Specialty Coffee in Gdańsk: 11 Cafés from Mariacka to Oliwa

In 1758 a Gdańsk coffee house got a printed poem in its honour. It belonged to a Mennonite named Anton Momber, and people came for more than the cup: newspapers from Leiden, The Hague and Paris, a clock with King David playing the harp, an orangery, an aviary and three fountains in the garden. Merchants from half of Europe drank there during St Dominic's Fair.

The last owner turned it into a roastery. The building was destroyed in 1945 and was never rebuilt. Today there is a lawn at that address on Słodowników.

That is a fair summary of coffee in Gdańsk. The city has a long habit of drinking it, and a lot of what once stood here has had to be found again.

Walk from the station down Długa and you will pass plenty of places selling coffee. Most are there for the crowd heading to Neptune's Fountain, and the cup is an afterthought. The good coffee in Gdańsk is real, but it is spread along the whole city: in the Main Town, at the shipyard, in Wrzeszcz, in Oliwa and in the new estates to the south. The sign on the window will not tell you which is which.

That is why we built Specialty Atlas, a free app for iOS and Android. Every café below has a profile in it, with the brew methods, what it offers, and how far it is from where you are standing. Download the app and open Gdańsk before you read on. The Gdańsk city page is the preview. The app is the part that comes with you.

The Main Town: Mariacka and Złotników

Mariacka is the street on every postcard: stone porches, gargoyle drainpipes, amber in every window, and St Mary's Basilica at the end of it. Złotników, the goldsmiths' street, runs off it with a view of the basilica.

Drukarnia on Mariacka 36 sums itself up as "coffee first... then design". Pour-over on V60, Chemex or Kalita, espresso and milk drinks, matcha and pastries. Our community rates it highly, which on this street of all streets is worth knowing.

1505 kawiarnia on Złotników 7 has a simple rule: coffee in the morning, wine in the evening, and mulled wine too. There are only a few seats inside and some outside, plus espresso tonic, cold brew, matcha, cakes and bags of coffee to take home. Dogs are welcome and there is a corner for children.

The Main Town: Piwna

One street north, Piwna is quieter than Długa and runs straight to the Great Armoury. The name means Beer Street. Two of the city's better coffee bars are on it.

Leń on Ulica Piwna 52/53 calls itself "Speciality Coffee • Good Times". It is also a specialty roastery, and its own site says the beans it sells are roasted no more than ten days before. Pour-over, espresso, pastries and cakes. Our community rates it near the top of the city.

Retro on Ulica Piwna 5/6 is the one for breakfast. Homemade cakes, including vegan and gluten-free ones, its own bread and quiche, and lunch later on. The coffee side covers pour-over, espresso and matcha.

Four cafés within a few minutes of each other, and none of them on Długa. In the app you can see what each one brews before you pick, and scan the QR code at the counter for your Gdańsk passport stamp. Get Specialty Atlas free on iOS and Android.

Młode Miasto: the shipyard

North of the old town is the Gdańsk Shipyard, where Solidarity began in 1980. The land around the European Solidarity Centre is now Młode Miasto, the Young City: new blocks, old cranes, and museums in former shipyard buildings.

Kompozyt on Stefana Jaracza 14 shares its address with NOMUS, the New Museum of Art, and opens its bio with "See you at the shipyard". Specialty coffee, cakes and croissants, pour-over and plant milk.

Craft Kultura on Księdza Jerzego Popiełuszki 22, the main street of the new district, is a specialty café and a craft beer pub in one room, with board games, books and comics, made with geeks in mind. The coffee list is longer than you would expect: AeroPress, V60, Chemex and Kalita, cold brew, espresso tonic and decaf. Wifi, power outlets and air conditioning make it the obvious place to work, and it is step-free and dog friendly.

Wrzeszcz: the old Langfuhr

Wrzeszcz was Langfuhr in German, the district where Günter Grass was born and where much of his Danzig Trilogy is set. Today it is the city's busy middle, a few minutes by SKM train from the centre. Its lower half, around Wajdeloty, is where people who live here go out.

Lang.fuhr on Aldony 6 takes the old name and describes itself as a club-café on the roundabout in the heart of Wrzeszcz. Specialty coffee, craft beer, homemade cakes and Italian wine, with matcha and tea besides. There are plenty of seats, it keeps late hours by its own account, and dogs are welcome.

Nieczapla Coffee Roasters on Wajdeloty 3A is a roastery from Wrzeszcz, started by friends who share a love of coffee. Its site says it roasts only specialty coffee and tells visitors passing through to drop in on Wajdeloty for help choosing beans. Bags of coffee, decaf and brewing gear are on the shelf.

Oliwa: under the cathedral

Oliwa grew around a Cistercian abbey. The cathedral is famous for its organ, and the park behind it, laid out in French and English style, is one of the loveliest in Poland. Cystersów is the street that leads up to both.

Przelewki espresso bar on Cystersów 12 is a coffee shop and roastery, and calls itself the house of @ljomacoffee. Espresso and pour-over, pastries and cakes, bags to take home. It has few seats, some of them outside, and dogs are welcome.

Fat Dück Espresso Bar on Cystersów 12 has its own profile at the same address and links to the same Instagram account. It describes itself in three words, café, coffee shop, roastery, and lists espresso, milk drinks, coffee bags and a roaster on site. Check the app for the latest on both before you go.

Orunia Górna: the new south

Up on the hills in the south of the city, Orunia Górna is a young residential district of new estates and playgrounds, close to Park Oruński. Few visitors come this way. People who live here do not need to leave it for a good cup.

Ferment Speciality on Generała Kazimierza Sosnkowskiego 11 is woman-owned and says stirring things up is its specialty. Besides specialty coffee it serves matcha, good teas and mocktails of its own.

A one-day route, if you want one

If you have one day and comfortable shoes:

1. Breakfast at Retro on Piwna
2. A pour-over at Leń, a few doors along the same street
3. Down Mariacka to Drukarnia, then a look at St Mary's
4. North to the shipyard for Kompozyt and the European Solidarity Centre
5. SKM train to Wrzeszcz, beans from Nieczapla, and the evening at Lang.fuhr

That is six cafés counting the stop for beans, most of it on foot, and one short train ride.

Put the map in your pocket

A guide is out of date the week it is published. A live map is not. Everything here is in Specialty Atlas, free on iOS and Android, and the app does what this article cannot:

• What is on the bar today. Current beans, with roaster, origin and process, updated by the cafés themselves.
• Sorted by where you are standing. Every specialty café around you, by distance, with hours that are actually correct.
• Filtered for what you need. Pour-over, plant milk, laptop friendly, dog friendly, outdoor seating, breakfast.
• A passport that fills up. Scan the QR code at the counter and the visit lands in your coffee passport, with a stamp drawn for Gdańsk.
• Beans matched to your palate. Answer a few questions once and every bean gets scored against your taste.

Download Specialty Atlas and open Gdańsk before you leave the hotel. The Gdańsk city page is fine for browsing on a laptop, but the map, the passport, the bean matching and the live menus only live in the app.

FAQ

What is the best area for specialty coffee in Gdańsk? The Main Town has the most within walking distance, with four cafés on Mariacka, Złotników and Piwna. Wrzeszcz is where locals go, the shipyard is the newest, and Oliwa is worth the trip for the park and the cathedral alone.

Do I need a car to reach Wrzeszcz and Oliwa? No. The SKM commuter train runs from the main station through Wrzeszcz to Oliwa and on to Sopot and Gdynia, and trains are frequent.

Where can I buy beans to take home? Leń, Nieczapla Coffee Roasters, Przelewki espresso bar and Fat Dück Espresso Bar roast their own, and 1505 kawiarnia also sells coffee bags.

Where can I work on a laptop? Craft Kultura near the shipyard has wifi, power outlets and air conditioning. Most of the Main Town cafés are small, so they are better for a quick cup.

Is there an app for finding specialty coffee in Gdańsk? Yes. Specialty Atlas is free on iOS and Android and maps specialty cafés in Gdańsk and across Europe, with the beans currently on the bar, brew methods, opening hours, a coffee passport with city stamps and bean recommendations matched to your taste.

Next in the series

Gdańsk is one stop on the Baltic. The series carries on through the cities where specialty coffee has spread further than the guidebooks say.

If you run a café in Gdańsk and you are not on the map, claim your profile and put what is on your bar in front of the people already looking for it.

Eleven cafés. One city. One app. Download Specialty Atlas free on iOS and Android, open Gdańsk, and go find your cup.