The coffee guide · Copenhagen
Copenhagen coffee guide
How to plan a coffee day in Copenhagen: where the roasters are, which neighbourhoods to base yourself in, what to order and how to take beans home.
Copenhagen's specialty scene grew around a few roasters who turned light roasting and direct buying into a house style. Coffee Collective opened its first shop on Jægersborggade in Nørrebro in 2008 and now publishes what it pays for its coffees. Prolog started as a narrow bar in Kødbyen in 2016, April followed in 2016 under Swedish roaster Patrik Rolf, and La Cabra came down from Aarhus to roast in Nordhavn. Around them sits a ring of smaller roasters with their own bars, such as ROAST, Kaffedepartementet, Norange, The Artisan and HipHop, and a handful of multi-roaster bars, such as Darcy's, Nude Coffee and Wild Horses, that pour coffee from across Europe.
For a first coffee day, start in Indre By. April's store on Pilestræde, La Cabra on Møntergade, Democratic Coffee in the Main Library and Nude Coffee on Store Kongensgade are all within a short walk, and Coffee Collective has bars at Torvehallerne market and on Kristen Bernikows Gade. In the afternoon, cross the lakes into Nørrebro for Coffee Collective's original shop on Jægersborggade, Darcy's on Rantzausgade, Norange by Sankt Hans Torv and The Artisan on the lakeside path. Vesterbro makes a second day: Prolog's original bar in Kødbyen, Time. on Meldahlsgade and Enghave Kaffe on Enghave Plads. ROAST is a short walk across the Langebro bridge in Islands Brygge, and Kaffedepartementet, in Nordvest, and Wild Horses, in Sydhavn, are worth the bus ride.
What to order: the city drinks filter. Most of the stronger bars offer a pour-over or batch brew of a light-roasted single origin, often from Ethiopia, Kenya or Colombia, with the farm and process named. Espresso tends to be light too, so try it black before you add milk. If you want to compare, April has a tasting menu, and Andersen & Maillard has poured a natural and a washed lot from the same farm side by side.
Most specialty bars open between 7 and 8 on weekdays and an hour later at weekends, and close in the late afternoon, around 17 or 18. Some keep short weeks: Nude Coffee and Komuna's Silent Club open Wednesday to Sunday, Pontes is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and Coffice closes on Fridays. Very few stay open into the evening.
Beans are easy to take home. Coffee Collective, April, La Cabra, Prolog, ROAST, Kaffedepartementet, Norange and Kontra all sell bags at their bars, and Kaffedepartementet sells one farm per bag, from the newest harvest. Darcy's and Kaffe on Istedgade sell bags from guest roasters, which is a good way to try roasters from the rest of Europe.
Where to start
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No. 1
Coffee Collective Jægersborggade
Nørrebro+6 locationsMust-try
Coffee Collective opened its first shop on Jægersborggade in 2008, and this small Nørrebro room is still the place to start. It roasts everything itself, buys directly from farmers and publishes what it paid for each coffee. Expect light, clean roasts with fruit and floral notes, and ask what is on filter today. The roastery runs coffee and roasting courses, and during World of Coffee 2024 it held meet-the-producer cuppings. Six more bars are spread across the city, including one in the Torvehallerne market and one in a former bodega on Kristen Bernikows Gade.
Jægersborggade 57, 2200 København, Denmark
No. 2
April Coffee Store & Showroom
Indre By+1 locationMust-try
April was founded in Copenhagen in 2016 by Swedish roaster Patrik Rolf, a 2022 World Barista Championship finalist, and the Pilestræde store is its home in the city centre. It buys from partner farmers, one farm per coffee, and roasts in a clean Nordic style. The menu follows the harvests, with rare and limited lots next to the daily selection, and there is a tasting menu if you want to compare. The bright, quiet room with Finn Juhl furniture feels closer to a showroom than a café. Next door at number 37, its SP Coffee Shop serves sweeter, more developed roasts from the same farmers.
Pilestræde 39, 1112 København, Denmark
No. 3
La Cabra
Indre By+1 locationMust-try
La Cabra started out in Aarhus and now roasts in Copenhagen, at a roastery in Nordhavn. In the centre, the Møntergade café sits inside the Another Aspect clothing store in the fashion district: a calm, clean Nordic room. The roasting is light and keeps sweetness and clarity in front, with single-origin lots from places such as Sidama in Ethiopia and Huila in Colombia. The team bakes its own naturally leavened bread and pastries. Out in Nordhavn, the roastery café has a brick bar that looks through the quality-control room toward production.
Møntergade 3A, 1116 København, Denmark
No. 4
Prolog Coffee Bar Meatpacking District
Vesterbro+3 locationsMust-try
Sebastian Quistorff and Jonas Gehl opened Prolog in 2016 as a narrow bar in Kødbyen, the old meatpacking district, and it has grown into a roastery with four bars. The original keeps a few seats inside and a couple of tables outside, and on sunny days people sit on the pavement. The menu is mostly light-roasted single origins, served as espresso, filter or V60 pour-over. For a different room, the Papirøen bar sits in a glass building on the harbour, with high ceilings, wood and views toward Nyhavn. The other two bars are on Randersgade in Østerbro and on Marguerite Vibys Plads in Frederiksberg.
Høkerboderne 16, 1712 København, Denmark
No. 5
Time. Copenhagen
VesterbroMust-try
Time. is a small shop on Meldahlsgade, a few minutes from the City Hall square, built around competition coffee. The shop says its coffees are chosen by Hojat Mousavi, whom it presents as the 2026 Danish Barista Champion, and its single origins come from farms in Panama, Colombia and Kenya, Panama Geisha included. The Nordic Style Coffee Guide notes a slightly more developed roast than the Copenhagen norm and an experimental selection. It opens every day from 9 to 16, and the beans are for sale to take home.
Meldahlsgade 6, 1613 København, Denmark
No. 6
Darcy’s Kaffe
Nørrebro+1 locationMust-try
Darcy's began as a specialty coffee cart in 2018 and opened this sunny corner café on Rantzausgade in 2020. It is a multi-roaster, pouring coffees from roasters such as April, Koppi, La Cabra, Sey and DAK, and Copenhagen baristas treat it as their local. When Sprudge visited there were two espressos, one brewed manually and one programmed, plus rotating batch brew and pour-over. Pastries are baked in house and beans are for sale. A second bar, Darcy's & CC, is out on Refshalevej and opens Wednesday to Sunday.
Rantzausgade 2, 2200 København, Denmark
No. 7
Nude Coffee
Indre ByMust-try
Nude Coffee is a small bar on Store Kongensgade built around the brewing counter, with most seats close to the barista. It does not roast; it is a tightly curated multi-roaster, and on the Nordic Style Coffee Guide's visit the shelf held rare coffees from Special Guests, Standout and La Cabra. Water is filtered and mineralised for brewing, and the filter coffee is the reason to come. Talk to Joachim behind the bar about what is open. It opens Wednesday to Sunday, from 10 to 17.
Store Kongensgade 59F, 1264 København, Denmark
No. 8
ROAST Coffee
Islands Brygge+2 locationsMust-try
ROAST opened in 2015 near Islands Brygge, just across the Langebro bridge from the centre, and roasts on site at Vestmannagade. The menu runs to more than eight coffees, from light to dark, and any of them can be brewed as a pour-over. Many lots are bought through the Cup of Excellence programme and carry a 50-50 label, which guarantees the farmers half of the retail price after tax. The roastery also runs public coffee courses. Its other bars are on Studiestræde in the centre, at Vesterport Station and at a second roastery in Sydhavn.
Vestmannagade 4, 2300 København, Denmark
No. 9
Kaffedepartementet
NordvestMust-try
Kaffedepartementet is a micro-roastery café on Rentemestervej in Nordvest, across the street from Flere Fugle. Its rule is one farm only: each bag is a single farm and a single crop, bought in small lots from the newest harvest, and every coffee is roasted and cupped here. A typical lot is the washed Kamuyu from Nyeri in Kenya, roasted light for filter but bright enough for espresso. Barista Magazine singles out the espresso. Say hello at the bar and ask what came in last.
Rentemestervej 64, 2400 København, Denmark
No. 10
The Artisan Copenhagen
NørrebroMust-try
The Artisan sits at the corner of the lake by Fredens Park, on the walk around the city's lakes, with a large front deck. It is run by a Peruvian and a Danish owner, and founder Jose Antonio travels to Peru regularly to buy micro-lots from small farms. Everything is roasted in house on a one-kilo roaster built in Copenhagen, and the menu is Peruvian coffee only, including anaerobic and natural lots. Regulars come for the pour-overs, and the beans are for sale.
Sortedam Dossering 45A, 2200 København, Denmark
No. 11
Hip Hop
NørrebroMust-try
HipHop is a small café opened by a former Prolog employee who also roasts, and the same team is behind the Sensei coffee roastery. Klaus Thomsen of Coffee Collective put it in his Copenhagen picks for Sprudge in 2024, back when it was an espresso machine and two chairs in Frederiksberg. It has since moved to Mjølnerparken in Nørrebro and opens every day from 8 to 17. Come for the espresso drinks made with the team's own coffee.
Mjølnerparken 6A, 2200 København, Denmark
No. 12
norange coffee roasters
NørrebroMust-try
Norange is a light-roast roastery café on Blegdamsvej, with window stools looking out over Sankt Hans Torv. It was founded by Alex Nerantzis, the 2022 Greek Roasting Champion, and the coffees are bright and complex. Barista Magazine recommends a floral Ethiopian as a pour-over. The room is new, clean and minimal in a Scandinavian way, and the roastery's beans are sold to take home.
Blegdamsvej 4D, 2200 København, Denmark
No. 13
Democratic Coffee
Indre ByMust-try
Democratic Coffee has run its bar inside Copenhagen's Main Library on Krystalgade since 2011. It roasts its own coffee, and Sprudge called it one of the city's best cups; its almond croissant has a following of its own. Seats at the bar are few, but the library around it has more than twenty, and it is a calm place to sit with a cup and a book in the middle of the old town.
Krystalgade 15, 1172 København, Denmark
No. 14
Enghave Kaffe
VesterbroMust-try
Enghave Kaffe is a dark, minimalist bar on Enghave Plads in Vesterbro, with a bench along the wall and tables outside. It serves coffee from Fuglen, the Norwegian roaster, and the batch brew is the local favourite, alongside espresso drinks and kombucha. Barista Magazine credits Nobuaki Matsui, who manages the bar, with changing how espresso is brewed in Copenhagen. Laptops are welcome only from 12 to 15.
Enghave Pl. 3, stuen th, 1670 København, Denmark
No. 15
Wild horses
SydhavnMust-try
Wild Horses is a café, gallery and studio space on Borgbjergsvej in Sydhavn, and Barista Magazine calls it worth the bus ride. The owner is Australian, ran a shop in Berlin and worked at Darcy's before opening here, when there was little else around. It is a multi-roaster with coffees from Berlin and other cities, so the menu changes often. It opens at 7:30 on weekdays and at 9 at weekends.
Borgbjergsvej 1, tv, 2450 København, Denmark
Sources
- nordicstylecoffeeguide.com/news/city-guide-copenhagen
- sprudge.com/the-klaus-thomsen-guide-to-coffee-in-copenhagen-247658.html
- sprudge.com/the-sprudge-guide-to-copenhagen-coffee-for-2023-197050.html
- sprudge.com/copenhagen-coffee-guide-127180.html
- baristamagazine.com/5-incredible-cafes-in-copenhagen
- baristamagazine.com/copenhagen-revisited-5-local-approved-cafes
- andershusa.com/best-coffee-copenhagen
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