The Best Coffee in Acapulco, Mexico

Within the beachside Princess Mundo Imperial, Café et Chocolat is the place to go for brunch, lunch or a rich espresso and a decadent pastry. Complement your mocha with a flaky croissant, a blueberry muffin or a traditional concha (Mexican pan dulce). If you’re on a health kick, try a black coffee with a honey-drizzled pot of oatmeal. It’s an excellent choice in the heart of Acapulco.

Cakes and coffee are the order of the day at Olé Café and Pastel, one of several coffee shops in Acapulco that doubles as a cake store: after all, the two go hand in hand. Indulge in a generous slab of chocolate cake or pastel zarzamora con queso (blackberry cheesecake) – an excellent companion to a hot cortado (espresso with warm milk). If you’re feeling the Acapulco heat, try something refreshing such as a strawberry frappé, typically drunk as an early morning pick-me-up or an afternoon treat.

Desserts, desserts and more desserts are the focus at Pastelería Sharon – with a side serving of coffee, of course. There’s a selection of freshly baked breads, sometimes sweet, sometimes savory, as well as beautifully and professionally decorated cakes – try the pastel de triple chocolateif you really want to feed those sugar cravings. The coffee is made to complement the desserts, with a selection of frappés in flavours such as rompope (eggnog), white chocolate and a frankly gluttonous Oreo version.

Café Wadi is all about the coffee. There are 11 different blends on offer at this historic coffeehouse that’s been serving caffeinated concoctions since 1940, all sourced from coffee farms across Guerrero state. Although it’s unassuming – a simple café, whose name nods to the family’s Lebanese roots – Café Wadi’s coffee speaks for itself. Inside, the café is crammed with different varieties of coffee beans, all available to buy or drink in store – go for the tostado con piloncillo(coffee roasted with brown sugar) and settle in to watch the locals gossip.

Conscious coffee is on the menu at this health-food store (Verde Pistache), and next door café and juice bar (Verde Vegan), which together sell a blend of vegan-friendly products, produced by Mexican companies, and health-minded foods, including lentil curries, stuffed mushrooms and stacked pancakes. Naturally, the coffee here is organic. Try the Moca Loca (iced coffee with chocolate) while drinking in the surrounds, which are well stocked with plants and baskets of healthy goods to take home. Kombucha mojitos, matcha tea and restorative juices are also on the menu here, plus one-to-10-day detox programmes for the very committed.

This place is a real find – a leafy café tucked within the secret-garden-like grounds of Jardín Secreto wellness hotel, home to five eco-cabins and two exclusive villas, with a roster of yoga classes and local music nights also on the menu. The food here is Instagram-ready – artful French toast, piled pancakes and colourful bowls of fruit are served on note-perfect ceramic plates– but really it’s a place to power down and appreciate Acapulco’s natural side. Yogis and surfers make up the majority of its clientele (it’s only eight minutes from the beach, after all), so grab a hammock chair or a spot under a parasol and join them.

Situated to the north of Las Playas, El Santo Churro is a fun place to enjoy a coffee or smoothie, and is a clear favorite with the kids. Their specialty is the Santo frappé, which comes in 15 flavors including white chocolate, caramel, mocha, cookies and cream, chocolate and cappuccino. As the name (the Holy Churro) implies, this is one of the best places to taste churros – those delicious fried doughy pastries, which originated in Spain and Portugal, but are served here with the more Latin American dulce de leche (sweetened milk that looks like molten chocolate).

Mitigate the Acapulco heat by grabbing a frappé at Laguna – it’s their specialty and customers flock here to experience the best in ice-cold refreshments. The atmosphere is laid-back and there’s a beautiful terrace with fabulous views of a lagoon (hence the name). The Laguna is also known for its attentive staff, who make sure every coffee lover is eager to come back for more. If you’re hungry, opt for decadent Oreo cookie frappé served in a milkshake-style glass.

This beachy, surf-style café has two floors decked out in palm motifs and tropical shades with a buzzy atmosphere and great baristas, and is quite devoid of airs and graces. It’s located down by the famous Acapulco Bay (the one that had Frank Sinatra wanting to fly away), and customers love to watch the world go by here over a drink of moka blanco or affogato (espresso with ice cream). Our favorite? A frappe cappuccino with a giant slab of coconut cake.

Short for Café Woolworth, this small chain has an illustrious history. Born in the historical center of the capital in 1966, the store’s brewing idea was that coffee could be served to customers as a side-serving to their purchases. As the coffee became more popular, so did Café Woolworth’s prominence. The actual Café W name came into effect in 2007, and since then they’ve served thousands of caffeinated concoctions to customers. Trusted by local coffee aficionados, it’s the spot for serious coffee in Acapulco – there’s a second outpost near Playa Manzanilla, too.