Madrid, the Spanish capital, is famed for its art, architecture, food and football. Not so much for specialty coffee, yet. However, a year or two ago, a small group of coffee-crazy locals planted a seed deep inside the city’s belly, and the these days, there are more and more great places to stock up on Joe.
Having been tipped off about a place called Toma Cafe by a few different people, I decided to make this promising sounding coffee shop my first point of call. Located in the cute Conde Duce neighbourhood, Toma Cafe is probably the very first specialty coffee shop to have seen the light of day in Madrid.
Founded a few years ago by Argentinean native Santi and his dedicated team, Toma Cafe quickly gained a reputation for serving excellent coffee at very reasonable prices. In fact, when my best friend Tomi asked for the bill and it only came to €3,80 for two flat whites he thought it was a joke. It was not.
The space that Toma Cafe occupies was initially only half the size it is today. In other words, it was more of a take away coffee bar than an actual café, but after some time Santi managed to acquire the next door space and turned Toma Cafe into a really cozy and welcoming coffee lover’s haven.
He told me over a cup of delicious cold brew: “Madrileños like to try new things, although trends often take longer to arrive here than in other cities. Word of mouth helped a lot to bring new customers and they even liked the acidity in the coffees. I could hardly believe it!”
DISCOVER THE BEST COFFEES IN THE WORLD FROM A BOX AT YOUR DOOR
Join our awesome coffee club today and receive a monthly tasting box with up to three incredible coffees from the world’s most exciting roasters. Plans start at €14 p/m plus shipping.
Join now
Toma Cafe is also likely to be one of the very few places in town that offers filter coffee options even though they don’t proactively promote it.
Most recently, Toma also opened its own roastery and training center in a nearby space. As the city’s young but growing specialty coffee scene continues to grow, expect the Toma Cafe brand to make more of an appearance in the coming months. Arriba!
Looks fantastic, definitely makes me want to give it a shot!