If you’re a crazed coffee lover, we urge you to stop off at one of these buzzing coffee destinations on your next trip overseas. Here’s where to go for the best in brew:
Rome, Italy
When in Rome … drink coffee! Coffee consumption is an everyday part of Italian life and there’s no shortage of authentic cups of beautiful coffee here.
Drinking while standing up is common, so keep your eyes peeled for cafes filled with happy locals standing around the counter.
Seattle, US
It 05/be the original home of Starbucks, but Seattle frequently tops lists as the best coffee destination in the US (though many will also argue Portland can take the coffee cake).
Boutique coffee shops are easily found in hubs like Fremont, Ballard, Belltown and Capitol Hill (among others), with beans coming in from prime roasters all over the world.
Melbourne, Australia
If you’re looking for a deliciously blended cup while travelling Down Under and an endless place of spots to drink it, Melbourne is the place to be.
Coffee culture is huge here and you can get everything from standard espressos and cappuccinos to artsy lattes that taste like heaven.
Havana, Cuba
You might not picture Havana as a city consumed by caffeine, but Cuban coffee is definitely a must try – and according to some, it’s the best in the world.
If you don’t know where to start, ask for a café cubano, a full-bodied espresso shot brewed with sugar. Don’t like black? Request a cortadito instead, which is an espresso blended with milk.
Helsinki, Finland
We’re not sure what’s going on in the Nordic part of the world, but Scandinavians are crazy about their coffee, so much that they have the highest coffee consumption per capita in the world.
At the top of that ranking sit the Finnish, who drink up to five cups per day. Their speciality is coffee that is lightly roasted, but don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s the same everywhere you go.
Wherever you end up, ask the barista what the specialty is and how it is roasted.
Taipei, Taiwan
If you think Taipei is only about dumplings, deep-fried foods and milk teas, you’re sorely mistaken. This thriving Asian city is fast expanding as a superb coffee destination with thousands of coffee shops to be found on the scene.
Fong Da and the Fortress Café are two great picks; the former is one of Taipei’s first coffee houses from the 1950s, and the latter is steeped in history from the Second World War.
Vienna, Austria
Welcome to Vienna, the place where whiling the time away, reading the paper and drinking coffee has become an art form – and a cultural institution.
There are over 2,000 coffee houses situated throughout Vienna, many of which are hundreds of years old. Expect to get your coffee on a silver tray here, complete with sugar, a spoon and a glass of water.