Where To Get the World’s Best Coffee (and How To Enjoy It)
Coffee is a world sport, but tracking down the very best coffee cities, let alone cafés, can be a task that, well, might require a cup of coffee. From lattes to pour-over, each country has a different specialty; so to help make our coffee journey a little easier, we turned to Brodie Vissers—a coffee blogger with experience roasting, farming, serving, and sipping coffee around the world—for some insight.
How to identify a good coffee
Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. According to Vissers, you can buy a bag of excellent coffee and still entirely mess it up in the preparation. But, when looking to buy a bag of beans or just a cup itself, Vissers recommends asking about specific details: what’s the country of origin, and how was the coffee processed?
“If the barista is excited to share more details with you, they know what they’re selling you, and it’s good.” In his experience, the biggest divide between commercial and specialty coffee is in the details. From there, much of it is up to personal taste, so try as much coffee as you can.
Why do certain countries have better coffee than others?
Most countries have access to similar coffee—after all, much of it is grown in the Coffee Belt, which is anywhere between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. According to Vissers, “there are different parameters similar to wine, including the soil and altitude. Higher altitude is often better quality.”
But it has more to do with how long a country has had to develop its coffee program. “For example, there is a lot of coffee in Ethiopia, so it has a unique profile—but now countries like Costa Rica and Panama are getting better. Anywhere along that Belt, it goes into how much effort the producers are putting into it,” says Vissers.
The right way to appreciate coffee
“With coffee, the biggest thing that people are potentially missing is paying attention to the temperature,” says Vissers. Think about wine: red wine is often served at room temp to cool, whereas you might want to chill white wine. Coffee is similar.
“Because the majority of coffee is low quality, people got used to drinking it super hot—you can’t taste all of the defects,” says Vissers. That’s why he recommends making sure your coffee has cooled slightly before drinking. Then? “Don't be afraid to slurp it.” According to Visssers, this aerates the coffee, spreads it around, and helps you pick up different flavors you might have otherwise missed.
Where to get the best coffee in the world
While quality coffee must be grown along the Coffee Belt, countries around the world have perfected different methods for brewing the perfect cup. Here are some of Visser’s favorite cities for coffee, what you should order in that city, and some great café recommendations, too.
Melbourne, Australia
If you make it to Melbourne, you have to try a flat white, according to Vissers. For the uninitiated, a flat white is not only smaller than both a latte and a cappuccino, but the consistency of the milk is distinct as well. Whereas cappuccinos have frothy milk on top, a flat white foam is thinner, and almost floats on top, cloud-like.
While there’s debate over whether the flat white originally came from Australia or New Zealand, Australia has certainly perfected it, as well as the entire café experience. “The unique level of service that these cafés put into their establishments is special,” he says, adding that “they set a new bar for how coffee should be served, with brunch and delicious food.”
If you’re in town, be sure to check out Proud Mary (which also has a location in Portland, Oregon).
Barcelona, Spain
When in Spain, drink cortados. A cortado is one shot of espresso with equal parts milk, and according to Vissers, it’s the drink of choice in the city. While Barcelona doesn’t have a huge history of coffee, Vissers notes that “there are so many people coming to live in Barcelona from around the world and they’ve made an influence on the local café scene.” Barcelona has been quickest to adopt specialty roasts, and if you’re in town, be sure to order a cortado from SlowMov.
Related: 13 Bucket List–Worthy Experiences for Coffee Drinkers
London, England
London may not be the first city that comes to mind when you think of coffee—after all, the English are famously tea drinkers. However, according to Vissers, London is rapidly adopting coffee culture. “[London has] a faster way of life than the rest of Europe,” says Vissers. “People want their coffee to-go so they can hop on the tube and go to work.” If you visit London, PrufRock, a pioneer in specialty coffee and roasting, is a must. “As it compares to other places, their drip coffee is fantastic,” says Vissers. “While most of Europe is into espresso, London is slightly different, and this drip coffee is worth trying.”
Florence, Italy
Italy is, of course, synonymous with coffee and espresso culture, and you can’t really go wrong when it comes to choosing a café. However, if you’re looking for specialty coffee—something the county has been relatively slow to adopt—Vissers recommends Florence. And when you’re there “you must head to Ditta Artigianale.” Not only is it one of the very first specialty coffee spots in all of Italy, but they serve a fantastic ristretto according to Vissers.
A ristretto is similar to an espresso, but is a shorter shot, which means that when you’re using a darker roast, it doesn’t end up tasting as bitter. When made with specialty coffee, it becomes rich, concentrated, and brings out the fruity flavors of a lighter roast.
Oslo, Norway
Oslo is synonymous with the Aeropress, for those in the know. Tim Wendelboe, a renowned coffee roaster and cultivator, also owns a café that essentially made the Aeropress so popular that there are now competitions over who can brew the best cup using this method.
If you haven’t had AeroPress coffee, it essentially combines the best of both worlds when it comes to pour over and espresso, using pressure to aerate the beans and extract more flavor and aromas from the roast. Long story short: when in Oslo, drink Aeropress.
Kyoto, Japan
Japan may not be one of the first places that comes to mind when thinking about coffee, but—per Vissers—their impact on coffee culture has been massive. For example, %Arabica originally began in Kyoto and has spread all over Europe. Vissers recommends visiting the flagship café: “The owner put an emphasis on minimalist design, and it’s very cool to see the displays which explore the world through coffee.”
As for what to order, Vissers suggests getting a Nel Drip. An offshoot of pour over, the Nel Drip—instead of a paper filter—requires a cloth filter. The barista may include aged coffee as well, all to bring out funky, old, rich flavors in your cup.
Chiang Mai, Thailand
“Chiang Mai has a copious ratio of specialty coffee places compared to their population,” Vissers says. If you visit, order a Dirty Coffee. Similar to an iced latte, a dirty coffee results from filling a very cold glass with ice and chilled milk, before dripping espresso over top. The result is an aesthetically pleasing, delicious cup of coffee perfect for the humid weather.
Vissers recommends heading to Graph Contemporary, which has a long menu of different coffee based drinks, kind of like a cocktail list. Some include alcohol, others have tea, and the selection is wide—a unique find in Thailand to say the least.
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