6 of My Favorite Specialty Coffee in Budapest

By Tas TóbiásLast updated: Aug. 16, 2025

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The fetishization of craft coffee has enveloped Budapest too, which means that one can easily find specialty coffee shops where fashionable baristas throw around buzzwords like "single origin" and "small batch" as they prepare a pricey cup of pour-over. The flipside: these coffeeshops can lack a sense of place and look nearly identical to one another. I most enjoy a small group of favorites that feel true-to-Budapest, whether they are a mom-and-pop or part of a chain.

#1 Kastner Kommunity

Kastner is a slick coffee shop and community working space in Budapest's District 8. I usually come here for a post-meal coffee following a hearty lunch at Öcsi Étkezde. The massive windows and the elevated podium are perfect for watching the comings and goings of II. János Pál pápa tér, the expansive park across the street. Lingering with your laptop will earn you no dirty looks here, but it is good form to order a fresh cup occasionally if you camp out.

#2 Kelet Café

Some pockets of Buda can be as lively as Pest, but they are few and far between. Bartók Béla Boulevard is one such revitalized neighborhood, featuring art galleries, cafés, and bars. Kelet, a snug new-wave café lined with walls of books, was one of the early birds here that helped revive the area.

The small, crammed tables fill to capacity at all times of the day with an eclectic crowd of college students, fashionable Millennials, and local residents. Be warned: the floor-to-ceiling windows are addictively conducive to people-watching so pick someplace else if you need to get work done. Kelet serves a whole range of coffees, Chinese (oolong) and Japanese (sencha, matcha) loose leaf tea varieties, as well as pastries and cakes.

#3 % Arabica

Arabica is a glitzy Kyoto-based Japanese specialty coffee chain with more than 200 locations worldwide. In Europe, after London and Paris it was to Budapest that the company branched out, specifically to Király utca, the historic heart of Budapest’s lively Jewish Quarter.

Customers can choose from two kinds of beans for the coffee orders and there’s also a roastery on the premises selling made-to-roast packaged beans. The polished location took two years to outfit as the owners, sparing no expense, designed everything down to the minute detail (it’s run as a franchise location by a Hong Kong-based couple).

While adhering to the parent company’s bright and minimalist design, there are local touches, such as the customized glazed tiles of Zsolnay, the famous Pécs-based ceramics manufacturer. Lighting fixtures came from Italy and France; heated Toto toilets from Japan; the soaps from Aesop!

#4 Robert Capa Cafe

The Robert Capa Center houses the largest permanent collection of photography by the famous Hungarian-born photographer and this cafe occupies the ground floor of this wonderful Art Nouveau building. So it is appropriate that a small photography exhibition space shares the premises with the scent of freshly ground coffee, which is strictly dark roasted because that is what the perennially cheerful owner, Zsóka, is partial to (I told Zsóka that her logic defies the rules of the marketplace but she doesn't seem to mind).

Also here: excellent morning pastries and sandwiches. The crowd is refreshingly diverse, with many young musicians from the conservatoire across the street and the nearby Liszt Academy (they enjoy discounts that us ordinaries do not). Open every day of the week!

#5 Massolit Books & Café in Budapest

Combining an English-language bookstore with a café, Massolit is a snug hideaway within Budapest's old Jewish Quarter. The book-lined interior eschews the usual trappings of specialty coffee shops, instead featuring worn-out furniture and a well-earned patina (everything about Massolit bears the fingerprints of its wonderful owner, Judit Pecák). Fortified by caffeine, it's easy to spend hours in one of the nooks and crannies accompanied by a page-turner. That is, if you can find an open seat, which is rare during peak hours because local students and brainy tourists often monopolize Massolit.

The book selections span pulp fiction, history, biographies, classical literature, and English translations of Hungarian novelists such as Ferenc Molnár, Sándor Márai, Magda Szabó, Péter Nádas, and László Krasznahorkai. In the warm months, the nondescript outdoor section opens in the back of the space. A true-to-Budapest treasure. FYI: it is possible to purchase Offbeat Budapest t-shirts here!

#6 Mantra Specialty Coffee Bar

Mantra is a specialty coffee shop in Budapest located on a charming downtown backstreet lined with trees and wrought-iron street lamps. Ironically, this quiet area is just a block from the tourist-heavy Váci Street. Mantra serves an especially broad range of filter coffees made with AeroPress, Chemex, V60, and Gina equipment. The light-roasted coffee beans arrive from Ethiopia, Brazil, and Honduras and teas are also served. The inside is fitted with Persian carpets, yellow leather couches, comfortable chairs, and big windows – yes, an ideal place for lingering. Open on Sundays, too.

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