Like Vienna, just over the border in Austria, Bratislava has a cafe culture that dates back to the 17th century. And for a city of its size, Bratislava has an impressive specialty coffee scene. As I was only there for a day, I barely scratched the surface. But I’m excited to report back on the four coffee shops I visited on my very well-caffeinated day trip!
Baryk
A short walk east from Bratislava train station, Baryk is a lovely cafe serving specialty coffee, pastries and other light bites. During my visit, they were serving coffee from Brno-based roaster Industra Coffee and Slovakian roaster Concept.
On entering the coffee shop, I was immediately distracted by the candy-shop-like shelf of retail bags of beans in colourful packaging. I ordered a piccolo, made with an Ethiopian Danse Mormora coffee. It was beautifully brewed with milk chocolate and strawberry notes and excellent latte art.
Baryk is located at Anenská 4, Bratislava. Instagram.
Black
"You look like you need some cake," read the tray on which my coffee was delivered at Black's Gorkého cafe. Sadly, the note came a few minutes late as I'd just had a lovely slice of cake at Bistronomy. But I was in need of coffee and when in a coffee shop called Black, a black filter coffee was the way to go.
The small cafe was bustling when I arrived late on a Saturday afternoon but I scored a seat at the window. As soon as the barista described the anaerobic natural Rwandan coffee they had on batch brew, I was sold! The coffee had really juicy tropical fruit and kiwi notes, especially as it cooled.
Black roast their own coffee and five or six single-origin varieties were on sale on the retail shelf, packaged in cute Bratislava-skyline-themed packaging. They'd make a great souvenir!
Black is located at Gorkého 15, Bratislava. Website. Instagram.
Ost Block
I came across Ost Block en route to my lunch date at Bistronomy. Both are part of a smart modern development at the foot of Bratislava Castle. The cafe is bright and spacious with lots of seating inside and out on the terrace.
There was only time for me to order a piccolo, but I was distracted by the coffee shelf, which had a wonderful selection of beans from Czech and Slovak coffees like Father's (which I sampled at La Claque in Nice), Black (which I tried later, right at the source) and Bratislava-based Goriffee.
The menu featured five different coffees: two on espresso, on for hand-brewed filter coffee, one for batch brew and one for cold brew. I opted for a washed Colombian coffee from Popayan Reserve, roasted by Goriffee. My piccolo was super-sweet, smooth and balanced, with caramel notes. The latte art (pictured in the header image) was great too.
Ost Block is located
at Floriánska 1, Bratislava. Website. Instagram.
Velikán
Velikán is a small cafe close to Freedom Square and a short walk from the Old Town. Inside, it's very relaxed with minimalist décor and a fantastic wall of coffee art — which was where I sat.
The coffee is from Nomad, a roaster I'd visited in Barcelona on my recent trip. There was an espresso from El Salvador producer Carlos Pola in the hopper, which I ordered as a piccolo. The coffee tasted delicious, the milk bringing out the almond and date notes.
Velikán is located at Živnostenská 4, Bratislava. Instagram.
I’d identified several other coffee shops, which I wasn’t able to visit this trip. These are on my list for next time: Liv a Little, which is closed at weekends, and Blue Mondays and Kauka, both of which I ran out of time for at the end of the day.
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