Six Specialty Coffee Shops To Visit in Ubud, Bali

During my recent trip to Bali, I spent almost four days in and around Ubud. After the peaceful surroundings of Munduk Moding Plantation, the hustle and bustle of Ubud was a bit of a shock to the system, but I dived straight into exploring some of the town's numerous specialty coffee shops and roasteries. The places listed are all within about 15 to 20 mins' walk of the centre, depending on where you start. There will be a separate post about all the other things I got up to in Ubud, but read on to find out about my coffee experiences. 

As you can probably guess from my map below, I'll be doing another blog post about the specialty coffee spots I visited in Canggu and Seminyak — some companies have cafes there and in Ubud and I tried to divide my time accordingly. As usual, my very favourites have purple icons (also marked in the list below with an asterisk) and the 'sister locations' I didn't quite have time for are in dark blue. 

Anomali Coffee

First in my list alphabetically, Anomali Coffee was the last coffee shop I visited in Ubud. The sun had finally come out on my last morning and it was a relief to seek refuge inside the air-conditioned coffee haven that is Anomali. There's also a terrace out front if you're better acclimatised to the heat than I was! The specialty coffee company is as old as this blog, dating back to 2007, and has ten cafes across Indonesia. I didn't have time to stop by their Canggu coffee shop, but was glad to make their acquaintance in Ubud.

They serve produced in different parts of Indonesia and — short on time and high on temperature — I opted for a piccolo brewed with the Bali Ulian beans. The friendly baristas did a great job and the latte art looked great in my mini KeepCup, lasting all the way down to the bottom, with a sweet smooth taste. On a related note, although there's a continuum — and some disagreement — over the naming of small milk-based espresso drinks, I was very happy to be firmly in the land of the piccolo throughout my time in Bali!

Anomali Coffee is located at Jl. Raya Ubud No.88. Website. Twitter. Instagram. You can also find them in Canggu and various other locations throughout Indonesia.

F.R.E.A.K. Coffee

I brought my AeroPress Go with me and would brew up a filter coffee in my hotel room each morning, but the next coffee of the day is always an important one for me. F.R.E.A.K. was one of the closest coffee shops to my hotel but I also enjoyed my visit, even if my piccolo was on the long side! F.R.E.A.K. stands for Fresh Roasted Enak Arabica from Kintamani. Enak, in case you were wondering, means 'delicious' in Indonesian, and Kintamani is Bali's primary coffee growing region.

The team focuses on a farm to cup experience and provide information to customers about the whole process from farming, harvesting and processing, to roasting and drinking. The small, cosy cafe was a lovely place to relax over coffee before beginning the rest of my busy day in Ubud.

F.R.E.A.K. Coffee is located at Jl. Hanoman No.19. Instagram.

Pison Coffee

I hadn't come across Pison during my research, but as it was located close to my hotel, on the south side of central Ubud, I walked past several times before I finally had time to stop and visit. It's a beautiful space with a patio area overlooking the vibrant green rice fields, while the airy indoor seating area combines Balinese traditional architecture with a very sleek and shiny espresso bar.

They serve a great all-day menu, but the massive breakfast served at my hotel precluded other breakfast or brunch options in Ubud. Instead, I ordered a piccolo — just for a change, I know. It was a particularly excellent specimen — just look at that small coffee latte art! I wanted to try some filter coffee too but I was still feeling too hot, so I went for the nitro cold brew, which had nice fruity notes and was suitably refreshing. Depending on your tastes, you may be relieved or disappointed to know that I didn't try their house special coffee, which involves avocado and chocolate syrup! Next time, I promise!

Pison Coffee is located at Jl. Hanoman No.10X. Facebook. Instagram. You can also find them in Seminyak.

* Seniman Coffee Studio

You can tell it's a great specialty coffee shop when you order three different coffees even though you already drank about six cups of coffee at a coffee experience in Munduk earlier that day! True story! Seniman Coffee is one of Bali's specialty coffee OG. If you're a coffee geek (and even if you aren't), their Ubud cafe — and the accompanying retail shop and roastery across the street — are a thing of beauty. Seniman means 'artist' in Indonesian and there is definitely plenty of coffee artistry in this place.

I immediately wanted to order all of the things, and so went for an espresso and piccolo flight, which was impeccably brewed and beautifully presented. For dessert, I ordered a Japanese-style iced filter coffee brewed with a natural coffee from Kitamani in Bali, part of Seniman's Karana line. The barista gave me a sample of the same coffee brewed hot, where the juicy berry flavours came through even more strongly. This is just my kind of coffee. Reader, I bought the beans!

In fact, I didn't just buy those beans. Seniman had obviously heard the rumours of my tiny suitcase and as well as the standard retail beans, they also sell gift boxes with three smaller bags. And if someone merits a larger-than-usual gift, they sell home roasters too... No? Maybe just a t-shirt then. And if you have more time than me, you could take a class with their baristas at the workshop.

Seniman Coffee Studio is located at Jl. Sri Wedari No.5. Website. Instagram. You can also find them at Toko Seniman in Denpasar.

Suka Espresso

Suka Espresso is another cafe on the south side of Ubud — I would say a 15-minute stroll, but Ubud isn't really a town where it's possible to stroll that well. In any case, the two-floor cafe was busy when I rocked up at brunch o'clock. I had serious brunch envy as I looked at the other diners, but this diminished once I received my piccolo. Brewed with the house blend (made with coffees from Indonesia), it had delicious chocolate and caramel notes with a little milk. Perfect given that I also managed to order the last chocolate chip cookie!

I loved the open design of Suka too, which is replicated at Lusa by Suka, its sister cafe and restaurant, where I dined while I was in Berawa.

Suka Espresso is located at Jl. Raya Pengosekan Ubud No.108. Website. Instagram. You can also find them in Berawa and Uluwatu.

Ubud Coffee Roastery

Very popular with the wet Wednesday morning crowd — and, I assume, everyone else — Ubud Coffee Roastery is tucked away in a quiet corner of Jl. Goutama Selatan. They roast all of their own coffee and no less than six single-origin coffees from different regions of Indonesia were on offer as a pourover, hot and cold. Once again, I opted for the iced pourover option, selecting a honey-processed coffee from Palasari with the help of the friendly barista.

The coffee had a complex but fruity taste — I would have liked to try it hot too, to experience the flavours even more fully. The usual espresso-based drinks are available too and you can buy bags of retail coffee beans to take home too.

Ubud Coffee Roastery is located at Jl. Goutama Selatan. Website. Instagram.

I didn't have time to visit popular brunch spot Milk & Madu or Goldmine Coffee in Ubud, but I did go to their sister locations in Berawa and Nusa Lembongan, respectively.

Read my other Bali blog posts: Munduk; Ubud; Nusa Lembongan & Nusa Penida; Canggu & Seminyak coffee guide; Canggu & Seminyak; two weeks in Bali.

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