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Updated on Sep 06, 2025
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Best Cafes for Specialty Coffee in Madrid
The specialty coffee scene in Madrid has experienced great growth over the last couple of years. Whereas in 2015, when I visited for the first time, it was still quite intimate with less than a handful cafés serving specialty grade coffee, the number has easily tripled since then. This exciting transition has led to a few changes in Madrid’s gastronomic landscape. The residential neighbourhood Chamberí and multicultural Lavapiés have been transformed into coffee destinations. The traditional, local market “Mercado Vallehermoso” in Chamberí has been extended quite recently with a designated area for organic produce, slow food and specialty coffee to accommodate the slow but steady change in consumer’s behaviour. Lastly, we see more and more coffee shops who start roasting themselves or developing individual roast profiles together with a befriended roastery. But I am getting ahead of myself, here’s a listing of all the great places.
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Where to stay in Madrid
Amor de Dios 17 Boutique Hotel – Aparthotel featuring stylish suites and boasting great service in the heart of the city. —> Booking.com
Tribu Malasaña – This is a great pick for fans of minimalist interior design. Chic hotel rooms with feel-good atmosphere. —> Booking.com
Vincci The Mint – Relax on one of Madrid’s finest terraces! This design hotel comes with an in-house food truck. —> Booking.com
HanSo Café
HanSo is an incredibly welcoming coffee shop with a communal feel in the young and fashionable neighbourhood of Malasaña. During my stay in Madrid I came back a dozen times for another round of a delicious ‘Tostada con tomate’ (the typical Spanish breakfast) and perfectly balanced cup of coffee. And I was not the only one out to tell the world about HanSo. On my first visit, I ran into the guys from Citinerary, a group of passionate locals that roam Madrid for unique stories and latest trends. Listening to them raving about HanSo I knew I was on the right track.
Nico opened HanSo together with his wife Eva and younger brother Enrique in October 2015. While Nico is in charge of sourcing only the best beans, his wife is taking care of the dessert cravings of the Malasaña crowd with home-made Matcha cake and other delights. This is not their first attempt to open a place of their own. A couple of years ago they started a bakery and coffee shop in Usera, a neighbourhood in South Madrid. They soon realised that the coffee lovers were elsewhere, so they eventually moved more towards the center. Their café has an urban, contemporary style with a big communal table in the middle of the room as well as cozy seating corners by the window.
To keep things interesting, beans are rotating frequently, jumping from a local roastery one month to an international roastery the next. You’ll find Right Side and Nomad from Barcelona to be regulars here, while internationally, HanSo have been working with April, Gardelli, Workshop and The Barn. Soon, Kopi will be hitting the grinders as well! Had too much coffee for one day? No problem, HanSo also serves delicious Matcha Latte.
Address:
Calle del Pez, 20
28004 Madrid, Spain
Toma Café
Having been the first café to brew and one of the first to roast specialty coffee in Madrid, Toma is no secret! It has been around since 2012 and enjoys the stable reputation of being a hipster hangout. In spring 2017 Toma opened up a second location in Chamberí district close to Plaza de Olavide. The rest is history…. 😉
As far as the coffee shop in Malasaña goes, it is a cozy living room kinda place with a laid back vibe that apart from great coffee serves delicious avocado toast. At the Chamberí location on the other hand, you’ll find an open, ample space with plenty of seating and the right atmosphere to work away on your laptop.
Hola Coffee
When a barista champion and the runner-up of a roasting championship decide to open a coffee shop and roastery together, it must be a recipe for success! Pablo Caballero and Nolo Botana have launched Hola Coffee in March 2017, transforming the Lavapiés neighbourhood into a coffee hub. Their colourful bags can be found in numerous cafés across Spain and the plan to open a second location in Madrid near Plaza de España is already in motion.
The first time I met Nolo in 2015 he was still working as a roaster at Toma. In Pablo, who is also a Toma graduate, he found a like-minded Cafecionado who shares his vision and devotion. Together they created a distinct space with lots of love for details and high quality standards. The designer cups by Laon Pottery immediately caught my eye, as did the neon sign with the Hola logo behind the counter. On top of all that eye candy, Nolo served an Ethiopian natural in an espresso that knocked my socks off. For filter the preferred brewing appliance de la casa is Kalita Wave.
Address:
Calle del Dr. Fourquet, 33
Madrid, Spain
Misión Café
Nolo and Pablo, founders of Hola Coffee, have opened up a second café in Madrid that distinguishes itself from their first project by including a kitchen and bakery as well as table service. Everything is set up for guests to feel comfortable and relaxed. Coffee enthusiasts will be pleased to find the first Mod Bar in Spain installed here. Nolo is particularly excited about the possibilities for pressure profiling that the Mod Bar comes with. Filter coffee is either batch brewed or hand brewed using a Kalita. No need to mention that the coffee beans are roasted by Nolo and are coming from Hola. The drinks menu is extended by homemade Kombucha and seasonal drinks. Come here if with you’re coffee you’d like great customer service, plenty of space and delicious cakes.
Address:
5, Calle de los Reyes, 28015 Madrid
Santa Kafeina
If you’re in the residential neighbourhood of Chamberi, don’t miss out on paying Yessika and Javi a visit at lovely Santa Kafeina. The project was born late 2016 but has moved around the corner of its initial location this summer. To prepare for their project, both took part in barista courses across Spain as well as in the UK and collected inspiration for the interior from Instagram and coffee magazines.
What Santa Kafeina lacks in space, it makes up for in hospitality. While regulars pop in and out for their daily dose of caffeine, I remain seated for a while to share a new filter roast Yessika was trying from Puchero. For espresso they were brewing Right Side from Barcelona, who continue to impress me, but the guys switch it up every two weeks or so. It’s definitely worth it to stop here for coffee at least once when you’re in Madrid.
Address:
Calle de Viriato, 37
Madrid, Spain
Ruda Café
This friendly multi-roaster coffee shop run by Ana Nunez is located in La Latina district – very close to the metro yet in a quiet street. While Cafecionados who are not from Berlin will be excited to find The Barn here, I was more interested in their local roast: a washed Costa Rica Geisha. I ordered it in a flat white, because, why not?! But I also enjoyed it pure as an espresso. Ruda had another local roast for espresso that day from Sumatra. It is a great place to drink yourself through the local and international coffee scene, as the menu is quite extensive, even though its a small shop. For filter there’s a V60, AeroPress and Chemex to choose from.
Address:
Calle Ruda 11
Madrid, Spain
Jorge worked as an engineer, while his sister Lorena was a teacher, before starting Hey My Coffee in 2021. Neither had what you’d call a traditional coffee background – yet today, Hey My Coffee has become a fixture in Madrid’s specialty coffee scene with three outlets. The journey began with conversations. Friends who had ventured into coffee – one a roaster in Madrid, another building a coffee chain in Singapore – planted seeds of possibility in Lorena’s mind. Jorge, working in Prague at the time, was having similar encounters with coffee enthusiasts in his circle.
Goya is their first location in Madrid’s Barrio de Salamanca. They made a bold decision to buy their own roaster and placed it right in the heart of the café from the start. The space itself told them how to approach it: industrial elements with exposed brick and artists’ touches were already there. Rather than fighting the character, they embraced it, creating a cozy environment where the roaster takes center stage.
In Madrid’s Arganzuela district, Drømme Kaffe House is doing things a little differently. The owners, Esteban Canet and Ángela Cremonte, felt that the specialty coffee scene could be intimidating, so they built a place that’s all about being friendly and welcoming. Their goal was to serve top-notch coffee without any of the snobbery.
The space itself is open and practical. There’s enough room to easily navigate a stroller, plus dedicated zones for remote workers with tables and outlets. It’s a comfortable spot for everyone.
Esteban roasts all the coffee in-house, using beans from places like Colombia and Nicaragua. While you can geek out over a V60, Orea, or Origami pour-over, there’s absolutely no judgment if you just want a simple coffee with milk. That’s the whole point. The food follows the same philosophy: simple, honest, and made from scratch.
