Communism had to end for Bratislava's café scene to thrive again

You have access to this premium content thanks to ING Hubs Slovakia, the expert hub of global banking.

This article was published in the latest edition of our Bratislava City Guide, which can be obtained from our online shop with Spectacular Slovakia travel guides.

“Slovaks have cared for the coffee quality much more since they started to travel all around the world,” said Slovakia’s leading coffee expert, Michal Šturc. They also enjoy it in great quantity, at least if Coffee Fest was anything to go by.

The coffee phenomenon in Bratislava is best represented by the increasing number of coffee shops opening up across the city. But it is not only a modern thing as the city has a long, coffee-centred tradition. By 1918, Bratislava was considered by many to resemble a suburb of Vienna, from where it had acquired a trend for cosy coffee-houses. According to Imrich Sečanský’s book Memories and Professions of a Doctor, after the First World War, coffee houses became the kind of place where business contracts were signed, chess was played, artists and journalists met to gossip and exchange ideas. They moulded the soul of the city.

Only the communists could end the thriving sub-culture, and their fears of the intellectual classes resulted in the forced closure of all the famous coffee houses. Sečanský feared that the tradition would never return, but thanks to the opening of Europe’s borders, coffee started making a comeback in Bratislava.

Thanks to their travels around the globe, many Slovaks have developed a refined taste for high-quality coffee. Beyond simply enjoying it in cafés, they take an active interest in speciality coffee and its origins. In Bratislava, a wave of new cafés established by well-travelled coffee enthusiasts, including Good Times and Grão, has emerged. These establishments often roast their own beans and sell them directly to customers. Some even host coffee cupping events, where aficionados can sample a range of brews from different corners of the world.

(source: Tomáš Benedikovic)

Where to go

These days, the city’s coffee shops offer significantly more than just the core product: they sell cakes, confectionery and alcoholic drinks, and are meeting places for students, tourists and office workers.

Some of Bratislava’s cafés can also be found inside the bookshops. One such place is Foxford located in the Martinus store on Obchodná Street. The concept comes from abroad where various big as well as small networks of shops work in this way. While there the shop and café are more divided from one another, Martinus tried to unite them into one common space.

Another small café can be found on Kozia street, in the premises of Artforum bookstore. Axioma café offers along with coffee, beer and wine, used books, which decorate the walls and give the place an intellectual atmosphere.

La Putika is a similar chain of coffee shops, but with a slightly different character, drawing inspiration from French-style bistros.

According to the supervisor Gabika Horná, customers appreciate that the coffee shop “has soul”.

The owners Patrik Holek and Dušan Novota filled their shops with stylish vintage furniture and decorations connected with coffee from the whole world.

“I like the whole atmosphere at La Putika,” said a customer named Peter. “You don’t have to be ashamed to get a beer or wine even though it’s not a pub.”

Indeed, La Putika is renowned for its selection of Belgian beers and wines from Slovakia and Chile. Its chic interior also appeals to students.

“I meet my schoolmates and friends from drama groups here,” said Dominika, a student at Comenius University. “When people visit Bratislava and have no idea where to go, I definitely take them to Putika.”

Coffee beans

For some, the coffee itself is of secondary importance, but for the real connoisseurs, it is all that matters.

“Coffee houses are primarily about coffee,” said Šturc. “And quality coffee means 100 percent Arabica espresso of high-grade, professionally roasted and prepared.”

Slovak taste-buds are gradually being refined after years of enforced abstinence from the highest quality flavours. During the communist period, Slovak people had no idea of the differences between types of coffee and got used to drinking a strong, dark Turkish-style coffee because it was the only one available in the Eastern Bloc.

There are two main types of coffee beans: Robusta and Arabica. But most of Bratislava’s coffee shops offer blend coffee, which is a mixture of both.

Ice cream

If tourists want to find “their own” ice cream shop and flavour of ice cream or gelato, they cannot achieve this with only one visit to the city. In the very centre of Bratislava there are more than a dozen ice cream shops making their own original frozen delicacies. They offer traditional flavours such as vanilla, chocolate and raspberry, as well as ice cream from vegetables, vegan ice cream, and ice cream for dogs. Visitors can even make their own popsicles.

“In Bratislava, the overall quality of ice cream and coffee is generally high,” said Martina Hlinová, the owner of the popular Franz Xaver Messerschmidt café and ice cream shop. Koun, Arthur and Luculus also rank high in the quality of their ice cream.