World’s Top 9 Coffee Cities Every Coffee Lover Should Visit

Coffee lovers are always on the lookout for the best cup. Most are aware of where the best lattes are made locally in their town or city. But what about around the world? If you want to enjoy a truly great cup of coffee, here are the best cities to visit:

Vienna

The coffee house culture in Vienna is listed as an “intangible culture heritage” by an agency that’s part of UNESCO. If you want to see where people first became obsessed with cafes, Vienna is the place to be.

The cafes in Vienna are so unique that they have been considered “second homes” by caffeine addicts. Viennese cafes have spacious and elegant interiors that are definitely worth an international trip. The experience you will enjoy here is quite different from how you would feel in a modern coffee shop.

Seattle

It’s better known as the home of tech giants like Microsoft, but Seattle is also where the original Starbucks café is located. So if you are a fan of modern coffee culture, a visit to Seattle is a must.

Starbucks is not the only coffee attraction here. Seattle has the highest number of coffee shops in the United States. It includes many Starbucks-esque imitators as well as unique indie joints with exotic latte mixes. If there ever was a coffee capital, then it probably would be Seattle.

Rome

Italy has a huge coffee drinking culture, but it has been slow to take up the modern barista phenomenon. There’s one exception though: Rome.

The ancient city is known for serving a good cup of espresso. Roman baristas have meticulously perfected espresso and related beverages, mainly because locals don’t drink coffee with milk after breakfast. If you are a black coffee fan, Rome is a must-visit destination.

Venice

The earliest café as we know it was first opened in Mecca, in the Middle East. The first-ever coffee café in Europe opened in Venice. All the more reason to include this breathtaking historical urbanscape in your travel itinerary.

Venice is great for enjoying a cup of coffee in relative peace. The city is a tourist hotspot, but it’s not as busy or rambunctious as similar tourist attractions.

Melbourne

Melbourne may not have an outsized international reputation as some other destinations on this list. Regardless, this southern Australian metropolis is one of the best places on earth to find any type of coffee.

The diverse and highly cosmopolitan city has an obsessive coffee culture. There are cafes around practically every street corner. The prevalence of cafes hasn’t made the product generic at all. Thanks to Australia’s generally high standards of food quality, the coffee in Melbourne tastes heavenly. As both locals and tourists would tell you, there are no bad cups of coffee in the city.

Some cafes do specialize in gimmicky beverages, but not all. Most offer excellent cappuccinos and lattes. Melbourne was an early entrant to the flat white craze so you can definitely try that here. The selection is huge, but don’t leave the city without trying piccolo lattes. It’s made with less milk to make the espresso taste stand out.

Sydney

Australia’s coffee culture is not limited to Melbourne. Its other famous cosmopolitan city by the ocean—Sydney—is well worth exploring as well. Sydney is supposedly where the flat white was invented. So if you want to try the original version of it, stop by Sydney any time.

Helsinki

When you think of coffee destinations, the Finnish capital is probably not what you would have in mind. But here’s a fun fact: Finnish are the biggest coffee drinkers in the world, sipping the most coffee cups per capita. As you would expect from such caffeine fanatics, Finland is sprawling with truly amazing cafes.

This northern European destination is perfect to enjoy a coffee tour. There are enough cafes to fill up an itinerary for a year. During the holiday months, there are usually seasonal flavors to try that taste different from the usual Starbucks fodder.

London

London has a coffee culture dating back to the 1600s. If you want to enjoy a cup from some of the places people like Shakespeare patronised, then London should be a stop on your travel list.

The historical city may not have been an early adapter of the Starbucks-driven morning coffee culture but it’s quickly catching up. The city has plenty of charming, English-style coffee houses. Swankier places with fancy lattes and cappuccinos are also proliferating. All in all, coffee lovers won’t be disappointed.

Wellington, New Zealand

New Zealand is known for its stunning “Lord of the Rings” landscape. Less well known is the fact that many of its cities are the ultimate destinations for enjoying a cup of flat white. Wellington, in particular, has perfected the flat white. So much so that it’s almost seen as the national beverage of the country.

Wellington is a small city and is not the typical tourist destination, so it’s a great place to visit for an off-the-beaten-track experience. The city might be small, but the standard of the coffee served is anything but. Cafes are very intimate and baristas often take feedback directly from customers, leading to heavenly cups of coffee being served up that are truly out of this world.

The next time you plan a vacation, make sure to include some of the above coffee destinations in your itinerary. You won’t regret it.