When we decided to make our way over to Cordoba, we were TRES excited (yes, wrong language but wtvr). It’s a college town and the 2nd largest city in Argentina, which is the country where I first fell in love with coffee. So I figured there MUST be good coffee everywhere, RIGHT?? Well, let’s just say that while everywhere SERVES coffee. Nine times out of ten, it’s not very good. Sure, you can get an instant coffee or one of those lattes that come out of a pouch in a machine anywhere, but a cup of third-wave coffee? You can count those on one hand (plus a finger). If you find yourself in Cordoba, Argentina, use this post to guide you to the best coffee shops and cafes.
We spent Christmas & New Years in Cordoba — enough time to try out just about every specialty coffee shop. If you’re thinking of spending the holidays in Cordoba, read THIS post first!
Argentines love their coffee alright. It’s just tends to be bitter, burnt, low-quality beans with 2+ heaping teaspoons of sugar to mask the taste, and cookies or a medialuna on the side to mask the aftertaste. If you’re a coffee aficionado like us, you’ll soon miss your craft coffee shop, where your barista serves you flat whites with three headed swans and dancing flamingos. Don’t despair. We’re here to help. With this post, you’ll find out what the best coffee shops in Cordoba, Argentina are and best cafes if you’re looking for a bite, too. We’ll even throw in a quintessential Cordobean spot for a true, sugar-filled Argentine espresso if you want to partake.
(Un)surprisingly (once you realize that young Argentines are constantly caffeinated by mate), breweries in Cordoba are much more popular and outnumber third-wave coffee shops by about a billion to one. (Blogpost on top breweries in Cordoba coming soon!)
Cafe Ethiopia
Ethiopia was my absolute favorite coffee shop by far both for the space and the flavor of the beans. It has high ceilings and two floors with a small library on the second. Power outlets are available and accessible, and their menu includes any type of coffee plus fresh juices plus sandwiches and plenty of baked goods. All affordably priced and delicious. I mean, what else are you looking for? You can probably stop reading now, but actually, they open at 4pm. So if you need your coffee fix earlier, keep reading for other options.
Krake Cafe
Krake Coffee is serious about their filtered coffee. It’s all they serve. If you like your coffee laid on thick and strong, then Krake might not be for you. The space is miniature, but suffices whether you’re looking for a table to work or a chair to dive into your book. They’re schedule might be the killer though: they’re only open 5-10pm, Wednesday through Sunday.
La Capke – Cafe Guemes
Just around the corner from Ethiopia and Krake is La Capke. It is more of a restaurant than a third-wave coffee shop, and it gets crowded around meal times and merienda. If you’re looking for a quieter place to study or work, avoid lunch (1-2pm), merienda (5-6pm) or dinner (9-10pm). But if you’re looking for a drool-worthy dessert or a place to snap insta-worthy pics, definitely go. Also, relative to the other locations on this list, their hours are excellent: 9:30am – 10pm.
La Vereda de Achaval
The essence of a neighborhood cafe. La Vereda de Achaval is an adorable corner cafe that is just blocks away from the action in Guemes. We loved their coffee and sandwiches (the pastries were OK), their prices, staff, and also their hours. They’re also the only craft coffee shop in Cordoba that opens before 8am. (!!) Only downside is that they don’t accept foreign credit cards; bring cash.
Bruncheria
Bruncheria is another one on this list that is more a restaurant than coffee shop, but they have good coffee and pastries, and you won’t be bothered if this is all you get. Their hours vary, but they’re usually open by 9am. They also get very busy at meal times, perhaps too crowded to pull out a laptop. While their food menu seems to be all the rage, we preferred eating elsewhere.
Club de Cafe
If you want a quick pick-me-up in between museum visits or walking tours, check this place out. It’s the only specialty coffee shop outside of Guemes and Nueva Cordoba. The owners are the same as La Vereda de Achaval. However, just around the corner you can try a cafe like the Argentines do…
Cafe Montserrat
If you haven’t tried a classic Argentine coffee yet, this is the spot. It is near the cuadra jesuita (Jesuit square), and at any time of day, you’ll find this place full of locals — usually old Argentine men — drinking coffee and reading the paper or chatting. Order a cafe for a straight espresso that comes with a cookie on the side. They won’t add the sugar for you, so you can skip it or pile it on if you want the real experience. If coffee isn’t your thing, or if you’re watching your caffeine intake, order a lagrima. It’s milk with a (tear)drop of coffee… hence the name, which is spanish for tear.
Caseratto
Ok, this is NOT a coffee shop; it’s an ice cream shop. But they DO have a full coffee bar, and their ice cream is fan-fkn-tabulous. We found Cordoba to have wonderful ice cream in general, and this place definitely makes the top five. (I don’t actually have a top five list, because I just love ice cream so much and find it hard to discriminate, but believe you me, this is up there.)
