Famous for its Old Town and striking Baroque architecture, Vilnius is a vibrant community with a lively food scene, craft beer, and specialty cafés.
BY TANYA NANETTI
SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT
Featured photo by Dan-Marian-Stefan Doroghi
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania and the second most populous city in the Baltic states. It’s world famous for its Old Town—declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site three decades ago—which is considered to be one of the best-preserved and largest old town centers in all of Europe. Vilnius’ architecture is simply impressive and completely unique in Eastern Europe. Walking through its compact Baroque center almost feels like strolling through a city in southern Italy.
Once you have finished exploring the city—after a hike to the beautiful tower of Gediminas Castle, a visit to the cathedral and the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, and a stroll through the bohemian neighborhood of Užupis, it’s time to immerse yourself in city life by enjoying Vilnius’ food and drink scene.
In addition to its vibrant craft beer scene, Vilnius has also become known in the last decade for its wonderful specialty-coffee community. Some 30 cafés and roasters are ready to welcome those who decide to spend a weekend enjoying not only the city’s striking architecture, but also its more caffeinated side.
Taste Map Coffee Roasters
One of the oldest specialty-coffee businesses in the city, Taste Map was created in 2012 by Domas Ivonis and his wife, Ieva Malijauskaite. The pair worked as baristas in local coffee shops before becoming coffee competitors: Domas represented Lithuania at the 2011 World Barista Championship, while Ieva competed at the 2013 World Latte Art Championship also representing Lithuania. The couple decided to open their own business, Taste Map, beginning as a wholesale roastery. Once they established the foundations of the company exactly as they wanted, they opened their first café in downtown Vilnius in 2105, followed by four more locations throughout the city.
Of Taste Map’s five locations in the city, the newest one, Sensory Room (right next to the first café, at M.K.Ciurlionio g.8), is definitely the most special, with its cave-like interior and cool brick bar counter. The cozy space has a menu focused on offering something unique, every day, for all who wish to explore.
“We wanted to bring the idea of specialty-coffee shops to its best, offering only the best beans, produced with the best equipment, served in a place with the best interior we could imagine,“ Domas explains. “We wanted to build a space focused only on offering fine coffees, and that’s what the Taste Map Sensory Room is: our place of experimentation where we prepare for championships, creating new drinks and sharing ideas.“
Crooked Nose & Coffee Stories
I had known about Crooked Nose & Coffee Stories for a while, thanks to one of their delicious brews I had some time ago in Berlin. I was pretty excited to visit them during my stay in Vilnius, especially since I had heard great things about their pourover-only space in the city. But—here’s the hard truth—I arrived a few years late and didn’t get a chance to visit the space before it closed.
Nonetheless, Crooked Nose & Coffee Stories has a special new space in town. I was able to spend some time participating in a delicious coffee tasting and chatting with Emanuelis Ryklys, the founder of the company. He still runs CNCS as a small family business, aided by his wife, Inga, and sometimes his little daughter, Henrieta.
“We used to have a slow coffee bar, but for the past three years we have a new coffee space, a school, a roastery, and a store. But it’s not a café,“ Emanuelis points out. “We are open to the public, and visitors are invited to buy our beans/products and learn during our tastings/workshops, but not to drink coffee.“
The concept fully shows who Crooked Nose & Coffee Stories is: a playful team of coffee roasters and product creators who take coffee culture and education seriously by running this local coffee school in their hometown of Vilnius.
Elska Coffee
Just a short walk from Vilnius Old Town, Elska Coffee is another local coffee shop not to be missed. What is striking at first glance is the pretty interior: high ceilings, unique furniture, art magazines, and large windows from which it is easy to catch a glimpse of Vilnius’ lively streets. Outside, however, the atmosphere is quite different, with the large terrace perfect for sunbathing when the weather is nice, and people watching when the mood is right.
Come here for the delicious coffee, the famous daily brunch, and the decadent desserts, and stay for the unique atmosphere. Elska is more than just a coffee shop; it is a cultural center that displays works by local artists and promotes a community spirit. After all, Elska, which means “love“ in Icelandic, perfectly captures the essence of this café: a place where the love of quality coffee, art, and community come together, making it a must-visit coffee spot in the city.
Brew Specialty Coffee
Just outside the MO Museum—where an extraordinary collection of Lithuanian modern and contemporary art is waiting to be visited—Brew Specialty Coffee has one of its two locations in town. With its delicious coffee roasted in-house since 2015, freshly made sandwiches, pastries from the best bakeries around the corner, superfood smoothies, and more, Brew is perfect for spending a couple of hours enjoying a hearty lunch and some well-deserved rest.
And if your trip to Lithuania takes you out of the capital, look no further than Brew’s location in the seaside town of Palanga. Sure, the Baltic Sea isn’t exactly the Indian Ocean. But with Brew’s newly opened location in town, a Bali-inspired café where waves and sunshine meet specialty coffee, you can easily pretend you’re there for a couple of hours.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tanya Nanetti (she/her) is a specialty-coffee barista, a traveler, and a dreamer. When she’s not behind the coffee machine (or visiting some hidden corner of the world), she’s busy writing for Coffee Insurrection, a website about specialty coffee that she’s creating along with her boyfriend.
Subscribe and More!
Out now: It’s the August + September 2024 issue of Barista Magazine! Read it for free with our digital edition. And for more than three years’ worth of issues, visit our digital edition archives here.
You can order a hard copy of the magazine through our online store here, or start a subscription for one year or two.
