The Best Cafes in Sofia

Coffee in Sofia runs from a strong espresso out of a street machine for well under a euro to a pourover at one of the city's specialty roasters. In between are brunch cafes, bakeries and quiet book cafes with room to stay for an afternoon. These are the 19 cafes I'd send you to, grouped by what you want from them, with prices in euros.

Which Sofia cafe for what

How coffee works in Sofia

Street vending machines pour a quick espresso for about €0.50 to €1 if you have the coins, and it is surprisingly good. At the specialty end, Dabov, Drekka and Coffee Syndicate brew single origins as pourovers, and Dabov, Drekka, Kolichka Bar and Martines sell their beans to take home.

Cafes in Sofia stay open late, so a coffee after dinner is easy to find. Beyond the eight specialty cafes below, 369 Specialty Coffee + Bakery, Bug Coffee and Story Cups are more names for a second coffee.

The best specialty coffee in Sofia

Dabov Specialty Coffee

Dabov is a Bulgarian roaster with shops in Sofia and abroad, in Sweden, Greece and the Czech Republic. Shop number 3 at Angel Kanchev 28 is the most central. Dabov roasts its own beans, all scored 86 or above by Q-graders, and sells many single origins by the bag, Geisha among them. The shelves of retail bags are the main event, prices are reasonable, and Dabov runs cupping classes too.

Drekka

Drekka at Marin Drinov 23, a short walk east of the center, is a tiny coffee bar with a blue interior. Everyone sits around one long marble table, with the brewing equipment right behind it and a wall of beans from international roasters. Order a pourover.

Coffee Syndicate

Coffee Syndicate at Moskovska 3 is close to both the National Gallery and Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which makes it a handy specialty stop near the main sights. The coffee is serious: single-origin V60s, beans from Friedhats, an Espresso Fizz and matcha. The eclairs come in flavors like lavender, and the kimchi banitsa is a modern take on the classic. It does sandwiches and cocktails too.

Better Specialty Coffee

Better Specialty Coffee at Neofit Rilski 59 is a small coffee bar with a few seats inside and on the pavement. It makes espresso drinks, single-origin V60s and iced coffees, plus a menu of non-alcoholic coffee cocktails such as a Cold Brew Old Fashioned.

Kolichka Bar

Kolichka Bar at San Stefano 9, in the leafy streets near the Doctors' Garden and Zaimov Park, is a tiny coffee bar and microroastery that can have a queue out of the door. The front window is stacked with beans to buy.

Urban Embassy

Urban Embassy at Fridtjof Nansen 19, near the National Palace of Culture, is tiny inside, with tables on the pavement. Founder Nikola Kirilov makes his own nut milks, so this is the place to order a milk coffee if you skip dairy.

Bloom Specialty Coffee

Bloom is a bright, open cafe with folding doors. Come for the drinks: the coffee and the matcha are good, and there are only a few pastries.

Martines

Martines at Hristo Belchev 1A, a block from Vitosha Boulevard, is a specialty coffee shop and roastery serving coffee straight from the roaster. Buy a bag of beans while you are there.

The best brunch cafes in Sofia

Rainbow Factory (Fabrika Daga)

Rainbow Factory, Fabrika Daga in Bulgarian, has served brunch and specialty coffee since 2014. One of its two branches is temporarily closed, and the one still open is a metro stop or two from the center. The brunch menu runs from Panagyurishte-style eggs and avocado toast to sandwiches and homemade banitsa, and the coffee is from Dabov, as espresso or filter. Portions are small, and the weekend brunch draws crowds, so come early.

Izzy's Coffee and Brunch

Izzy's is a brunch cafe in the streets with many of Sofia's murals, and the best seats are by the open balcony over the courtyard. The menu mixes Bulgarian and international dishes, from Panagyurishte eggs to French toast, and the staff have put their favorite combinations on their own menu. They will make vegan swaps. It gets busy in the morning.

Altruist

Altruist is a cafe and patisserie in the Ekzarh Yosif area, and the pistachio cheesecake is the one to order. There is room to settle in with a laptop, which makes it one of the better cafes in Sofia to work from.

StayAwake.38

StayAwake.38, close to Vitosha Boulevard, is an all-day cafe that serves specialty coffee and raw pastries in the daytime, then switches to wine and cocktails in the evening. Come for an espresso in the afternoon and stay for a glass of wine, or move on to one of the wine bars in Sofia to taste Bulgarian wine.

Bakery cafes for pastries and banitsa

Furna

Furna at Stefan Stambolov Boulevard 2 is a bakery that also makes coffee, with a counter covered in fresh pastries every morning. The banitsas are labeled vegetarian or vegan, with fillings from classic egg and sirene to pumpkin, walnut and brown sugar. Order one with a latte and sit on the benches outside on a summer morning. Furna also sells sourdough and einkorn bread, yogurt, juice and boza to take away.

&hlyab (&bread)

&hlyab, "and bread," is a bakery cafe with sourdough loaves and pastries that sell out early, so go in the morning. It also pours nitro coffee, which is worth trying in summer if you drink your coffee black. There is little seating, and FLOW Coffee and Pastry sits right across the street.

Mekitsa and Coffee

Mekitsa and Coffee fries mekitsi, the puffy Bulgarian fried dough, with sweet and savory toppings from pistachio spread to cream cheese and pesto. The owners traveled around Bulgaria for the recipe, and the classic versions come with honey, walnuts, chocolate or sirene. Prices start at about €2.50, and there are a few seats upstairs. Pair one with an espresso for a very Bulgarian coffee break. For the city's classic pastry, the banitsa in Sofia is best from a bakery before 10 AM.

Book cafes, tea houses and quiet cafes

Peroto Literary Club

Peroto hides in plain sight at the National Palace of Culture: on the east side of the building, up an outdoor flight of stairs, a door opens into a quiet cafe lined with bookshelves, with coffee and drinks to order.

FOX Book Cafe

FOX Book Cafe on William Gladstone Street is a peaceful cafe with books to browse. It stays open late, so it is a good alternative to a bar: a coffee, a slice of cake and a book after a day of sightseeing.

Artcafe Garden Bar

Artcafe Garden Bar is a cafe with a "winter garden," a conservatory under a glass roof. It is the place to be on a rainy day, with a coffee or a glass of wine while the rain hits the roof.

Veda House

Veda House on Gladstone Street is a vegetarian tea house with a tea menu that runs for pages, and the menu comes in English. For a full meal after, Sun Moon on 6th September Street is one of the vegetarian restaurants in Sofia, and its menu is vegan.