Writing on specialty coffee, city by city.
Long-form reporting on the cities, the people, and the trends shaping specialty coffee — written by the Roasters team and the community behind the app.
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The state of specialty coffee in Lisbon, 2026.
From 2–3 specialty cafés in 2015 to 100+ in 2026. How Lisbon became one of Europe's most interesting coffee cities.
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Why Melbourne became the global capital of coffee.
A post-war Italian migration, a small espresso bar at 66 Bourke Street, and the city that taught the world to drink the flat white.
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Fourth wave coffee — what comes after third wave.
If third wave was about origin and craft, fourth wave is about transparency, fermentation, and hospitality. A field report.
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A guide to specialty coffee in Tokyo.
From the 1920s kissaten to the modern brew bar, Tokyo has a coffee tradition that quietly shaped the global third wave.
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The anatomy of a great specialty café.
What separates a good café from a great one — the technical, the sensory, and the hospitality elements that you can't fake.
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Copenhagen — how a cold city became coffee's brightest.
Coffee Collective, La Cabra, Prolog — how Copenhagen turned a Nordic light-roast philosophy into the global third-wave standard.
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Seoul has more coffee shops than anywhere on earth — and it means something.
Roughly 90,000 cafés in one city, 350,000 certified baristas nationwide. Why Korean café culture went vertical, and what its third wave looks like.
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Berlin specialty coffee — how a squatter city became the European reference.
Bonanza in 2006, The Barn in 2010, Five Elephant, Father Carpenter — how Berlin built one of Europe's most influential specialty coffee scenes from Kreuzberg and Mitte storefronts.
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Brooklyn specialty coffee — the most concentrated borough in America.
Sey, Devoción, Variety, Parlor — per square mile, Brooklyn has more serious specialty coffee than any other US borough. A scene report.
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Portland specialty coffee — the city that built the third wave.
Stumptown opened in 1999. Heart and Coava followed. The Portland story is, in many ways, the American specialty coffee story.
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Mexico City specialty coffee — the Latin American hub.
Buna, Cucurucho, Almanegra, Quentin. Roma Norte has more credible specialty cafés in a fifteen-minute walk than any other Latin American neighbourhood.
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São Paulo specialty coffee — the producer country drinks its own.
Coffee Lab, Octávio Café, Um Coffee Co. Vila Madalena and Pinheiros anchor a third-wave scene in the world's largest coffee-producing country.
