multicultural influences.

The kitchen chef Patrick Blasa is also a musician and comes from California. He’s always missed a delicious home breakfast since he came to Berlin 8 years ago. One day he stopped looking for it in Berlin and just started to offer it himself. But this food is not like you would find it on every corner in the states, it claims some gourmet twists as you can see on the menu which changes every weekend. Patrick himself cooks in the kitchen and always considers the good quality of the food he buys for the dishes.

The California Breakfast Slam happens only on weekends. Make sure to reserve a table if you plan a slam there – or just drop by if you are in the area, you may be lucky!

Details about this spot (Show on map)
The California Breakfast Slam | Coffee & tea, Festivals & events, Restaurants (American) | Starter € 3.80
Pflügerstrasse 19 | Kreuzberg
Sat – Sun 10:00 – 16:00

The first thing that comes to your mind when you enter Sankt Oberholz: Is this an office or a cafe? People typing on their computers can be seen everywhere. From time to time, they take a sip of their Latte Macchiato, watching who enters the room while chatting with their neighbor. The secret ingredient at Sankt Oberholz is simple: Wireless Internet. This is no new concept in Berlin but somehow this one has become the preferred hotspot for laptop owners and wireless nomads.

But don’t worry, pixel lovers aren’t the only ones welcome here. There are some more things that make St. Oberholz such a special place to visit. For example, lots of interesting, creative and international people frequent the cafe, located in Berlin’s trendy Mitte District.

So it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary if the nerdy boy at the next chair the leader of an electro band, and if you look closer, the gonzo guy buying a fresh-made peppermint tea could be the author of a popular controversial coming-of-age novel. Or maybe they are just normal students like me.

Be sure to go upstairs and have a seat next to the huge windows. There you’ll have a great view over bustling Rosenthaler Platz – that means more people to watch plus the beautiful light of the sunset in the evening.

By the way, the self-service bar in the cafe offers a huge plate of delicious Spaghetti Bolognese for € 5.00! For smaller appetites you can chose from cakes, sandwiches, bagels and soups.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Cafe Sankt Oberholz | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks, Restaurants (Intern.)
Rosenthaler Straße 72a | Mitte | +493024085586
Mon – Fri 08:00 – 00:00, Sat – Sun 09:00 – 00:00