In Search of the Perfect Kava in Ljubljana
Kava we quickly learned here means coffee - and coffee means espresso. As ubiquitous as drip coffee in America, available in virtually any establishment serving food, is the espresso machine in Slovenia, offering €2-3 cappuccinos. But what if you want to savour your coffee, to drink more than an ounce of it and without diluting it with milk? Then read on.
After stopping by a few highly rated cafes, I learned ‘filter’ coffee - or chemex (or v90) - tend to only be available at 'specialty shops', of which there are a few in the city. Also interesting, many (larger) cafes also make (basic) cocktails throughout the day. While in the US, coffee and alcohol are largely non-overlapping specializations, here the two seem to be interchangeable - just different reasons to hangout at small tables.
Notable cafes
Notable coffee dispensaries I visited, roughly in order of overall preference —
Neubar - by far our most visited venue. Apparently located smack dab in the backpacker center of Ljubljana, it also has the highest concentration of young people generally and people working on laptops in the city. It has AC, good wifi and quite good filter coffee for about €3 - in fact it’s the only place in the city with filter coffee - in addition to the more expensive pour-over (v60).
In the morning Neubar serves some delightful breakfast items and in the afternoon, the Ljubljana cafe staple - “toast” (i.e. a version of grilled cheese with a choice of either ham and cheese or cheese and pesto). For kids, you can also find a “babycino” and cookies and croissants. Their choice of music isn't great though, with a random selection of gangster rap.
Črno Zrno - elite coffee by any metric. Since it’s a few blocks out of the way, we’ve only gone there once, so I have not sampled the espresso, but based on the proprietor’s technique and the chemex, which was of the highest caliber, this is the best coffee in Ljubljana. The downside - very little seating.
Cafe Čokl - Lovely location across from central market and a variety of well made coffee products including chemex. Very limited inside seating though.
Kaverna moderna - a chic, spacious (cavernous? 😁) cafe in the Modern Arts museum of Ljubljana. Good quality pour over coffee, stylish (indoor only) ambience.
Rennaissance Specialty Coffee - a cute shop, central location but in a hidden nook. The chemex coffee was a little disappointing, probably over-brewed some.
Pritlicje Kaverna - pleasant, very large cafe for nomadic work, with both indoor and outdoor seating and decent espresso drinks. Great wifi and central “old-town” location, as well as some food items to choose from. Downsides - no AC and no chemex.
Stow2go
Finally, another pretty high end coffee dispensary. They have several locations, but I only tried the one on the main square with no seating. Three choices of beans, but very expensive, with chemex running into 9 euros. Reeling from sticker shock (move over $6 cups of Blue Bottle!) I went with a cappuccino which I found to be not worth the price, but pour over or espresso may be quite good.
