Best coffee in Italy: Foodies will love these coffee shops in Florence that are not to be missed

Coals to Newcastle, snow to Eskimos or coffee to Italy? All crazy eh? The coffee and the cafe culture have been part of Italy’s DNA for so long it’s hard to imagine outsiders might bring something new to it and dare I say better?

It’s been ten years since my last visit so I was keen to see if speciality coffee had arrived as it has in many other European countries (not France for some reason). For people like me its important, so much so that I won’t go anywhere on holiday if there isn’t speciality coffee. Yes, even a visit to the incredible Florence would not have sufficient appeal of itself. Yes, even Michelangelo’s David, The Duomo or the Ponte Vecchio isn’t enough.

So my aim is to help other would be travellers by trying out any speciality coffee shops I can find and hopefully giving them the thumbs up, green light and ... you get what I mean. Now Florence at the time of my visit was full of two things cafes and ... Americans. I’m pretty sure the US must have been empty, because every other person on every overcrowded street talked with that distinctive twang. I was actually surprised how few Brits were there, but the English language of sorts was still well represented.

Before hitting the streets I decided it would be a good idea to have a classic espresso coffee in our hotel, the delightful Loggia Dei Sevettii. It confirmed Italian coffee was as it had been on my previous visits. After a bit of internet research though I was soon traversing the Ponte Vecchio en route to Ditta Artigianale on Via Dello Spone.

Ditta Artigianale

It’s always a bonus if a speciality coffee shop looks great and throughout its spacious two stories it didn’t disappoint. It reminded me a little of our own Marmadukes cafe on Cambridge Street in Sheffield. So as I waited for my Aeropress filter, an Ethiopian bean from Alma Teklu, my hopes were raised. My wife Clare went for a cappuccino but its alright, I’ve forgiven her. More importantly my filter was great, tasty, well made and I have to say the staff were equally impressive.

On my last day I decided to re-visit and again it didn’t disappoint. Had a lovely chat this time with the duty manager, Marta, who insisted I try an Costa Rican espresso, El Diamante. It was excellent and she very kindly vac-packed some for me to take home. After that I bought one of their sweatshirts and a photo was called for…

Finally, I have to mention the barista, who’s right in the background and I’m still convinced is a Brit (pale complexion and reddy hair, come on). He was however smashing out the V60’s at a fair old pace.

Ditta Artigianale I was reliably informed was the first speciality coffee shop in Italy. There are now six in Florence and one in Milan. It doesn’t surprise me they’re doing so well. A great start and finish, but was there anything in between? The next day after trying a below average caffe latte at a restaurant in Piazza Signoria (trust me I’m being kind) I headed for another recommendation, Cafe Melaleuca on Lungarno Amerigo Vespucci, right alongside the Arno river. This is an Oz style cafe with a decent sized food offer as well as speciality coffee. Again, similar to what we do at Norfolk Row.

Cafe Melaleuca

The FOH manager, Danielle, in spite of it being very busy did a first class job in finding us a table. As we’d already eaten we went for coffee and cake, we had batch brews, then flat whites made with beans imported from Australia. One of the owners is from Oz so it makes sense. They do do great coffee. We also had a cinnamon bun and orange poppy seed cake. Both were spot on. They didn’t last long enough for us to take a photo, sorry! Happy days though, strike two.

What was great to see about these first two places was just how busy they were. Busier than any of the regular Italian cafes I have to say. There are two other other off-piste places I’d like to give shout outs to at this point. Firstly Carabe gelato who do fabulous chocolate and pistachio cornets. Secondly, La Cranceria, a great little Italian cafe, which does super sarnies and pizza slices at great prices. Handily, both were nearby our hotel.

The third coffee shop I tried was recommended by staff at Melaleuca as it is owned and run by a former staff member, Maykol. Manly the Office is a little further out of the centre on Via Pisana, but is still definitely worth the trek. Here’s the man himself, doing his thing, using coffee beans from Rioja, a Florence based roastery.

Manly the Office

I sat happily outside reading my book (a great read by the way) watching the world go by, enjoying a tasty filter. Maykol said it was tough when he opened in 2021, because of Covid, but he was now doing well. It’s quite a small place, but looks and feels like one of those community hubs locals love. He certainly had plenty of customers while `I was there. Another winner, so its strike three. And no, I didn’t dare ask about the name, and sorry about my legs below.

Another recommendation received from everyone I talked to was the next and last place on my list, Cafe Mantra, run by Giovanni and Laura. I arrived 20 minutes before opening and there were customers waiting. By the time Giovanni arrived 5 minutes later there were 8 of us. He set to work getting everything sorted. Realising he was on his own and he’d have no time to talk once he’d opened I slipped in for a quick chat. Here he is rocking his ‘death before decaf’ t-shirt.

Cafe Mantra

He said he’d been going for 7 years, which is testament to what he does and how popular the coffee shop is. There is also a traditional Italian cafe directly next door, which he tells me has been run by the same guy for many, many years. They were clearly happily operating side by side and both doing well. Cafe Mantra is a very busy little spot and Giovanni is so obviously passionate about speciality coffee, which was is so good to see. His house coffee is from Gearbox, another Florence based roastery. Wish I’d had more time here, to sample his coffees and maybe chat to some of his regulars, who were clearly chomping at the bit to get their morning coffee fix.

So, has speciality coffee been successfully sent to Italy? I would say it certainly has as far as Florence is concerned. There may well be one or two other places which I wasn’t told about, but from a coffee lover’s point of view I’d happily visit anywhere in the world that has 9 great spots to get really good quality coffee. What I also liked was to see the passion the staff had at each venue. They clearly enjoyed working there and knew their stuff.

Of course, Italy has a proud history and culture around coffee, but I hope their past doesn’t hold them back from upping their game. Coffee beans are graded and if your beans are poor quality there is no way you can make a great cup of coffee. There are other important elements such as the water, the milk, the grind and most importantly a highly skilled barista who knows what they are doing. Florence is an incredibly beautiful historic city to visit and I hope now that if you are a coffee lover you can now go there confident of its speciality coffee credentials. It may be a few years before I visit again and hopefully there will be many more high quality coffee places to enjoy.