Located at the Northwest of Russia, Saint Petersburg is an important culture center. The artistic city is well known not only for Nevsky Prospect, Winter Palace, Summer Palace, Kazan Cathedral, Saint Isaac’s Cathedral and different kinds of art museums, but also for people, who are in love with coffee and inspired by this magic drink. One of the sceneries in the city is the people riding to cafes.

During my 9 days stay in Saint Petersburg, I chose to discover this city on feet. I enjoyed city walks a lot, I have never walked as long as 2 hours without a stop before. Saint Petersburg cafes are majorly located in 19th century area of the city. People living or working nearby can enjoy coffee at any time.

During my stay in Saint Petersburg, I got to know how to say coffee in Russian, which is кофе. When you see this sign on the street, there should be a coffee shop waiting for you. So a tip for discovery cafes is keeping an eye on кофе.

BONCH CAFÉ&BAR

BONCH is the only café that I visited 3 times during the trip. The reason that driven me there so many times is not only for its excellent single-origin coffee or espresso, but also for the gourmets and good dining environment. The shop has a lot of space and good design, the seating make each and every customer feel in privacy even though they are in a coffee shop. That is why it is hard to find a vacant place, even outside.

You can choose your single-origin coffee to be prepared by brewing or by AeroPress. I tried Kenyan coffee in 2 ways, both coffees tasted very nice. Barista here is professional. He presented the coffee’s different flavors to customers while brewing. Even though his English is not that fluent, you can feel his professionalism by how he works.

The coffee made by AeroPress will be presented in a glass vessel. On the contrary, brewed coffee will be presented in Chemex. BONCH emphasizes coffee quality, service details and customers’ experience. Besides its coffee, the delicious food makes people come back.

BONCH’s serves traditional European food. Every dish tastes great and makes you fall in love with the café over and over again. All in all, this is the best-rated shop that I have visited in Saint Petersburg.

There are 2 dishes that you cannot miss, one is Swedish Meatballs with Mashed Potatoes and homemade raspberries sauce, and another is French starter. These Swedish Meatballs are quite different from what we are used to when in IKEA. The Mashed Potatoes are very sweet thanks to its special variety and Russian Raspberries Sauce tastes awesome. French starter is actually a roasted sliced baguette with goose liver, Spanish ham and salmon etc. I really miss the one with puree of dragon fruit on it.

One specialty coffee before meal and one espresso after meal make my day.

During my café hopping, I discovered a special rule in coffee circle in Saint Petersburg. That is only fine milk foam can accompany Latte and be presented in a glass cup, but a Latte art is actually done on a cappuccino. That’s very interesting.

Mustache cup is the logo of BONCH. The mouth-to-mouth marketing made by young people.

Address: Bolshaya Morskaya St.16

Website: www.bonchcoffee.ru

Tel: （812）740-70-83

​​​​Coffee Character

This shop is best rated for its milk coffee, many young people can also agree with me.

Характер Кофе ，Характер Кофе in Chinese means a Coffee Character.

The shop design is simple, the character here is more about baristas brewing coffee, instead of its decoration and style.

Geometric patterns is are typical elements in the store. From the lighting to vessels with homemade biscuits, the design makes you feel comfortable. Biscuits are simple but taste very good. Ordering local biscuits with their special latte will make your experience unforgettable.

The most interesting here is the special presentation of Lattes, which is distinguished from lattes in other shops, here Latte is an art. Of course, its brewed coffee is also worth trying!

If we take a look at coffee presentation: brewed coffee will be served directly with Kalita brewing pot having cup on top of it.

Sometime, there can be held a small exhibition of illustration by local young artists. Although the store space is not very large, everything is well organized and placed accordingly. Customers walk in and out the store, which makes it the most popular café in this area.

Address: Nebreki fontanka,109

Website: vk.com/characterofcoffee

DOUBLE B

DOUBLE B is one of the most famous specialty coffee chains in Russia, its predecessor is an independent café. DOUBLE B roasts beans by themselves, and many independent cafés also use their beans. You can find a lot of its sub branches not only in Moscow but also in Saint Petersburg. But none of them has the same decoration, nor design. The most recommended is their single-origin coffee, due to its good taste.

There are 7 DOUBLE B shops in the city. I visited three of them, the one on the ground floor of Au Pont Rouge is my favorite. Because this DOUBLE B was highly impacted by the fashion atmosphere brought from international design brands in the shopping mall.

The barista who served me was  very nice, not only because he introduced a lot about the beans with limited English vocabulary, but he also  made a great espresso and single-origin coffee. I though it will be very interesting if I could talk with local Russian barista.

The second time I visited this store, there was a film shooting. The actors smiled at my camera. Moreover, both café workers and customers were very curious about my Asian face and moved by my enthusiasm for coffee, so they were all glad to talk with me about coffee.

Single-origin coffee is the most recommended item from DOUBLE B  menu. I tried coffee beans from Kenya, Costa Rica and Ethiopia. Every time after drinking coffees, I always wanted to buy their beans to brew at home. I can’t help drinking their coffee even in Moscow. It is really a great café to enjoy single-origin coffee in Russia.

The lovely take-away cups of DOUBLE B are sure to put Russian coffee drinkers in a good mood even during harsh winters.

The slogan of DOUBLE B is: all you need is love & a good cup of coffee.

I also want to share the packaging of coffee bean from DOUBLE B website. It is a co-designed works from Maxim Goudin, an art director from Amsterdam Dutch, and Illarion Gordon, a Moscow designer.

Besides for the store design and making coffee, they pay such a close  attention the packaging, this is really rare which one more time shows how great this coffee chain is.

Address: Yakornaya St.5

Website: vk.com/doublebspb

OH！MY TEA

This store has an interesting story, because it is, in fact, like an underground lab. The store is owned by two girls addicted to Siphon Style Coffee. What makes it unique is that it is the only café making also tea with Siphon. They have various teas from English tea to Chinese Yunnan tea, and they use coffee beans from DOUBLE B.

The girls don’t speak English, but you can make an order easily. All kinds of tea are available in different lab glass bottles, which is convenient for customers to smell their fragrance, just as what we do while choosing beans. I tried a special blue flower tea. The flavor is good with a sweet and fresh after taste.

Address: Kanala Griboyedova emb. 43 St.

WELCOME COFFEE

I went to this café right after I arrived in St. Petersburg.  It is located at Nevsky Prospect. Just as its name, WELCOME COFFEE, it is a friendly and easy café with doodles all over the place. There are 2 floors in the store, upper floor is for brewed coffee while first floor is for espresso.

Once enter into the shop, you can notice the shining La Marzocco coffee machine and a handsome barista. Followed by barista’s suggestion, we went upstairs to enjoy brewed coffee. There are only bar seats on the first floor, so they are mainly for take-away coffee drinkers.

A sign of WELCOME COFFEE at the entrance of second floor.

You can choose between AeroPress and brewing method. In Russia, it is very hard to see a menu with good English translation, but you can find it here. What’s more, their baristas’ English is so good that you can freely communicate with them.

The decorative style between upstairs and downstairs are the same, which means 2 wooden bars. But the bar in second floor is much more colorful as well as the tea pots, which makes the atmosphere much more pleasant.

The barista one the second floor is called Bro Carrot Beard as he has symbolic carrot-red hair and beard. Bro Carrot Beard is a celebrated barista in WELCOME COFFEE. He speaks fluent English and makes best brewed coffee. I still remember the rich and unforgettable taste of fruity sweetness coming from the coffee he brewed for me.

In the store, you can find only some simple handmade biscuits to enjoy with specialty coffee. The taste and mouth feel of the biscuit reminds of  Guangzhou traditional walnut crisp. The store lies in a shopping mall that consists of individual designers stores. You can see the structure inside the beautiful building, which is very artistic.

Address: Nevskiy ave 48 St.

I’m thankful for today

This store owns the most beautiful name that I’ve ever seen during my global coffee discovery journey. Its name is also it’s slogan – I’m thankful for today.

This café is one of the sub branches of another chained specialty coffee shop named COFFEE ROOM in Saint Petersburg, which also uses beans roasted by themselves. Compared with its head shop, its sub branches are much more interesting, for instance the one named I’m thankful for today and the opposite one named Mickey & Monkeys.

The space in store is not too big, but it offers meals, coffee and cocktails. I met young couple there, boyfriend was drawing his girlfriend eating while she was busy with her dish. What a romantic scenery. You can often find artistic young people drawing in specialty cafes, which goes along with St. Petersburg’s  name of artsy city.

Special design of a menu in “I’m thankful for today”.

The striking name of this café & bar is printed on the window of store, simple but obvious. The seat next to the window is also popular, people prefer enjoy the beautiful architecture on both sides of the river while drinking coffee. This was a real travel experience in Saint Petersburg.

PS: the store manager is an Instagram celebrity, if you are lucky enough to see him, don’t forget to take a photo. I got a chance to snap a photo of the charming guy. But I save the chance to taste his cocktail for the next time.

Address: Gorokhovaya St.24

Coffee3

In order to find this store, you need to have a good sense of direction and be good with Google maps. When I finally reached my destination, an old factory was right in front of me, that shocked me a little and scary thoughts started popping out in my head when finally I found the entrance. Like good wine needs no bush, good coffee shop needs no buzz around it, this place is always crowded. After ordering your first cup, you will never regret about taking time to find it. Coffee 3 is definitely worthy to be found. Its slogan is Drink Fresh Coffee.

Once enter, the most attractive is the bar built with wooden boxes and shelves. The incredible French window gives a view of amazing nature in its beauty every season. When I was there in fall, I could see the ground being paved with golden leaves and soft autumn sun going through the clouds.

The main elements in the store are wood and black color, with simple doodles. No matter if you would like to sit on 1st floor or 2nd floor, seats always have a good view with a beautiful park.

Barista here suggests you to try their roasted beans and let you choose the brewing method. Their desserts are also recommended, especially nuts desserts. Ordering a brewed Rwanda coffee with a brownie full of nuts will be a wonderful choice.

Address: Aptekarskij prospekt

Website: vk.com/coffee3spb