I spent 6 weeks in Hamburg, Germany and entertained myself by conducting an extensive search for the best coffee shop. Everyone is different but my personal criteria for the best coffee shop is simple. It must have great tasting cappuccino, with latte art, and a pleasant atmosphere with nice design and places to sit. If there is free Wi-Fi that is a big bonus.
In true “nerd princess” style I made a Google map with all my targeted locations. I found these coffee shops by researching Yelp and TripAdvisor and plenty of independent blogs and forums.
Get my Google Map: Hamburg Germany Coffee Shops Nov 2014
While I certainly did not visit every coffee shop on the list, I made a pretty good dent with a “cappuccino a day” mentality. Plus those special times when I decided it was a “two cappuccino day”. Here is my personal list of best coffee shops in Hamburg, Germany:
1) Best Overall: Stockholm Espresso Club
Peter-Marquard-Straße 8 (Winterhude)
I loved everything about this café. The cappuccino, the perfect latte art, the décor, the detail, the baristas, everything. I visited more than once and on my last day in the city, this was the café that I chose to go back to “one last time.”
2) Best Taste: Black Delight
Eppendorfer Weg 67 (Eimsbüttel)
The taste of the cappuchinos at this tiny café was excellent. I am not the type to explain why it tasted good, like a pretentious wine taster, I just know I liked it. The only down side is that this café is very tiny and I do hate taking “coffee to go”.
3) Best Latte Art: Elbgold
Mühlenkamp 6a (Winterhude) or
Lagerstraße 34c, 20357 (Sternschanze)
All the coffee shops on this list did latte art, or they would not make the list. But the barista at Elbgold surprised me with this cool foam snowman. So how could he not be the best. Beyond this Elbgold had great coffee, was a comfortable place to sit and I loved the almond croissants.
4) Best People Watching: The Coffee Shop
Poststr. 6a, 20354 (Neustadt)
This coffee shop has a great location on the second floor overlooking one of the main pedestrian streets in the tourist section of Hamburg. It is new and modern with huge windows and a great place to sit and watch.
5) Best Dessert With My Coffee: Café Milou
Pölchaukamp 19 22301 Hamburg, Germany (Winterhude)
I don’t usually splurge on dessert with my cappuccino. I consider the cappuccino as my treat. However in this case, the raspberry white chocolate torte was absolutely the most amazing dessert ever.
Bonus #1: Best Hot Chocolate: Speicherstadt Kaffeerösterei
Kehrwieder 5 (Hafencity)
You would think that this place was nothing but a tourist trap. (The busloads of tourists getting off there gives a clue). But in fact, the coffee was great and it is fun to watch the roasting process. But the absolute best was the art on the hot chocolate, never seen anything like it. And Hafencity is just a cool area to check out.
Bonus #2: Most Unique: Der Treppenkraemer
Hans-Lange-Straße 23 (Blankenese)
Blankenese is about 30 min outside downtown Hamburg on the Metro line. There is a section of houses built on the steep hillside leading down to the Elbe River. And they are only connected by narrow flights of stairs. Up one of these steep stairs is a little café with great coffee. The only way to get there is by foot, no cars allowed. It was definitely a unique find.
Note: I actually can’t recall if there was free Wi-Fi in any of these coffee shops. Finding free Wi-Fi in Germany is ridiculously difficult. (Unlike Cambodia, where you can hop on the net anywhere, anytime….go figure).
Some people visit museums, some people appreciate fine dining. For me, I look forward to the coffee shops. I will be back in Hamburg later this year, so plenty of time to find even more favorites.
Do you have more coffee shops to add to my Hamburg list?
UPDATE: While back in Hamburg for a visit in 2016 I found these coffee shops to add to the list:
- Nord Coast Coffee Roasters: Deichstrasse 9
This is beautiful, 2 story spacious coffee shop overlooking the river on a narrow cobblestone street. The best place to really get the "Hamburg" experience.
- Less Political: Sternstrasse 68
A small coffee shop that is serious about their coffee.
Also:
- Playground Coffee: Rathaus-Passage, Unter dem Rathausmarkt
- Public Coffee Roasters: Wexstrasse 28
- Milch: Dietmar-Koel Strasse 22
By Anya Ciecierski, Collaboration Works Marketing
Tweet: @AnyaCWMktg