Everyone knows Melbourne. Everyone knows Portland. But what about Penang? What about Tbilisi? What about Oaxaca? The coffee world is bigger than the usual suspects. Some of the best cups I’ve had were in cities that don’t make the “best coffee” lists. They should. Here are the ones that surprised me. Penang, Malaysia: Hawker Coffee … Read more
I used to plan travel days like military campaigns. Sight A at 9. Sight B at 11. Lunch at 1. I saw everything. I remembered nothing. Now I plan around coffee. Three stops. Everything else fills the gaps. The days are slower. The memories are better. Here’s the formula. The Morning Coffee: Orientation First thing. … Read more
The coffee world is shifting. Climate change is moving growing regions. New processing methods are creating flavors we didn’t have words for five years ago. Young producers in unexpected countries are making waves. If you’re planning travel around coffee in 2026, you need to look beyond the usual suspects. Here’s where the action is. Colombia: … Read more
I used to think coffee was just caffeine. A tool. A means to an end. Then I traveled. I saw how the Japanese approach it with reverence. How Italians treat it as social glue. How Australians debate it like sport. Coffee isn’t just a drink. It’s a window into how a culture thinks about time, … Read more
I walked into my first Italian café and tried to order a cappuccino at 4 PM. The barista looked at me like I’d insulted his mother. I had, culturally speaking. Cappuccino is morning. Espresso is afternoon. I didn’t know the rules. Now I do. Here’s the cheat sheet so you don’t get the same look. … Read more
I drank an $8 latte in Hong Kong once. It was mediocre. But I could see the entire harbor from the window. The skyline lit up like a circuit board. Ships moving below. For twenty minutes, I forgot about the coffee. The view was the point. Some cafés are worth the markup because the window … Read more
I don’t plan walking routes. I plan coffee stops. Everything else happens in between. The best bookshop I found in Prague was between my hotel and a café. The best view in Lisbon was a wrong turn on the way to a pastel de nata. Coffee is the excuse. The walking is the discovery. Here’s … Read more
I need three things to work in a café. WiFi that doesn’t make me cry. A chair that won’t destroy my spine. And enough ambient noise that I don’t feel alone, but not so much that I can’t think. Finding all three in a foreign city is harder than it sounds. Here are the spots … Read more
I used to hit the ground running in new cities. Map open. Checklist loaded. See the cathedral. See the museum. See the bridge. By day three I was exhausted and had learned nothing about the place. Now I do one thing first. I find a café. I sit. I watch. The rest of the city … Read more
I once flew to Melbourne specifically for coffee. Not for the Great Ocean Road. Not for the koalas. For a flat white. My friends thought I was insane. Then they tasted what I tasted. A $4.50 cup that changed how they understood what coffee could be. Some cities don’t just serve caffeine. They serve culture … Read more