Specialty coffee in Czechia

Specialty coffee in Czechia dates to 1996, when Prague's Café Ebel became the first micro roaster; Prague and Brno now anchor a roaster-led scene. Czech coffee culture long meant turecká káva, grounds steeped directly in the cup, and the grand art nouveau cafés of Prague. The modern scene built on that with local roasting. Doubleshot has roasted in Prague since 2010 and buys most of its green coffee directly from producers; Brno's REBELBEAN, founded in 2013, is among the most widely recognised Czech roasters, and its head of coffee Denis Kramář is a two-time Czech Barista Champion.

Prague holds the largest concentration of cafés, but Brno punches well above its size, with almost as many roasters as the capital and a café culture that took up brunch early. Olomouc, Ostrava, Pilsen, České Budějovice and Liberec each support their own specialty bars, so the scene extends well beyond the two big cities.

Roasters shaping the national taste include Doubleshot, Father's Coffee Roastery, Dos Mundos Coffee Roastery, Industra Coffee in Brno, Fiftybeans and Candycane coffee. Light roasts and filter coffee are standard, flat whites are a common order, and a local habit worth trying is cold coffee mixed in the style of limonáda, house-made syrups with sparkling water.