14 cafés in 7 citys. Places change: check opening hours before you go.
Opened on 4 April 1874 at Largo do Machado, Lamas once ran 24 hours and drew Machado de Assis, Oscar Niemeyer and Getúlio Vargas. Metro works pushed it to Flamengo in 1976. Today it is more restaurant than café, famous for its filé mignon, and it is name-checked in the song "Rio Antigo".
Order: filé mignon with fries · coffee after the meal
Frenchman Auguste Cavé opened this confeitaria in 1860, making it the oldest in the city. The corner building keeps its French chandeliers, stained glass and painted glass panels, and after years in nearby rooms the house returned to its original address in 2015. It is known for fine Portuguese sweets.
Order: coffee · Portuguese pastries
Founded in 1894 by two Portuguese immigrants, Colombo got its huge Antwerp mirrors framed in carved jacaranda during a 1912–1918 Art Nouveau renovation. A 1922 upstairs tearoom sits under a stained-glass skylight you can see from the ground floor. Writers like Olavo Bilac and Lima Barreto met here, and so did Queen Elizabeth II.
Order: cafezinho · pastries from the counter
💡 Look up through the opening in the ground-floor ceiling to see the tearoom skylight.
Manon opened in 1942 and still has its marble floors and French mirrors; the city listed it as heritage in 1993. Spanish immigrants took it over in 1965, and its signature is the Madrilenho, a sweet bun with cream, a little guava paste and powdered sugar. It also appears in the film "Ainda Estou Aqui" (2024).
Order: Madrilenho · pastel de Belém · coffee
Fewer recent sources for this one: check it's open before you go.
Founded in 1854, this farm helped pioneer São Paulo's coffee boom, and in 1876 a railway was run close by to carry its sacks toward the port of Santos. Production stopped in 1998, but you can book a guided visit of about two hours that follows the old route of the coffee from harvest to the train station.
💡 Guided visits must be booked ahead.
Fewer recent sources for this one: check it's open before you go.
The museum fills the Palácio da Bolsa Oficial de Café, the coffee exchange opened in 1922 with copper domes and a Benedito Calixto stained-glass window over the trading floor. Its cafeteria, open since 2000, pours beans from Cerrado Mineiro, Sul de Minas and Alta Mogiana. It also sells Jacu Bird coffee, made from beans the jacu bird eats and passes.
Order: a coffee from the Brazilian origins menu · Jacu Bird Coffee
💡 See the trading-floor hall and its stained glass before you sit down.
Founded in 1872 in São Paulo's historic center, Santa Tereza is described as Brazil's oldest bakery. It still serves recipes from imperial times next to modern ones, and singer Nelson Gonçalves and president Jânio Quadros were among its regulars.
Order: coffee · something from the bakery counter
Fewer recent sources for this one: check it's open before you go.
Open since 1938 in downtown Belo Horizonte, Palhares once ran 24 hours a day and is called the city's most famous counter. It invented the KAOL plate (cachaça, rice, egg and sausage), and the same family has run it for three generations.
Order: KAOL · cafezinho at the counter
💡 Food is served at the counter, so join the locals there.
A coffee farm since 1850, FAF switched to organic farming in 2003 and calls itself a pioneer of Brazil's sustainable coffee movement. It still exports specialty coffee, and it welcomes guests to explore the farm, along with its dairy, honey and orchards.
Order: farm-grown coffee
💡 Arrange your visit with the farm in advance; it's out in the countryside.
Fewer recent sources for this one: check it's open before you go.
One of Brazil's best-known coffee schools, with its own café. You can take a class in person, shop for beans and gear, or just stay for a cup.
Order: espresso · filter coffee from Minas
Lucca calls itself Brazil's biggest coffee 'garimpo', a hunt for the best micro-lots from Brazil and abroad, led by Georgia Franco, its roaster for more than 20 years. The Batel shop also runs courses through Lucca Lab.
Order: single-origin filter · espresso
Since 2010 this downtown counter has served 100% arabica from traceable micro-lots, roasted in small batches. Its whole pitch is excellent coffee at a fair price, and it has topped TripAdvisor among Rio food spots.
Order: espresso · filter coffee
Sisters Gabriela and Karina set out to make a place with great light, good food and very good coffee. They buy by walking the farms and sitting down to lunch with growers, and they want every cup to honor the hands that planted and picked it.
Order: filter coffee · brunch plates
Run by barista brothers Boram Um, a three-time Brazilian barista champion, and Garam Um, an SCA-certified instructor who founded Brazil's first school offering the full SCA Coffee Skills Program. The shop roasts weekly, and there is a second shop on Rua Pais Leme in Pinheiros.
Order: espresso · filter of the month