Coffee is a balsam, is a good beverage (hot or frozen) and is excellent for the health confirmed by science. Almost everybody drinks coffee worldwide. Regarding types of coffee we have a plethora of different tastes. These are part of the reasons to find nice places to drink and share the historical cup, mug or even served on glasses.

In the capital of Venezuela, Caracas, coffee was cultivated and started to drink since mid XVIII century but the first cafés in the city were established during late XIX centuries when peace arrived after the independence and the Federal Wars. The time to relax near several corners and streets of the downtown set space for the first cafés. Some people talk about the main café was at the Country Club, one of the finest places in the capital.

I do not know which was the initial cafés in Caracas, however in my youth during the 80s was the famous Le Gran Café in Sábana Grande, at this boulevard until the early XXI century a whole group of metal tables and chairs were covering the place. This Le Grand Café founded by the famous Frenchman Henri (Papillon) Charrière in the late 1940s. According to the history, Henri wrote his “autobiographic” novel Papillon on the free times at the Café. Regarding drink coffee there is really good; some people said the trick is to add a pinch of salt at the recently ground seeds.

In the first decade of the 2000s a new group of cafes fills the capital of Venezuela. My favorites are:

  1. Café Artesano in the downtown, very close to Bolivar Square walking to the Central bank. It is a wooden rustic two-floor shop dedicated to serves around ten types of coffees very creamier, even with liquors, chocolate and different species. You could eat also Golfeados with white cheese, several other desserts (do not miss the carrot muffins), and special sandwiches. On the second floor they sell locally made sausages and maturated cheese. The coffee seeds ground there come from the Venezuelan Andes.
  2. Café Noisette in Campo Claro near Francisco de Miranda Avenue. It is a perfect French-style café where it is possible to have a very good cup of coffee, eat crepes, salads and patisserie come from the neighbor Pasteleria Galia (where the coffee is also good but no chairs available). Several nights of the week Jazz music is performed at Noisette. You feel like in Paris but tropical!
  3. Café Più in Bello Monte at the Cervantes Street. It is an Italian style café where around 20 well-presented coffee flavors are available, the cappuccino is great, with ginger is amazing too. Cakes are delicious: tiramisu, dark chocolate, the Venezuelan Tres leches… Like the other two former cafés attention to the clients is very dedicated.
  4. One of my last discoveries is a tiny place call Café YovaSnack which is inside the old amusement park at Los Simbolos square. It is a small kiosk with only four elegant black wooden stools with short back support, the coffee is cultivated and ground by his owner Jonathan Portmann @elcatirebarista. He prepares traditional types, however he offers macchiato in a small glass, with lemon pie flavor, Oreo cookies, etc, etc. Jonathan is passionate about good coffee. Try his plain brown coffee but do not add sugar. Enjoy coffee, alone, with friends or even strangers. Be happy, as Jonathan wrote on his notice over the kiosk: “Coffee does not take away sleep, give you better dreams!”