Considering the city’s well-known love affair with tea, visitors to Taipei might assume that a good coffee shop would be hard to come by. But they couldn’t be more wrong. Taiwan is enjoying a passionate love affair with the coffee bean, and you can now buy a cup of coffee in any convenience store (there’s one on every corner). However, the real coffee lovers out there should try one of these coffee shops.
Coffee Sweet
Cafe, Tea , $$$
These days it’s all about the Wi-Fi. If a coffee shop or bar doesn’t have it, then they might as well shut down. Well, that is unless you serve incredible coffee like Coffee Sweet does. There are only 25 seats in this intimate little space, tucked away down an alleyway, but that’s good because, with no Wi-Fi, customers tend to enjoy their coffee then be on their way.Sourcing the majority of their beans from Panama and Ethiopia, the coffees on offer here are best enjoyed in their purest form. So forget the lattes and pumpkin spice and enjoy coffee the way it should be.
Rufous is a coffee shop with a rustic feel and a local crowd. It feels like the kind of place worth visiting every day. Featuring dark mahogany wood and comfortable seating for 35 people this place has it all. From incredible pour-overs to coffees with a scoop of ice cream, coffee addicts will want for nothing here.Rufous roasts all of its beans in-house and they do so with expert care, and the result is wonderful coffee blends in a shop filled with the aroma of freshly roasted beans.
Set just a few steps from National Taiwan University, Picnic stands out in a sea of coffee shops all catering to the student masses living or attending classes in the neighborhood. It’s set up like a quaint little cottage and even has a menu to match. The coffees are of course fantastic but what makes this place so special are the home cooked scones.Perfect for those cold winter afternoons (yes, Taiwan does actually get cold for a few months), Picnic is the perfect tonic to some other coffee shops that take themselves a little too seriously. Great coffee and scones in a warm and cozy setting, what more could you need?
A place to dine out and have a beer in the evening, Woolloomooloo is an Australian restaurant/coffee shop hybrid that ranks high on the list of must-visit coffee spots in Taipei. The interior is industrial in style but doesn’t scrimp on comfort.All their beans are shipped directly from Australia, and their signature coffee (a flat white served in a glass) is one of their biggest sellers. But when the sun goes down patrons can also consider opening a bottle of Australian wine or beer.
