Ernest Hemingway said, “If you were to visit just one city in Spain, it should be Granada.” The picturesque Andalusian city is home to more than just the sprawling Alhambra palace or its towering Renaissance cathedral, it also boasts a growing independent coffee scene that demonstrates the depth and diversity of the Spanish specialty coffee scene.

La Finca Coffee

Granada’s own specialty coffee roaster seems to have a monopoly on cafés and bakeries in downtown Granada. But the best place to enjoy a shot of their single origin espresso is at one of their two cafés, both of which are very close to the cathedral.

Over the course of our visits we tried most of their coffees: Huila, Colombia; Cajamarca, Peru; Monte Verde, Nicaragua. Whether it was a single espresso, cappuccino, or iced latte, we always got good coffee here– a sweet and developed medium roast in an age of ultra-light roasting.

Noat Coffee

Noat Coffee is the charming, standing-room only café we’ve always dreamed of opening. The coffee comes from Barcelona’s Right Side Coffee Roasters and is brewed via a single group La Marzocco GS3 and a Technivorm Moccamaster. We enjoyed a delicious single origin espresso– a bright and fruity Kenya, Kariua AA.

The small space means one shouldn’t plan on staying long, but we found the intimate surroundings promote actual conversation between guests. Don’t be surprised if you bump into other café-crawlers like we did!

Sur Coffee Corner

Started by Argentinian and Colombian expats in Spain, Granada’s newest specialty coffee shop conveniently opened while we were in Granada. Sur Coffee Corner serves coffee roasted by Nomad, one of Spain’s better known specialty roasters. When we were visiting, Sur was pulling shots of an all women producers lot from Huehuetenango, Guatemala. The shot was everything we could want from one of our favorite regions: sweet and crisp with a syrupy body.