You know those 90s rom-coms, where there was the nerdy girl in school who the cool-guy/jock type ends up falling for? Porto is that girl.
As a city, it’s been quietly bubbling under for a while now. Compared to the massive amounts of attention Lisbon receives across the media, Porto has been relatively pretty quiet. But not anymore. The energy and atmosphere in Porto is absolutely electric here in 2025, with an outstanding coffee scene helping to lead the way.
With the signature bridges, a world-famous river cutting through, renowned wine production, narrow cobbled streets, stunning museums, stop-you-in-your-tracks tiles, gildings and sculptures scattered throughout the city, and palatial buildings and churches, there is just so much to love about this place. Let’s go exploring, and visit some of the finest cafes Porto has to offer today.
Protest Kitchen
I’m not sure what exactly they’re protesting at Protest Kitchen. My guess would be… rules, pretense, labels and expectations, and the idea of being defined as a specific restaurant. To do this, there is a freedom on offer, in a menu that sprawls its way across and into all kinds of cuisines—with influences from Turkey, Russia, Georgia, and Cyprus—reflecting the roots of owners Pedro Baumgarten and Andrey Mikheev. The general energy and attitude seem to match this punky approach to the food, with a declaration scribbled across the window. It reads: “Average vibe, ordinary food, drinkable coffee.”
The irony, of course, is that this is all bullshit.
The vibe is brilliant, the food is extraordinary, and the coffee memorable. This is all made possible with old-fashioned hospitality. With a team that welcomes you into a space that (deliberately?) feels like it could be your living room, there is a sort-of elevated execution that translates into everything—be it a cardamom bun, a thick bowl of hummus, or a plate of smoked salmon and simit (a sesame-crusted, chewy Turkish bread that is similar but also quite different to a bagel). That execution is evident in the coffee, too. An Ethiopia V60 from Dak Coffee Roasters gives bright peach and nectarine notes with calming chamomile, balanced with a perfectly acidic finish. Protest Kitchen leans on Baumgarten to curate and drive the coffee program here, and he is doing a banging job, with beans on rotation from local roasters like SO Coffee Roasters, or international guests like Friedhats from Amsterdam.
A La Marzocco Linea Classic EE espresso machine and an accompanying Victoria Arduino Mythos One grinder for espresso—as well as a separate Eureka Atom Pro for filter—show that, despite their best efforts to convince you otherwise, this team takes what they do seriously. Alongside the espresso, milk-based drinks, and batch brew and V60 options, there is the unusual presence of a Café Freddo—a nod to the strong, foamy coffees enjoyed in Greek culture. This perfectly sums up Protest Kitchen and their anti-conformist approach.
A Certain Cafe
Orson Welles is credited with the quote, “The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.” Such is the scene at A Certain Cafe, a cafe that greets its patrons with the (bold) declaration on the street-facing windows that they only offer filter coffee. Owners Matias Romano and Agustina Fortunato have managed to answer the question of how to serve a well-thought-out coffee menu without an espresso machine. They have done this by putting together one of the smartest interpretations of a drip-only cafe you’ll find anywhere in Europe.
Part of this is achieved through a variety of brew methods—AeroPress, Kalita, V60, and Moccamaster. Part of it is achieved through variations in portions (medium and large options for all filter coffee). Part of it is also achieved through fun and creative descriptors on the menu. To address the flat-white-elephant in the room, they simply steam milk with a handheld wand and list a menu item as “Foamy.” The milk is added to the filter. Genius. The “Foamy” hedges against expectations, as it’s not pretending to be a traditional flat-white, nor a cappuccino. It also allows the team to focus squarely on perfecting the filter coffee they know and love. (Spoiler alert: they are absolutely crushing it.)
Beans on my last visit came from local roastery Von&Vonnie, with other options coming from Spanish-based Hola Coffee Roasters. A Moccamaster KBGT741 helps keep batch brews consistent.
Set in a soaring room with voluminous ceilings, light pours in through A Certain Cafe’s front windows, immediately providing a bright, uncluttered energy. The décor is minimalistic, offset with striking art, sculptures, glassware, and various retro-ish items, including chairs, glasses, and cutlery. It’s beautiful and is not surprising given the couples’ backgrounds as an artist (Romano) and a jewelry designer (Fortunato). The creative streak is further on display in the form of independent, indie magazines and books, which are available for browsing and purchase. There’s a dedicated area on hand for showcasing local artists’ work, too.
The creativity on display continues through an ever-evolving food menu. Paying tribute to the traditional Portuguese set menu (one soup, one main, one dessert), A Certain Cafe interprets this with their own flair. The structure of the traditional menu remains, but ambitions are clear, with dishes like cabbage, onion, fondue cheese, and bread as a soup offering. A main meal could be (as on my visit): “pork feet broth with fried octopus and kale.” Not your typical cafe fare—and it’s not your typical cafe experience.
Combi
The story of this cafe and roastery starts with neither cafe nor roastery. It starts, in fact, with a van. Not any van. A ‘75 Mercedes N1300, to be exact. Brothers Gonçalo and Francisco Cardoso bought the vehicle a decade ago and painstakingly restored it, converting it to its former glory and creating a mobile coffee unit for festivals and markets.
The business took off.
With increasing demand, the brothers began roasting beans from an abandoned garage in Rua de Morgado de Mateus. Again, the demand was growing, and pretty quickly (in 2017), that space was converted into a cafe, where it remains today. Instead of a cold, industrial space (which you might expect with this type of conversion), the cafe uses touches of dark wood and plenty of greenery to add warmth. It’s a cozy, how-much-coffee-have-we-even-had-since-we-arrived type of setup. You just don’t want to leave.
With a clear focus on sourcing quality green coffees, Cardoso told me that beans are roasted “according to what we believe will give the end customer the best experience for that bean.” He stresses the customer throughout the conversation: “Our aim is to slowly, slowly take people who have existing ideas of what coffee is and to introduce them to specialty coffee. We have to be patient to do this. People have been drinking cheap coffee for years—even decades—and all we want is to create a cup of coffee that they can still enjoy, just a little bit more. We aren’t serving wild, crazy coffees because we want to serve coffee that people want. And we do. We just do it in our own way.”
A perfect example of this is in the development of their signature drinks, where you can find The Mazagran. Often credited as the world’s first iced coffee, this drink tracks back to 1840, where inventive French troops stationed in Algeria were forced (with dwindling supplies) to mix their coffee with sweetened water instead of the preferred milk. Later, the soldiers introduced the drink to regions of France, and it eventually made its way into other parts of Europe. Portugal’s historical attachment to this drink is particularly strong, and Combi’s version involves a double shot of espresso, freshly squeezed lemon juice, sugar, a handful of ice, soda water, and lemon zest. Producing this drink, as well as a variety of milk-based and pour-over options, requires some hard-working gear, and the team moves with speed and efficiency, jumping from a Mahlkönig E80S GBW grinder to a custom-made La Marzocco KB90.
With the evolution of Combi, a second store has been constructed. This new shop now houses the Joper BR5 Premium roaster, which has been moved from the OG space. Like the original cafe, this shop also serves as a cafe for people to sit and enjoy Combi coffee.
The Cardoso brothers have been at the forefront of specialty coffee in Porto for more than a decade. You cannot have a conversation about specialty coffee in this city without mentioning them. They have seen businesses come and go and have ridden out market changes, supplier challenges, and that pesky little pandemic. Through it all, they have survived and somehow grown. They are passionate, hard working entrepreneurs who clearly still have a hunger to spread their knowledge of specialty coffee. Porto is lucky to have them.
Von&Vonnie
One of the most exciting roasteries in Porto might also be one of the most exciting roasteries in Europe. Von&Vonnie is making waves across the city, and for good reason. Located in an area slightly removed from the preferred—and expected—neighborhoods of Porto, owners Morgan von Mantripp and Yvonne Spresny seem comfortable in forging their own path, even if it is a slightly less beaten one. Non-conformity seems to be a bit of a guiding principle for this couple, who are partners inside and outside of the four walls that make up this emerging microroastery. Their chosen site has less foot traffic than many other fancied areas in Porto, but that doesn’t deter plenty of local and international guests from visiting.
The coffee here really is phenomenal. On the day, a choice of eight varieties for beans, all of them roasted by von Mantripp using a Stronghold S7 Pro. Two Bentwood Vertical 63 grinders for espresso; one specifically for milk-based versions and a separate one for straight espresso. A Ditting 807 Lab Sweet takes care of the pour-over grind. They’re not messing around. The beans offer a diversity in flavor, all of them underpinned by methodical sourcing principles. The profiles cater to the less common (natural Sumatra Indonesia, anyone?) or more muted/traditional options (a washed Huehuetenango Guatemala serves as a reminder of how good “simple” coffee can be). Von&Vonnie has these extremes covered, as well as everything in between. Coffee is presented on steel trays with thoughtful, considered tasting cards that explain the coffee precisely, without being pretentious.
Do you like clean, bright, airy white rooms with soothing background music? Do you like mixed materials, with hard cement sitting comfortably alongside soft, breezy curtains? Von&Vonnie is your jam. Pops of pastel colors, retro, mismatched furniture. Freakin’ candles, you guys. That sit on freakin’ marble tables. It’s gorgeous—a level of detail that is truly rare to find. Curved lines, a huge window facing the street, floating shelves packed with beans and brew gear. It has it all. The cream Victoria Arduino Eagle One sitting on the counter helps complete the tableau.
With a small bakery on site, they craft a constantly evolving pastry selection here. You might get yourself a slice of Earl Grey cake (like I did), or a cardamom-spiked brioche bun piped with blueberry cream. You could bump into a thick, matcha cookie, a pão de queijo (think cheesy, puffy, light balls of calorific masterpiece), or a perfectly executed banana bread.
Von Mantripp and Spresny met in Southeast Asia, and the dream for what is now Von&Vonnie has grown over years, along with the couple’s relationship. You get the feeling of real care and real love for the work in this space, translated into every cup, every bite of food, and every detail. (How many brands do you know who point out, via a special sticker, when a coffee is spearheaded by a woman producer?) There is a focus on sustainability and transparency that really “walks the walk” here. It drives them, as opposed to simply being another brand with another marketing angle. They are telling a story here and doing their best to serve something that transcends whatever is in your cup.
Senzu Coffee Roasters
The owners of Senzu Coffee Roasters come with serious pedigree. Diogo Amorim founded the business, with a résumé boasting a Master’s Degree in International Relations, a Master’s Degree in Economics and Science, as well as a Master’s Degree in Coffee. The dude is a certified coffee geek, by any metric. Gianpiero Zignoni (ex-Vernazza Coffee Roasters) and David Coelho (ex-7g Roaster) have since joined the team, providing deep expertise in areas like marketing, business development, and client relations. These three have all earned their stripes the old-fashioned way, with more than a decade of hard-earned experience. It shows, in the way Senzu has gone from strength to strength over the last few years.
The easiest way to measure this success is to simply walk around Porto and see how many top-quality venues are proudly stocking their beans. With a rigorous process of quality control (Amorim has also founded the SCA-certified Abcoffee training school in Porto, so he clearly is well-equipped for this), the faith shown in Team Senzu is evident by the partnerships they enjoy. They also offer an opportunity to enjoy their coffee range as filter, V60, or cold brew at Cru Creative Hub, a co-working space populated mainly with creatives. Here, the coffee bar is open to the Cru community, as well as guests off the street. An impressive lineup of beans greets visitors, with every preference taken care of. An easy, accessible washed Ethiopia Keramo for some, and on the other end of the sliding scale, a more progressive, lactic Native Aroma Colombia. With the beans expertly roasted on site, there is an opportunity to have an “everyday” coffee or something a bit more experimental.
Or both, if you’re so inclined! The team at Senzu has some amazing new projects coming soon—be sure to check back here at Sprudge for more info on their growing footprint in Porto.
Época
Época is the sort of restaurant that you could visit every day of the week and enjoy every single time. Of course, you should start with coffee. With rotating beans from preferred suppliers, you will often find a local, Porto roastery represented. For example, on my visit Von&Vonnie’s Primavera Sisterhood washed Guatemala was served as batch brew, courtesy of a Moccamaster. Sharing the countertop is a hard-working Iberital, described by owner Liliana Alves as “nothing fancy,” and a Mahlkönig EK43 grinder to handle the espresso-based drinks for the cafe. This offhand comment on the machine perfectly sums up Época’s unassuming attitude—the team simply want to put smiles on faces; they seem unaware of how good they are at what they do.
And then there’s the food. The first section of the menu is (very cleverly) structured around a super basic formula. Sourdough bread as a base, with various toppings to add. I know, I know; this does not sound exciting. But what if said sourdough was, in fact, more of a hunk of bread than a dainty slice? And what if it was supplied by local indie/culty hole-in-the-wall pizza joint Generosa Porto? What if said toppings were things like labneh with paprika butter, or comté cheese that has been matured for 30 months, or in-house strawberry jam with fennel seeds, or whipped feta with fresh thyme and chili flakes? Or, or, or… It’s all impossibly delicious. Even “simple” toppings of extra virgin olive oil, or organic roasted almond butter, are somehow memorable.
There are other breakfast items: creamy, slow-cooked oats get boosted with roasted pears and cacao nibs, granola is served with roasted banana, and eggs are poached and ladled onto thick yogurt. With an extensive drinks menu, there is a deep level of curation that has gone into the selection of natural wines, kombuchas, and teas. Order them, of course, or choose a cortado and a bowl of the tiramisu to end your meal the same way you started it—with delicious coffee. As you do, try and figure out how they manage to make such simple things so deeply complex.
Hakko
The problem with trying to do everything at the highest level is the obvious risk of ending up doing nothing at that level. Instead, settling into a sea of averageness. A sort-of… hospitality mediocrity. This is the challenge that comes with ambition.
Which makes Hakko that much more impressive. Not only has owner Tiago Teixeira taken a swing for the fences by tackling almost every single thing in-house, but he has also absolutely crushed it.
Bread is baked daily on site, there’s a stellar coffee lineup, and the food—as we’ve seen elsewhere in Porto—is outstanding cafe fare, including precise breakfast options, comforting lunch plates, interesting rotating specials, and an absolute belter of a pastry case. Tick, tick, tick, and tick.
Don’t be fooled by the modest facade. Look a bit closer and you can see, through a street-facing hatch, the hallmarks of a venue that cares about their coffee program. All the giveaways are there, including a powder blue La Marzocco Linea Mini, a Mahlkönig EK43 for pour-overs, and the Mahlkönig E65S for espresso-based options. There are V60, Orea V3, and Kalita Wave variations to choose from, as well as a batch brew. The expected scales and kettles underline that you are in very, very good hands here.
As for what beans are going into said grinders, the team “keeps things interesting” with an all-star lineup of roasters ranging from local options like SO Coffee Roasters to other parts of Europe—including Copenhagen stalwarts La Cabra and Coffee Collective—and even a European Onyx Coffee Lab, which is, interestingly, now being roasted and distributed by Manhattan Coffee Roasters.
Inside Hakko, the menu reflects the wide and deep range of skills on offer. The French toast is a lot more than the sum of its parts. Brioche bread (yes, baked in-house), caramelized until the edges are slightly charred, is then dressed with a lemony, cardamom-spiked caramel sauce and finished with rich olive oil. It could be easy to write this off as another brunchy, trendy dish, but here at Hakko, it shows balance and an understanding of taking big, robust flavors and introducing them to guests in approachable ways. Same with the “marinara eggs,” which sees brown butter and a punchy tomato sauce as Hakko’s version of the almost-standard-at-a-cafe-nowadays shakshuka. A short lunch menu shows off specials that are heartier, with a Japanese curry being an example of how the kitchen takes influence from Asian cuisine and food philosophies.
“Hakko” is a Japanese word for “fermentation,” and there are clues throughout the menu of this methodology to tease out flavors, with vinegars, pickles, miso, gochujang, and soy sauce all being used to good effect.
With edgy, sporadically-placed art, vinyl spinning, neon light fixtures, and mismatched retro furniture, Hakko is undeniably cool. Places like this often get labeled with the dreaded and overused “hipster” tag. To use it here would be a massive mistake. To do so here would be to overlook the enormous amount of work that goes into executing a menu as diverse as this, and to do it so damned well. Hakko is not a bakery, and it’s not a restaurant, and it’s not a coffee shop, and it’s not a cafe. It’s like a secret, fifth thing. Whatever it is, it has substance. Wherever it is, it is worth celebrating.
Andy Fenner is a freelance journalist based in Lisbon. Read more Andy Fenner for Sprudge.
