A coffee and cake crawl through Madrid

This is a coffee and cake crawl through Madrid, running from the southern barrios of La Latina and Lavapiés north through Malasaña to Conde Duque. Six independent stops, with the roaster and the machine noted at each one where it is publicly known.

1. Pastora

Start in La Latina at Carrera de San Francisco 12, where Sara Pastor and Juan Camilo Díaz opened Pastora in 2020. The coffee here comes from La Noria Coffee Project, a farm in Colombia owned by the Díaz family, giving the bar a farm-to-cup traceability you rarely find at this scale in a city-centre cafe. Natural wine from small European producers sits alongside the espresso and filter menu, and the relaxed La Latina neighbourhood makes it a pleasant, unhurried way to begin the morning.

2. Hola Coffee

Walk east about eight minutes to Calle del Doctor Fourquet 33 in Lavapiés, where Pablo Caballero, the 2016 Spanish Barista Champion, and Nolo Botana founded Hola Coffee in 2016. The bar pulls espresso on a La Marzocco Strada from the company's own roastery at Calle de la Sepúlveda 109, and the Lavapiés original doubles as a barista training space and the recording home of a coffee podcast. It is a working place as much as a cafe, and the better for it.

3. La Bicicleta Café

Head north across Gran Vía to Plaza de San Ildefonso 9 in Malasaña, a walk of around twenty minutes or a quick ride on the Metro from Tirso de Molina to Noviciado. La Bicicleta has been at this address since 2012, roasting its own beans under the Trece Coffee brand; the ground floor doubles as a bike-repair workshop with tools, a pump and specialist cycling publications on the shelves, and V60 filter coffee runs alongside brunch plates through the day before natural wine takes over in the evening.

4. HanSo Café

A short walk north along Calle del Pez brings you to number 20, where HanSo serves some of the most consistently interesting coffee in the neighbourhood. The La Marzocco GB5 is loaded with a rotating selection of Nordic and European roasters including Nomad, Gardelli, Bonanza and April; the rice flour waffles and thousand-layer cake are among the better food stops on this crawl and worth pairing with whatever filter is on the bar that day.

5. Toma Café

Walk four or five minutes northwest to Calle de la Palma 49, where Santi Rigoni and Patricia Alda from Argentina opened Toma in 2011 and began Madrid's specialty coffee conversation. Toma is widely regarded as the first specialty bar in the city; the company now has its own roastery and training centre nearby and three Malasaña locations, but the original Palma room still has the focused, unpretentious energy that made it influential. It is worth a visit for its place in Madrid coffee history as much as for the cup.

6. Misión Café

Finish northwest in Conde Duque at Calle de los Reyes 5, where the same team behind Hola Coffee opened Misión, said to be the first cafe in Spain to install an under-counter Modbar espresso system. The format keeps the barista and counter completely open to view throughout the extraction; the coffee is from Hola Coffee's own roastery and the food menu, running to croissants, toasts and pastries, is a genuine strength. A good place to sit and decide what to do with the rest of Madrid.

All six are independent. The route runs roughly south to north from La Latina through Lavapiés to Malasaña and Conde Duque. The four Malasaña stops are within ten minutes of each other on foot; the gap between Lavapiés and Malasaña is a twenty-minute walk or two stops on the Metro, which makes this an easy half-day.

Common questions

Which Madrid cafe is regarded as the first specialty coffee bar in the city?

Toma Café on Calle de la Palma 49 in Malasaña, opened in 2011 by Santi Rigoni and Patricia Alda, is widely regarded as the first specialty coffee bar in Madrid and helped establish Malasaña as the heart of the city's third-wave scene.

Which Madrid cafes roast their own coffee?

Several on this crawl roast in house. Hola Coffee roasts at its own facility at Calle de la Sepúlveda 109 in Lavapiés, La Bicicleta roasts under the Trece Coffee brand at its Malasaña site, and Toma Café has its own roastery and training centre near the Palma bar.

Is the Madrid coffee crawl walkable?

Mostly. The four Malasaña stops are all within ten minutes of each other on foot. The gap from Lavapiés (Hola Coffee) to Malasaña (La Bicicleta) is about 1.5km, which is a twenty-minute walk or two stops on the Metro from Tirso de Molina to Noviciado.

Where should I go for cake specifically in Madrid?

HanSo Café in Malasaña serves rice flour waffles and a thousand-layer cake alongside its rotating filter programme. Mür Café at Plaza Cristino Martos in Conde Duque specialises in cakes alongside its espresso. Bianchi Kiosko Caffé on Calle de San Joaquín is a tiny Italian-inspired independent with handmade bakery cakes.