Prague not only has beautiful architecture, but also a beautiful coffee culture…here’s a look at a few places that are worth pausing to savor a cup of coffee at.
Best Coffee In Prague
While Czechia did not invent coffee, it played a role in its evolution with the invention of the sugar cube in 1843 in Dačice and also was where the first official patent for decaf coffee was registered in 1962. Specialty coffee shops have caught and are now widespread throughout the city.
Kaférna
Nerudova 32
118 00 Malá Strana, Czechia
+420 777 224 070
10:00 am – 6:00 pm (Friday – Sunday)
This cool little café has cute little alcoves covered in different wallpaper where you can sit and drink coffee with a companion.
Further in, there’s a courtyard with tables and chairs, though it was a bit nippy outside. People live in apartments above the coffee shop…that makes morning coffee quite easy.
Inside, the lovely staff was happy to make me a a flat white. 125 Kč = about 6 USD at the current exchange rate. More expnsive than coffee in New York and LA…
Next day, I started out at a coffee shop called The Miners.
The Miners is a specialty coffee chain based in the Czech Republic with 13 locations as well as outlets in Austria, Spain, Poland, and Slovakia.
The Miners – Charles Bridge
Lázeňská 282/19
118 00 Malá Strana, Czechia
8:00 am – 6:00 pm (daily)
This was my first espresso of the day, so I began with a cortado, then had a flat white. Both were excellent.
These two coffees fueled me for the entire day.
Finally, I did not even bother to go out for coffee on my third day because the coffee at the Andaz Prague was so wonderful. I wound up having three cups with breakfast and that’s my limit for the day…Typically, I have two in the morning and one in the afternoon, but I had all three with breakfast here. I’ll have a review of this hotel up soon.
Bottom line: excellent coffee choices in Prague.
6USD for a flat white is definitely on the high side. Never paid more than EUR2.50 for a cappuccino in a coffee shop in Italy. An espresso is usually EUR1.20 at coffee shops and maximum EUR2 at a restaurant unless you go to tourist traps that overcharge for everything mediocre.
In Italy, there is that law where if you drink coffee at the bar, the pricing is capped. Is it still 1EUR? Whereas if you sit down at a table at the same place, they can charge much more.
It depends on the places you go. Usually 1EUR for a caffe (shot of espresso) at the bar is what you can expect. People leave a 1EUR coin and leave. In Rome, I have seen places charging 1.50EUR but that is in the high tourist areas. I checked my receipts for restaurants and the maximum I paid sitting at a restaurant table after dinner was 2.50EUR. That is a lot if I compare to a dessert that the same restaurant charged me 6EUR. Now, you are correct that if you sit at a coffee shop and order it from a menu, you will pay much higher prices.
Now, the funniest coffee shop sign I have seen was a few years ago in Milan (I took a picture of it). It was a little neighborhood small coffee shop and they had the following (in Italian) at the wall:
One coffee: 3EUR
One coffee, please: 2EUR
Good morning, can I please have a coffee: 1EUR
125 Kc for a coffee. Now you know one reason why locals avoid Prague 1 🙂