There’s nothing like a great espresso. Whether we’re at home or traveling around the world, we’re always on the lookout for a great, local coffee house. Over the years, we’ve sought out what locals consider to be the best. We do the research to find the ones we think will be the best. Sometimes, we just stumble upon them by accident.
The map above shows some of our favorite places for espresso and coffee from our travels. We update this map continually as we run across some great new finds. We’ve listed reviews of these coffee shops in the review section of our website, which you can find here or by clicking the menu bar above and selecting COFFEE REVIEWS from FOOD DRINK in the menu above.
Many espresso shops roast their own coffee beans, while others use coffee beans roasted by others. Many of the shops that use beans roasted by others, rotate their suppliers regularly. That’s a great opportunity to go back to the same place, yet try a lot of different kinds of coffee. We buy a lot of espresso beans to make espresso at home from purveyors that don’t have a physical location. We have a built in Miele espresso machine at home, that does a pretty decent job of making espresso. On the site, we’ve included reviews of these coffee beans as well.
Many parts of the world have different types of coffee that go beyond the mainstream. In Vietnam, you can try Kopi Luwak. Kopi Luwak is coffee that has been eaten by the asian palm civet (a type of wild cat), digested (where fermentation occurs to the coffee bean) and then passed out of the civet in it’s fecal matter, where it’s then collected and roasted. Prices for Kopi Luwak can be over $300 US per lb.
In addition to traditional brewing or extraction methods, there’s also specialty preparations like Vietnamese coffee, that usually has some chicory mixed in and is brewed using a special cup. It’s also served with condensed milk, so tends to be dark and sweet. Turkish coffee also tends to be darker, thicker and served with sugar mixed in. In Turin, Italy, there’s a local coffee specialty called Bicerin. Bicerin is a combination of espresso, chocolate and milk, served in a special small glass. Both are unique and are worth a try.
Whenever traveling outside the US, stopping for an espresso or coffee is a different experience. Being able to sit in a coffee shop and people watch or spending the afternoon sitting outside on a small side street enjoying conversation is in some cases, a time honored tradition.
You’ll find our reviews of coffee shops and purveyors of coffee beans listed by location on our site. When you go to COFFEE REVIEWS in the menu above, you’ll find our most recent reviews towards the top of the page. You can navigate to any particular location to find a list of coffee shops we’ve checked out, in the right hand column. We’ve also included those purveyors that only sell beans by location in that same list as well. We update our listing of coffee shops regularly as we visit them, so check back often.
Feel free to leave comments in each listing that you’ve been to. We’d love to hear your feedback and have you share it with others. You can also check out images of the coffee shops we’ve visited on Pinterest as well.