The 24 Coolest Coffee Shops Around the World

Coffee makes the world go round, or so the saying goes. The piping hot brown (or black, depending on preferences) liquid animates drinkers, supplying them with hours of energy to power through the day. Coffee enthusiasts pop into cafes and coffee houses, looking for their next fix. Some drinkers remain stagnant, visiting the same chain repeatedly, but others yearn for new locations to try. The search for an exciting cafe arises when the routine of popping into the same coffee shop grows tiresome. Why not drink coffee inside a banyan tree or fold laundry during the sip? Let’s explore the coolest coffee shops around the world. 

1. Cool Coffee Shops: Don Café House, Pristina, Kosovo

Don Café house’s design parallels how it would feel immersed in a bag of coffee beans. Textured plywood walls jut out of the ground, carving out walls. Chandeliers dangle from the rafters at mismatched angles, replicating an off-kilter design and enhancing the existing inside a coffee sack feeling. 

2. Dripoly Café Pattaya, Chon Buri, Thailand 

The designers behind Dripoly Cafe’s signature look combined two passions for a creative new cafe: drip coffee and geometry. Stark white and silver furniture furnish the minimalist hotspot. We have not yet traveled to Dripoly Cafe, but our eyes remain on their signature drink, Noir: a pick-me-up refreshment comprised of coffee and milk topped with white chocolate charcoal mousse and a crispy rice treat.

3. The Note Café, Hanoi, Vietnam

Millions of heartfelt messages scribbled on post-it notes occupy every morsel of wall space in this Hanoi coffee shop. Visitors adore the cafe’s staple egg or coconut coffees, sipping on the refreshing drink while browsing the motivational notes on the wall, maybe adding their own advice for passersby. 

4. Third Wave Kiosk, Torquay, Australia

An unassuming wooden building roosts on the Victorian shoreline of this cafe. The building’s wavy pillars simulate the rolling waves below the coffee shop. Flocks of surfers congregate near the coffee shop, grabbing a cappuccino and their surfboards for a charged day on the waves. 

5. The Laundromat Cafe, Copenhagen, Denmark

The best way to withstand the grueling activity of laundering dirty clothes is with a cup of caffeine. This cafe in Copenhagen merged laundry and coffee into one location for a standout tourist destination. Throw in a pile of laundry, sit down for some American-themed eats, and slurp down some java. 

6. Little Cove Espresso, Sai Kung, Hong Kong

Mingle with other coffee drinkers at this simplistic café cave. Off-white paint coats the exterior and interior, while plain-paneled wood chairs and floors create a personable interior atmosphere. Little Cove’s specialty drinks include a chocolate beetroot latte, a bulletproof drink: coffee mixed with coconut oil and butter, and a shakerato (a shaken espresso garnished with coconut flakes). 

7. Colo Coffee Candelaria, Bogotá, Colombia

Step into a familiar Bohemian backyard in Bogotá’s Colo Coffee Andes. The construction workers and architects referred to Colombia’s coffee production areas, fancying bamboo ceilings and wooden benches. Grass and leaves spring up around the tables, perpetuating the natural setting for guests. Colo Coffee’s motto pledges to bring the best Colombian coffee to Joe drinkers in every country. 

8. Bar Caffettiera, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Caffettiera draws inspiration from retro Italiano bars prevalent in the 1990s, what with authentic espresso Italiano, checkered floors, and geometric chairs and table setups. We recommend the Marrochino, a tri-layered concoction of cocoa powder, espresso, and foamed milk. It's a delight for coffee drinkers with a sweet tooth. 

9. Cafe Monochrome, Singapore

Cafe Monochrome is Singapore’s first 2D cafe! The cafe’s indoor space plays with the senses. Everything minus the food appears in two-dimensional black and white shades. Customers feel planted in the middle of a storybook from the cartoonish drawings and the cafe’s absence of color. 

10. Lhong Tou Cafe at Yaowarat, Bangkok, Thailand

Coffee drinkers cram into this two-story cafe, picking between upper and lower-level seating. The lower-level patrons enjoy their dirty coffees or sweet osmanthus and butterfly pea tea with a row of upper-level patrons roosting above them. Customers chilling on the upper level scale up narrow steps leading to the top deck. Variegated plants and paintings of peafowl and vases occupy the wall space. 

11. Romeow Cat Bistrot, Rome, Italy

Cat lovers find solace in this 100% vegan cafe and restaurant. Eclectic artwork drapes over the walls of this intimate space as free-range cats roam around the premises, hopping on furniture and basking in the sweet smells emanating from the veggie-friendly kitchen. Romeow serves lip-smacking cappuccinos, coffee, hot chocolate, tea, smoothies, and fruit extract libations. 

12. Du Soleil Café, Lào Cai, Vietnam

Du Soleil Café welcomes visitors to indulge in worldwide favorites like Vietnamese coffee, Italian cappuccinos, and English breakfast tea 10,500 feet above ground. Visitors order their drinks and grab a seat, peering out into the dreamy, cloud-capped Fansipan Mountain, the highest peak in Vietnam. 

13. The Giant Chiangmai Thailand, Mae on District, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Patrons mingle with one another, sipping fresh Thai coffee and Thai tea, perched on wooden platforms inside a banyan tree cafe. Giant Chiangmai, the treehouse treasure, welcomes worldwide visitors to the unique experience of enjoying a refreshment surrounded by nature. A narrow, rocky drive leads up to the Mae on establishment, and a rope bridge trek doubles as the eatery’s entrance. 

14. Coffee Mining Manufacture, Lviv, Ukraine

When in the coffee capital of Ukraine (Lviv), visit a coffee mining manufacturer. Workers at the company treat their coffee beans like wine, storing pounds of crisp beans in an underground chamber beneath Rynok Square. Caffeinated customers enjoy freshly mined drinks ranging from caramel milk coffees to cappuccinos and coffee with condensed milk.  

15. Truth Coffee, Cape Town, South Africa

In 2016, The Daily Telegraph reported that the rustic, steampunk, warehouse-esque cool coffee shop in Cape Town, Truth Coffee, stood out among all other existing coffee coves as the greatest in the world. Truth Coffee supplies guests with pure, truthful coffee, allowing them to watch the tedious hand-roasting process. Customers pick the kind of coffee beans used in their beverage, choice of milk, and drink style: espresso or pour-over. Baristas work with ancient-looking steam-powered machines to craft the perfect, picturesque, never-bitter cup of Joe. 

16. Cafe Bocetos, Antigua, Guatemala 

Cafe Bocetos amalgamates sketchpad drawings with a cafe setting for a storybook experience. Clients gape at the two-dimensional pictures etched into the wall while resting on furniture that also plays into the optical illusion gag of the restaurant. Cafe Bocetos’ customers enjoy mint frappes, Americanos, and espressos.

17. Unicorn Cafe, Bangkok, Thailand 

Unicorn plushies dangle from the ceiling, and vivid furniture season the room, inviting any child or adult with a mystical creature fascination into the speculative space. The Unicorn Cafe serves more sweet treats than coffee, but patrons find satiation with flavored frappes. Other popular options that give into the unicorn theme range from unicorn rainbow waffles and crepe rolls. 

18. Cafe Tortoni, Buenos Aires, Argentina

This cafe boasts a century-old history due to the famous thinkers and singers who gathered within the confines. They spewed out intellectual arguments, debating over facts or conjectures, all while enjoying the non-alcoholic substance that brings strangers together: coffee. Today, elegant chandeliers cast shadows over well-dressed individuals relishing their cafe con leche.

19. Thanks Nature Cafe, Seoul, South Korea 

Enjoy a hot or cold cup of Joe while perusing the news and peering around this Korean cafe in the presence of…sheep! The white-coated creatures mill about Thanks Nature Cafe, mingling with strangers eating or drinking menu items designed after them. 

20. Poop Cafe, Toronto, Canada

Toronto’s Poop Cafe plays into the cutesy brown, smiley emoji, otherwise known as the poop emoji. Each item (Vietnamese coffee, bingpoo—a play on bingsu— doo-doo waffles, or toilet paper roll rolled ice cream) spotlights the excrement emoji. Every dish comes topped with a poop emoji. Coffee and waffles are served in urinal and toilet-shaped dishes as customers plop down on toilet-shaped seats. 

21. Requiem Cafe, Anaheim California 

Requiem Cafe emphasizes a dreamlike atmosphere evoked by cult culture. Baristas craft drinks inspired by Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Barbie, and other favorites like Homestuck and Invader Zim. The purple-pink lights cast an incandescent glow over the fandom cave, complete with a looming centerpiece tree entitled the requiem tree. 

22. Bar Luce, Milano, Italy

Iconic director Wes Anderson stepped away from movie sets to lend his symmetrical, striking color designs to a cafe. Muted greens and blues garnish the interior; pinball machines, situated under uniform wallpaper, please the eye, and a pale-pink pebbled ground paves a path toward the barista counter for aesthetic servings of coffee and other cafe treats. 

23. The Attendant, London, United Kingdom

Order a flat white at this refurbished male toilet cafe. The Attendant opened in the 1890s as a urinal outlet for men, but with forward-thinking and intuitive interior designers Pete Tomlinson and Ben Russel, they converted the bathrooms into countertop seating. Guests perch on emerald green stools between a wooden slab and ceramic urinals adorning the countertops.  

24. Sey Coffe, Brooklyn, New York

This cool coffee shop thrives with minimalism. Inside this New York-based micro-roastery, unpretentious wooden benches implore regulars to relax and bask in the soothing, succulent sanctuary of Sey Coffee. The roastery sources coffee beans from Ecuador, Colombia, and Panama, promising to deliver consumers the finest, highest-grade cup of Joe. The menu suggests drip coffee, espresso, iced coffee, chai tea, mocha, and hot chocolate.