Because it\u2019s Czechia, there\u2019s naturally the promise of excellent beer. But you\u2019ll also find Brno abundant with wine<\/a> from the municipalities just to its south, quirky and internationally lauded cocktail bars<\/a>, and a burgeoning specialty coffee sector. Since I first moved near Brno in 2014, it\u2019s begun to seem like new cafes open every month, and good coffee is to be found in every nook and cranny of the winding city. \u201cThe cafe culture in Brno is extensive, fantastic and diverse,\u201d says Ji\u0159ina Pla\u010dkov\u00e1 of Caf\u00e9 Placzek. \u201cYou can even enjoy excellently prepared coffee in small student cafes with confidence. Brunches, which we first offered 10 years ago, are now an attraction at many cafes.\u201d<\/p>\n The local cafe culture has its own idiosyncrasies; for example, the popularity of \u201climon\u00e1da,\u201d a sparkling water beverage served with your choice of house-made fruit or herbal syrups, has influenced unique takes on cold coffee drinks, from Kafec\u2019s Mangoffein to V Melounov\u00e9m cukru\u2019s espresso tonic with grapefruit juice and juniper brandy. Because it\u2019s such a challenge to narrow down the great cafes in Brno, take this as a list of places with consistently great atmosphere, where you can get to know Brno as the gem it is.<\/p>\n \u201cAll roads lead to Kafec<\/a>,\u201d beckons a blackboard in the arched passageway that leads right into the popular cafe\u2019s courtyard (translation mine\u2014Kafec is pronounced \u2018kafetz\u2019). With Kafec\u2019s eight locations found across Czechia\u2019s major cities, including two in Brno, this has a ring of truth to it.<\/p>\n Though Kafec first opened in Brno in 2010, according to the Kafec website, founder Tom\u00e1\u0161 Kone\u010dn\u00fd opened his first-ever cafe in his parent\u2019s living room when he was eight years old (it served Nescaf\u00e9 and Czech-style Turkish coffee, which is hot water poured directly onto ground coffee). Since then, he\u2019s developed the concept considerably: Kafec is a well-recognized name in the specialty sphere, where presentation is a top priority for the friendly baristas, who are always willing to advise on the best possible coffee and food experience. Trust me, you\u2019ll want to take them up on this\u2014their breakfast and brunch menu is enormous.<\/p>\n Kafec offers primarily single-origin coffees. Each day\u2019s two espresso options are detailed on Victoria Arduino<\/a> grinders, and guests can choose any coffee for filter preparation. Espresso is prepared with 15 grams of coffee on the Naked Portafilter<\/a>, a type of bottomless portafilter. On the tail end of summer, I try Kafec\u2019s Peru Tiofilo Perales coffee as espresso (pleasant acidity), their Mangoffein iced drink with cold brew and mango juice (a delicious, unexpected combo), and the Coffee Bitter (their take on the espresso tonic, with cold brew).<\/p>\n The brightly lit, two-floor cafe offers plenty of space, including courtyard seating. The color scheme is as cheerful as the baristas, combining a robin\u2019s egg blue bar with light wood accents, and a blue-and-beige espresso machine to match. A full-wall blackboard displays the day\u2019s coffees, including a pairing with one of their \u201clegendary\u201d sweet or savory waffles (gluten-friendly options). This location has an accessible bathroom!<\/p>\n With three full-scale cafes and one pop-up to be found around the city, REBELBEAN<\/a> is a truly Brno-grown brand. Since 2013, co-founders Michal Stec and Jan \u0160palek (who left Brno roastery Gill\u2019s Coffee<\/a> to start REBELBEAN) have nurtured it into one of the country\u2019s most recognized roasters. Their Head of Coffee is two-time Czech Barista Champion Denis Kram\u00e1\u0159<\/a>.<\/p>\n Upon walking into REBELBEAN Vln\u011bna, nearby the Galerie Va\u0148kovka shopping center, you might feel you\u2019ve stepped into a whole new planet of specialty coffee. The phrase #BUD\u2019REBEL (\u201cBe a rebel\u201d) blazes from a bright red neon sign at one end of the long room, where REBELBEAN coffee is on display next to a wide range of home brewing equipment. Some coffees feature uniquely Czech tasting notes like dandelion honey in PERU ELVIS TINEO RAFAEL and plum jam in MY DAILY MIX #10, a blend of coffees from Honduras, Peru, and El Salvador that boasts a Spotify playlist of the same name<\/a>.<\/p>\n REBELBEAN\u2019s pricey yet expansive drink menu, above the Victoria Arduino espresso machine, includes teas, natural wines and cocktails, light bites, and an impressive display of colorful cakes. Spoiled for choice, I decide on the \u201cdegustation combo\u201d that features batch brew, espresso, and cortado on a wooden serving tray. It\u2019s the smoothest cortado I\u2019ve ever had.<\/p>\n Brno-based firm Kaplan Architekti<\/a> designed this bright, industrial space that resembles an open office\u2014well-suited to its location in the middle of Vln\u011bna office park, on the site of a former factory. The atmosphere is modern but relaxed, with a bar made of honey oak alongside dark gray metal and chrome accents, exposed ceiling pipes, and custom-made fluorescent light fixtures. Both REBELBEAN\u2019s style and level of quality fit their proclamation on Instagram: \u201cWe live for coffee. We do things our way. We don\u2019t follow the crowd. We are Rebels!\u201d<\/p>\n With seating that looks out onto a statuesque Franciscan church (Kostel svat\u00fdch Jan\u016f<\/a>), Caf\u00e9 Placzek<\/a> is my favorite place to spend contemplative sunlit mornings and weekend brunches. Married couple Ji\u0159ina Pla\u010dkov\u00e1 and Ji\u0159\u00ed Pla\u010dek opened the sit-down cafe, which bears the pre-World War II form of their family name, Placzek, in 2013 (both \u2018cz\u2019 and \u2018\u010d\u2019 are pronounced like the \u2018ch\u2019 in \u2018chair\u2019). The cafe is located on the first two floors of a Functionalist<\/a> building, with the couple\u2019s bed-and-breakfast on the remaining three.<\/p>\n It was very important to the Pla\u010dkovi (Pla\u010deks) to honor the history of the area and their family\u2019s connection to it. The pre-war Placzek family, who were of Jewish origin, ran a department store not far from the cafe\u2019s current location. Meanwhile, the modern-day Pla\u010deks engaged architects from the RAW studio<\/a> to help them preserve the cafe building\u2019s 1930s Functionalist style, which guests can see in elements like the round chamfered tables and custom-built TON chairs<\/a> with rattan webbing. In contrast, a large bright-red Spanish veneer chandelier \u201clends the cafe a modern touch,\u201d Pla\u010dkov\u00e1 says.<\/p>\n For their coffee, Caf\u00e9 Placzek has built a long-term relationship with the Liberec-based roaster NORDBEANS<\/a>, which sources sweet, single-origin Brazilian coffee for espresso and a variety of African and South American single-origins for filter. Behind the bar, baristas prepare batch brew, pour-overs on V60 or Chemex, and classic espresso drinks on a Victoria Arduino Eagle One. Regardless of the season, guests\u2019 favorite coffee drink is \u201cunambiguously cappuccino,\u201d Pla\u010dkov\u00e1 says, but they also offer coffee drinks with flavors like jasmine, thyme, and lavender.<\/p>\n Beyond its relaxed, friendly atmosphere, the cafe\u2019s international food menu is another standout element. You\u2019ll find Ashkenazi Jewish influences like blintzes, shakshuka, and latkes \u2014 from the Pla\u010deks\u2019 grandma\u2019s handwritten cookbook\u2014next to variations on Eggs Benedict and a Franciscan breakfast plate. Fresh bread and pastries are made each morning.<\/p>\n The couple\u2019s overall vision, says Ji\u0159ina Pla\u010dkov\u00e1, was \u201cto create a unique place, […] to live up to the family tradition of entrepreneurship [and] to return [the Placzek] name, formerly a label of quality, to the people of Brno.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s more to this cafe\u2019s opaque exterior than meets the eye. Anyone who has stepped foot in V Melounov\u00e9m cukru<\/a>\u2014a direct translation of Richard Brautigan\u2019s 1968 novel titled In Watermelon Sugar<\/i> into Czech\u2014knows the cafe and wine bar has no shortage of personality. Yet its exterior, despite the graffiti, is somehow so nondescript that if you blink, you might miss it. Look for it in the alleyway off Josefsk\u00e1 street, a thoroughfare leading from Brno\u2019s main train station towards Freedom Square.<\/p>\n Inside, you\u2019ll find a specialty cafe\u2019s pursuit of quality combined with the dry wit of a dive bar. The counter is winged by liquor bottles, a La Marzocco<\/a> espresso machine, and a blackboard with the latest \u201cesko\u201d (local slang for \u201cespresso\u201d) and seasonal offerings accompanied by playful chalk drawings, while Polaroids strung across the left-hand wall add personality to the dark panels.<\/p>\n V Melounov\u00e9m cukru offers two kinds of beans at a time, one for espresso and another for batch brew, from Czech roasters like Jedno Kafe<\/a> and Beansmith\u2019s Coffee Roastery<\/a>. Their constantly evolving menu features unique and funny drinks, including coffee cocktails: During my first-ever visit, I couldn\u2019t help but order Babi\u010d\u010dinu paruku (\u201cGrandma\u2019s Wig\u201d), a coffee served with cotton candy on top. This time, my trepidation over the espresso tonic with grapefruit juice and borovi\u010dka (Juniper brandy), a distilled pine spirit with Slovak origins, is for nought\u2014the acidity and multi-faceted buzz are delightful.<\/p>\n Not only does V Melounov\u00e9m cukru take coffee seriously, they also take tea, wine, and liquor seriously. Tea lovers will also find a select menu of loose leaf teas complete with a description of their origins and flavor profiles. If you\u2019re lucky, you\u2019ll find cakes from the famed Brno bakery SORRY – PE\u010cEME JINAK<\/a> (\u201cSorry, we bake differently\u201d), which lays claim to the original \u201cmoss cake,\u201d in their display case.<\/p>\n For this cafe bar, which Brno\u2019s tourism site has called<\/a> \u201ca piece of Berlin in Brno\u201d (translation mine), it\u2019s all in the name: Punkt.<\/a> offers great coffee\u2014and cake\u2014period.<\/i><\/p>\n An oft-praised darling of the Brno specialty coffee scene founded in 2016, Punkt. is located on a residential street to the west of Lu\u017e\u00e1nky Park, a large green space that I like to think of as the Central Park of Brno. The higher price point of Punkt.\u2019s coffee menu brings a significant rise in quality, including great service from in-the-know baristas.<\/p>\n The cafe offers a rotating list of beans, both roasted under their own name and from Czech roasters like Fiftybeans<\/a> and Doubleshot<\/a>. On my last spring visit, I could choose from Punkt.\u2019s Colombia Nelson Taborda and Fiftybeans\u2019 Kenya Mara Estate, both naturals, for espresso, and Punkt.\u2019s Mexiko Ucuhiti on batch brew. AeroPress and V60 brewing methods are available alongside espresso drinks made on a sleek black Victoria Arduino espresso machine.<\/p>\n You can grab a gorgeous cake or pastry to go accompany your brew, with gluten-friendly and vegan options available. Like in any good Czech cafe, you can also order craft beer or peruse the liquors on display behind the coffee bar.<\/p>\n Punkt. strikes me as a place where quiet literary types and punk rockers are equally at home. Seafoam green cups and a liberal dose of green plants provide a pop of color against the black cafe bar and furniture made from stained dark pine wood. The cafe\u2019s window seats look out onto a front patio with seating space for sunny days, but it\u2019s not the only way to enjoy Punkt. The cafe\u2019s motto is to offer \u201ca good mood for every type of weather\u201d (translation mine).<\/p>\n A short walk that\u2019s nearly equidistant from both Lu\u017e\u00e1nky Park and the Moravian Square (Moravsk\u00e9 n\u00e1m\u011bst\u00ed), Coffee Bar Mymika<\/a> takes its name from a simple, straightforward concept. The Czech portmanteau \u201cMyMiKa\u201d (pronounced like \u2018mih-mee-kah\u2019) is short for \u201cmy milujeme k\u00e1vu,\u201d or \u201cwe love coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n When I think about Mymika, the first word that comes to mind is \u201csweet.\u201d The cafe uniquely offers a drink called the Coco-Chilli Flat White, with a harmonious blend of coffee, coconut milk, and chili that starts light and ends spicy. It pairs well with any of the delectable cakes on offer.<\/p>\n Mymika is a great place to enjoy coffee from Czech roasters like QB Coffee Roasters<\/a>, Fiftybeans, and Beansmith\u2019s Coffee Roastery<\/a>, available as batch brew, V60 or Chemex pour-overs, and espresso drinks brewed on a La Marzocco GB5. The drink menu also offers wine and other light alcoholic drinks in addition to seasonal \u201clemonades\u201d made with homemade fruit and herbal syrups.<\/p>\n I love Mymika for its relaxing atmosphere and its window seats, where I can work on my laptop safe away from the traffic of the busy street. In the main part of the cafe, wooden benches are decked with pillows and accented by yellow chairs. If you stop by with the intention of looking away <\/i>from your screen, you can cuddle up to the big wood bookshelf or sip coffee beneath the watchful eyes of pop art-styled portraits by Klaudie \u0160vr\u010dkov\u00e1<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kult Cafe<\/a> looks out onto the bustling, tree-lined Husitsk\u00e1 street, which is closer to the Kr\u00e1lovo Pole train station than the Brno main station. Owner Bohdan founded it for the working and student regulars who create the daily life of the area. As he writes on the Kult Cafe website (translation mine), \u201cI didn\u2019t drink coffee for many years [before opening the cafe]. I probably never tasted good coffee! While tasting my first excellent espresso I understood that there was a gaping hole in my life!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cKult\u201d (pronounced like \u2018koolt\u2019) is short for \u201ckultivovan\u00e9 chut\u011b,\u201d meaning \u201ccultivated tastes.\u201d The cafe offers batch-brew coffee, espresso drinks, Sonnentor<\/a> teas, wine, beer, and homemade apple cider and cakes. At any given time, there are two different coffees from Brno roaster Caff\u00e9 del Saggio<\/a>, brewed on their gold La San Marco espresso machine<\/a>. The standing offer is a Brazil Cerrado dulce with light chocolate tones for espresso and milk drinks, occasionally alternating with a fruitier, more acidic coffee of African origin.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll recognize Kult Cafe by the geometric logo of a coffee cup sticking out from the shop and the retro La San Marco espresso machines in the windows. The cafe\u2019s calm, white interior with multiple rooms was designed by architecture firm \u0160\u00e1rka \u0160\u00e1rka<\/a>, and alternates colorful furniture between low booths and high chairs. The first, minimalist impression of the space is balanced by drawings of robots on their white boards, the display of glasses and cezve (a small, long-handled pot with a pouring lip) to the left of the bar, and bookshelves stacked with Czech tomes.<\/p>\n The cafe rotates its art displays regularly. During late 2020, I saw COVID particles made out of pipe cleaners and illustrations of people wearing face masks. In April 2023, three full walls are taken up by different interpretations of the Eurasian blue tit (it\u2019s a bird!) drawn by students from a local art school.<\/p>\n While you won\u2019t find an Aeropress or V60 at Kult, you will find some other standouts for Brno: espresso tonic, a Greek frapp\u00e9, Turkish tea, and an \u00e0 la carte breakfast menu offered from opening at 7:30 through 1 pm. I recommend the scrambled eggs with fresh chives, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber slices. Kult Cafe is a great place to stop before getting your evening bite to eat (the cafe is surrounded by a number of restaurants and bars) or to start your day the next morning.<\/p>\n Final Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n It would be challenging to create a fully comprehensive list of all the great cafes in Brno. My other recommendations include Caf\u00e9 Momenta<\/a>, a breath of fresh air on the busy yet picturesque Cabbage Market square (Zeln\u00fd trh); Mitte Pansk\u00e1<\/a>, a specialty cafe with a hostel one door over; De Fleurs<\/a>, a florist caf\u00e9 with delectable homemade treats and quaint outdoor seating; and newcomer Monogram Espresso Bar<\/a>.<\/p>\n Chlo\u00e9 Skye Weiser (<\/i>@apostropheskye<\/i><\/a><\/i>) is a freelance sustainability and culture writer from NYC and based in Denmark. Read more from Chlo\u00e9 Skye Weiser on Sprudge.\u00a0<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Where to drink coffee in Brno, Czechia.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":381,"featured_media":219031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7029],"tags":[29755,29746,29765,29752,3228,29763,19214,29759,18761,29767,29758,29757,29750,9420,29754,29747,29751,29762,342,19658,29766,29768,29748,29717,29756,29760,29749,29764,29761,7484,29753,6756],"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"link","format":"url"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219014"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/381"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219014"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221890,"href":"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219014\/revisions\/221890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"brno](\"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/brno_kafec_interior_chloeweiser-1067x800.jpg\")
<\/p>\nKafec Brno Oral<\/h4>\n
![\"brno](\"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/brno_rebelbean_interior_chloeweiser-1067x800.jpg\")
<\/p>\nREBELBEAN Vln\u011bna<\/h4>\n
![\"brno](\"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/brno_rebelbean_exterior_chloeweiser-1067x800.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"brno](\"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/brno_cafeplaczek_exterior_chloeweiser-1067x800.jpg\")
<\/h4>\nCaf\u00e9 Placzek<\/h4>\n
![\"brno](\"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/brno_vmelounovemcukru_exterior1_chloeweiser-1024x800.jpg\")
<\/p>\nV Melounov\u00e9m cukru<\/h4>\n
![\"brno](\"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/brno_vmelounovemcukru_exterior2_chloeweiser-1031x800.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"brno](\"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/brno_vmelounovemcukru_interior_chloeweiser-1067x800.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"brno](\"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/brno_punkt_exterior_chloeweiser-1067x800.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPunkt.<\/h4>\n
![\"brno](\"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/brno_punkt_interior_chloeweiser-1067x800.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"brno](\"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/brno_mymika_exterior_chloeweiser-1067x800.jpg\")
<\/h4>\nCoffee Bar Mymika<\/h4>\n
![\"brno](\"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/brno_mymika_interior_chloeweiser-1067x800.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"brno](\"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/brno_kultcafe_exterior_chloeweiser-1067x800.jpg\")
<\/p>\nKult Cafe<\/h4>\n
![\"brno](\"https:\/\/sprudge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/brno_kultcafe_interior_chloeweiser-1067x800.jpg\")
<\/p>\n