The Best Coffee in Seville (and my struggle to find it)
I’ll be honest, when I first arrived in Seville I wasn’t too impressed with the coffee. And when I say “wasn’t too impressed”, I’m using language so diplomatically that this blog should really get the Nobel Peace Prize.
Disclaimer: I’m about to go on a rant about coffee. If you’d just like to read about the best places to get your caffeine fix in Seville, skip ahead!
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What’s the deal with Spanish coffee?
I really don’t want to sound like a coffee snob. Those awful people who go through the world judging cafés and baristas by their ability to produce a “Magic” should really all be put on an island as far away from the rest of us as possible (it’s called Australia). I love the feeling of walking into a Spanish bar, fighting my way through the old men growing out of the countertop, and ordering a morning dose of caffeine.
But that’s where the love stops.
Most Spanish coffees are bad before you even taste them. Firstly, they’re served ridiculously hot.
So hot that it feels like the barista has a personal vendetta against your ability to ever taste food again.
So hot that the little shot glasses they’re served in are impossible to pick up without subjecting your hands to the third-degree burns that your tongue would also experience if you ever managed to get the drink to your mouth before passing out from the pain.
And even if they were served at a temperature intended for human mouths, the beans don’t stand a chance of ever tasting good.
Why? Torrefacto; the uniquely Spanish practice of coating coffee beans in a black, filmy layer of burnt sugar. Seriously.
No really, seriously.
Coffee in Seville: What is Torrefacto, and why?!
Ever wondered why your Spanish coffee is so charry? Or why it’s so dark, so bitter, and tastes like it hates you? Well, it’s torrefacto.
This is the way Spain roasts its coffee, and how Spaniards like to drink it!
Before the beans are roasted, they’re covered in sugar. That might sound sweet, but it means that the sugar gets the shit burnt out of it caramelises while the coffee roasts. So what you taste is the after effect—the burnt flavour and the ashy texture.
To be fair, this arcane practice does have a reason behind it. During the Spanish Civil War, coffee rations were short and adding sugar helped preserve the beans. But the thing is, we don’t need to do this anymore.
Preserving coffee is no longer a problem, so we’re just left with the downsides: a coffee that has all of its natural flavour hidden under layers of dark, burnt sugar. It was great for Civil War-era coffee suppliers (the sugar hid the flavour of bad coffee and coffee that wasn’t actually coffee), but now just helps producers get away with supplying terrible beans.
Adding sugar helps bulk up the weight of coffee shipments to cut down on production costs. It also helps to create a vividly black and bitter drink that looks and tastes strong and hearty. I’ve heard the colour and flavour of this “dark roast” (there aren’t enough quotation marks in the world to surround that) described as “dark chocolate”, but I assume that this person has never eaten dark chocolate.
At this point, you might be wondering how torrefacto still manages to be sold to consumers. Well, they like it! This is the flavour of coffee that locals grow up with, so it’s not going anywhere soon.
The Best Coffee in Seville
After a year of searching and sleep-filled nights from not enough caffeine, I managed to track down a cafe roasting its own, sugar-free coffee beans. Shortly after, two more appeared on the horizon. I realised that torrefacto was just a test sent to me from God, which I had finally passed.
I’ve put my picks for the best coffee in Seville below so that you can hopefully avoid the intestine-destroying struggle with torrefacto that I experienced firsthand.
Read more: Need something to eat after your coffee? Check out my guide to the best tapas in Seville, and the dishes you can’t afford to miss!
Torch Coffee Roasters
Practical information:
- Address: Paseo de las Delicias, 3
- Hours: 9am-8pm Monday to Friday, and 10am-8pm Saturday and Sunday
- What to order: I love the pour-over here, done with an Hario V-60. Go for the Costa Rican beans, roasted in-house, with warm flavours of chocolate, almonds, and raisins.
I first thought that Torch Coffee Roasters was a mirage. The interior of this little oasis of beandom reminded me so much of craft cafés in Australia, the U.K., and the U.S. that I thought I must have been dreaming. Fortunately, this isn’t the case! This was the place where I was able to sit down and enjoy the best cup of coffee that I’d had since arriving in Seville.
Virgin Coffee
Practical information:
- Address: Calle Regina, 1.
- Hours: 10am-1:30pm, 4pm-8pm Monday to Saturday.
- What to order: The best cappuccino this side of Spain. Order the cappuccino regina (it comes with a shot of caramel syrup) for a sweeter touch.
It’s easy to miss this hole-in-the-wall coffee Mecca in the heart of Seville’s old town. Hidden in the shadow of the Metropol Parasol (a.k.a. Las Setas, ‘the Mushrooms’), this tiny place is the perfect spot to grab a coffee on the go.
The beans here are also roasted on-site, in a coffee roaster as adorably tiny as the shop as a whole!
Parcería Café
Practical information:
- Address: Calle Calderón de la Barca, 9.
- Hours: 9am-7pm Monday to Friday; 9:30am-7pm Saturday; 10am-1:30 pm on Sundays.
Parcería Café is my favourite place to visit on the north side of Seville’s old town. Right next to the Feria Food Market in one of the city’s trendiest neighbourhoods, this craft café is an oasis of roasted perfection.
Here you’ll find beans roasted by Seville’s Alquimista Coffee Roasters, alongside some god-given tostadas and cakes.
El Hombre Pez
Practical information:
- Address: Calle Alfonso XII, 23.
- Hours: 9am-2pm and 4:30pm-9pm Monday to Saturday; 10am-2pm Sunday.
- What to order: The iced tea made from dried coffee cherries is the only cure for the heat of summer!
Okay, so this one isn’t technically a café. Rather, it’s a place to buy coffee beans to take home and brew yourself. But luckily for lovers of caffeine, the owner and master roaster of El Hombre Pez, Gilberto, also serves espresso and filter coffees. Have it to take away, or to enjoy in the cave-like roasting space (it smells amazing in there). Be warned, there are no coffees with milk served here – Gilberto is likely to respond to a request for a café con leche with a curt “no somos una cafetería” (we are not a café).
That doesn’t matter though. It’s the incredible flavour of the different single origin varieties (complete with tasting notes and technical sheets) that you should come here for. It’s also worth checking out in the intense heat of Seville’s summer, if only to be introduced to the immensely refreshing iced tea made with the dried cherries of the coffee.
Utopía Café
Practical information:
- Address: Calle Fernán Caballero, 1.
- Hours: 8:30am-12:30pm & 3:30pm-7pm Monday to Saturday.
This one’s another hole-in-the-wall, but well worth a stop off if you’re spending time in Seville’s shopping quarter. Utopía Café also serves up Alquimista beans, and is a great spot to grab a takeaway, especially since it’s open earlier than most places in town!
Special Mention: Ofelia Bakery
Practical information:
- Address: Calle Huelva, 5.
- Hours: 9:30am-1:30pm and 4:30pm-8pm Monday to Saturday.
- What to order: The cortado (a single shot of espresso topped with a splash of milk) here makes for an excellent accompaniment to the best carrot cake in town.
I also want to pay tribute to one more cafe found in Seville; Ofelia Bakery. While the coffee beans that they use are a standard, non-torrefacto brand from Italy, the baked goods are nothing short of amazing. In fact, owner/baker Elena creates such delicious, diet-destroying treats that I would happily go and gorge on cake even if it meant drinking a vat of torrefacto.
Read more
More on torrefacto, and its origins in the Civil War.
Looking for something to go with that coffee? Check out my picks for the best breakfast in Seville! And for everything else, head to my ultimate foodie’s guide to where to eat in Seville.