Cais do Sodré & Santos
Café de especialidade · Lisbon
Specialty coffee cafés in Lisbon
Roasters and coffee bars for flat whites, pour-over and single origins.
Photo: Jonathan Borba, Pexels License
Café de especialidade, specialty coffee, came late to a city that has served the bica, its name for an espresso, since at least 1905, when A Brasileira opened on Rua Garrett.2 The standard Lisbon cup is a blend of arabica and robusta, and when Sprudge surveyed the city in August 2015, its writer blamed those blends, along with over-extraction, for the bitterness of many local coffees.1 Portuguese espresso is also pulled longer than the Italian kind, closer to a lungo.2
That 2015 survey found two cafés leading the change. Fábrica Coffee Roasters had opened in June 2014 on Rua das Portas de Santo Antão with a Probat roaster on site, and Copenhagen Coffee Lab, run by three Danish partners in Príncipe Real, was shipping in beans roasted in Copenhagen several times a month.1 By one count, Lisbon went from two or three specialty shops around 2015 to more than 100 at the start of 2026.4
Local tip: Order the house espresso and a filter of the same bean side by side. Most specialty bars still pull a traditional bica, so it's the quickest way to taste what lighter roasting changes.
Where these cafés are: Avenidas Novas & Saldanha (3), Baixa & Chiado (2), Alcântara (2), Cais do Sodré & Santos (1), Bairro Alto & Príncipe Real (1), Marvila & the east (1), Alvalade & north (1), Belém (1).
At a glance
12Cafés listed
6With opening hours
08:00Earliest opening
19:00Latest closing
- Opens earliest: 94⁰ SPECIALTY COFFEE, from 08:00 (Mon–Fri 08:00–16:00 · Sat–Sun 09:00–18:00).
- Closes latest: Inception Specialty Coffee & Specialty Brunch, until 19:00 (Mon–Tue 09:00–18:00 · Wed–Sun 09:00–19:00).
- Most common features: card payment (25%), brunch (25%), wi-fi (25%).
Baixa & Chiado
Inception Specialty Coffee & Specialty Brunch
Alcântara
Torra Roasting & Coffee
- Wi-Fi
- Outdoor seating
- Card payment
- Partial wheelchair access
- Toilets
- Specialty
Avenidas Novas & Saldanha
Vol. — specialty coffee, matcha & vinyl
- Card payment
- Wheelchair access
- Specialty
Bairro Alto & Príncipe Real
94⁰ SPECIALTY COFFEE
Avenidas Novas & Saldanha
MAS Specialty Coffee & Brunch
Marvila & the east
Baobá Specialty Coffee Roasters
Avenidas Novas & Saldanha
LENA Specialty Coffee
Alcântara
Olisipo Coffee Roasters
Alvalade & north
romana. specialty coffee
Baixa & Chiado
SO Coffee Roasters
- Indoor seating
- Specialty
Belém
Trullino cafe
- Wi-Fi
- Power outlets
- Vegetarian options
- Bakery café
- Specialty
- Brunch
Nothing matches those filters here. See all cafés in Lisbon.
How a specialty menu differs from a pastelaria's
The Portuguese names still apply. Um café is an espresso, um garoto is an espresso with milk foam in a cup, and um abatanado is an espresso lengthened with hot water, much like an Americano.3 Copenhagen Coffee Lab built its first menu around cappuccinos, cortados and pour-overs rather than bicas and galões (milky coffee in a glass), with beans roasted lighter than the usual Portuguese blends.1
Most of the newer cafés still pull a traditional bica next to a V60 filter, so regulars and visitors order from the same counter.4 Fábrica took the same approach with food, adding sandes, the sandwich sold in every Lisbon café, to win over local customers.1
What specialty coffee costs in Lisbon
Expect to pay about double the neighborhood rate. In December 2024, Expresso reported that ordinary street cafés planned to charge €0.90–0.95 for an espresso from January 2025, about 10 cents more than in 2024.5 At Thank You Mama, a specialty café in Arroios, Diário de Notícias found a bica at €2 and a galão at €3.50 in June 2024, with 50 cents extra for plant-based milk.6
Bean prices drive both. As far back as 2018, the coffee trade association AICC said roasters had absorbed rising green-coffee costs, which had kept a café at about 60–70 cents for several years.7
Where Lisbon's specialty cafés are
Specialty cafés gather in the center: the Avenidas Novas have the most, followed by Baixa & Chiado and Alcântara, with one apiece in several other areas, Bairro Alto & Príncipe Real among them.
Roasters are easiest to find west of the center. Olisipo Coffee Roasters is at 84 Rua do Cruzeiro, and Torra Roasting & Coffee, at 1 Travessa do Conde da Ponte, opens daily 09:00–17:00 with outdoor tables. In Chiado, SO Coffee Roasters is at 30 Calçada do Sacramento. Roasters.app expects new openings in 2026 to lean toward Alcântara, Marvila and Beato, where rents are lower.4
Opening hours and the Lisbon Coffee Fest
Specialty cafés keep office hours. 94⁰ Specialty Coffee on Rua Rodrigues Sampaio opens earliest, at 08:00 on weekdays, and Inception on Rua dos Douradores and MAS on Rua de Dona Filipa de Vilhena close latest, at 19:00. For coffee after dinner, you need a pastelaria or a kiosk.
The trade now has its own showcase. In 2018 the AICC announced the first Lisbon Coffee Fest.7 At that first edition, in 2019, the Porto-founded brand Sical won the award for best Portuguese espresso.8
Sources
- In Lisbon, Two Cafes Help Lead The Specialty Coffee Movement, Sprudge (Juliana Ganan, August 6, 2015), accessed October 2026
- Bica (coffee), Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
- Como pedir café em Portugal, DN Brasil (August 24, 2024), accessed October 2026
- State of specialty coffee in Lisbon, 2026, Roasters.app, accessed October 2026
- Preço do café vai subir já no próximo mês: saiba quanto vai custar uma bica, Postal do Algarve (December 6, 2024, citing Expresso and ProVar), accessed October 2026
- Arroios, o bairro de Lisboa que se tornou o preferido dos nómadas digitais, Diário de Notícias (June 30, 2024), accessed October 2026
- Exportações e consumo interno de café crescem em Portugal em 2018, Correio da Manhã / Lusa (September 30, 2018), accessed October 2026
- SICAL: 75 anos sempre a inovar no mundo do café, Echo Boomer (July 11, 2022), accessed October 2026
Keep exploring
Other ways to browse Lisbon
Pastelarias
Pastelarias
142 cafés
Esplanadas
Esplanadas
176 cafés
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
100 cafés
Brunch
Brunch
48 cafés
Abre cedo
Open by 6am
25 cafés
Aberto até tarde
Open late
94 cafésBy area: Baixa & Chiado Bairro Alto & Príncipe Real Cais do Sodré & Santos Avenidas Novas & Saldanha Alvalade & north Alcântara Belém Marvila & the east
FAQ
Specialty coffee in Lisbon: questions
How much does specialty coffee cost in Lisbon?
As of 2024, a bica at Thank You Mama, a specialty café in Arroios, cost €2 and a galão €3.50, with 50 cents extra for plant-based milk, according to Diário de Notícias. Ordinary Lisbon street cafés planned to charge €0.90–0.95 for an espresso from January 2025, so specialty coffee runs about double the neighborhood rate.
When did the specialty coffee scene start in Lisbon?
Lisbon's specialty scene dates to the mid-2010s. Fábrica Coffee Roasters opened in June 2014 with a Probat roaster on site, and by 2015 Copenhagen Coffee Lab in Príncipe Real was serving beans roasted in Copenhagen. Roasters.app counted two or three specialty shops in the city around 2015 and more than 100 at the start of 2026.
Which Lisbon neighborhoods have the most specialty coffee shops?
The Avenidas Novas have the most, followed by Baixa & Chiado and Alcântara. In Chiado, SO Coffee Roasters is on Calçada do Sacramento. Alcântara has two named roasters, Olisipo Coffee Roasters on Rua do Cruzeiro and Torra Roasting & Coffee on Travessa do Conde da Ponte.
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