It was 10 am when I boarded the small plane in Malaga in the general direction of Toronto, but I’d be making a few stops. My first stops was conveniently an hour and a half later in Lisbon where I was supposed to hang out for a good 19 hours, and I knew this was my chance to intro the beautiful city of Lisbon that I had heard so much about. With a quick but concise list of coffee spots to hit, I left the airport for the city centre. Only around 35 minutes and 1.75 € later, I was in Praça Rossio, welcoming the hot sun, and ready for my first coffee stop. It was already one of my new favourite cities.

FABRICA COFFEE ROASTERS

Welcomed by their beautiful wooden terrace, I entered the long space of Fabrica Coffee Roasters and found the barista counter. Working away on a La Marzocco Linea PB, they were grinding two different espresso roasts (Guatemala SO and Brazil/Ethiopia blend) on a pair of Victoria Arduino’s. In speaking with the barista about their offerings, I opted for the Guatemala as espresso, and took a look around.

The roaster itself was in the back of the café along with shelves of beans ready to be sold, shipped out, or likely distributed across town. They also had small kitchen tucked away behind the counter which served what looked like pretty amazing food and pastries. While on her lunch break, the barista was kind enough to write down a more refined list of cafes I should visit than the one I had, including their other location, and set me off in the right direction.

COPENHAGEN COFFEE LAB

Hiking westward, up and down a few hills, I made it to the Copenhagen Coffee Lab, my second stop on the tour, where they apparently had the best pour-overs and unique deserts. Greeted by the Spanish-born, American barista who had eventually made his way to Portugal, I took another look around. For my filter coffee, I was recommended their Kenyan roast on V60 which I gladly accepted and began to pick his brain.

As the story goes, Eamon had lived in Copenhagen for about 3 years and was working with the Coffee Lab when he moved down to Lisbon in their expansion. They roast all their coffee in the Danish capital, and then ship it over to be sold and served in the Portuguese capital, or right to your door if you’d like. Even the recipe for the cinnamon cardamom bun was baked Danish-style in-house.

He mentioned also that they would be opening three more cafes in the next six months, and that Lisbon was still a bit short on baristas working in specialty coffee, so if any of you has special interested in moving to Lisbon, maybe let them know ;).

HELLO, KRISTOF

Formerly a magazine director and currently a graphic designer, Ricardo, the owner of Hello, Kristof, had opened just in September of last year, and his passions were very evident in the interior design and shelves of numerous magazines displayed for reading along the back wall.

We started chatting about his history in design and of the space/concept itself while he pulled me an espresso on his small but mighty GS3. The coffee was from Costa Rica from a local roaster, and though he didn’t serve many double shots, he had a specific set of unique, purple espresso cups. I commented on them right away, mentioning how they really tie in the design of the place, and about my collection at home. Explaining how they happened to have a lot of back stock, he insisted that I take one home as a souvenir.

I couldn’t refuse.

THE MILL

Right down the street from Hello.Kristof, I popped into the next café on my list, The Mill, but having decided that I had taken in enough coffee already, I opted for a wine, convinced by their wide array of bottles and the in-house sommelier himself.

So, I did a cupping of 3 white wines from different parts of Portugal, including one from the north of the country called Vinho Verde, not necessarily meaning “Green Wine”, but a young wine, usually drank 3-6 months after harvest. It was very fresh.

Their head roaster from Australia came in later on along with the manager (both named Reuben), and we talked about their experience with their gigantic roasting machine, and how he learned to roast just by jumping in the deep end. They were pulling a house blend of Ethiopia, Brazil, and Colombia on their La Marzocco GB5, and though it was darker than other coffees I had tried that day, he said it was well-received from the local community and worked deliciously with milk.

WISH CONCEPT STORE AND SLOW COFFEE

With a concept store on the ground floor, and the newly renovated café space above, the collaboration had only been open for about 1 week when I arrived. The first location of Slow Coffee is in Lx Factory on the west side of town, but this was closer, so I popped on by.

Reaching the top of the narrow steps, the upper space was pretty incredible, resembling an attic or loft, very white and lots of light, with large windows looking down to the street. Rodrigo, from Brazil, served me an espresso also from Brazil roasted by Berlin-based 5 Elephant Coffee, and he also let me sample some of the batch brew from El Salvador, and it was really, really nice.

BACK TO THE AIRPORT

I didn’t hit up every specialty café in town, but the sample that I went to definitely makes me want to visit again soon. The scene is growing and people are passionate about coffee!

Now it's back to the airport and time to go find a spot to sleep near my gate.

LISBOA a Lay-Over