We explore Milan, one of Italy’s trendiest and liveliest cities, and home to a wonderful scene of specialty-coffee shops.
BY TANYA NANETTI
SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT
Featured photo sourced via Unsplash
It is often said that the only Italians who love Milan are the Milanese! Of course, this is just a joke, but Milan is really a city that constantly struggles with traffic, crowds, high prices, fog, and humidity. Yet, Milan is special in its own way.
If you’re looking for a lively specialty café scene, for example, Milan is the only Italian city that will remind you of many other European cities, with a few dozen cafés just waiting to be explored.
Here is a short list of four cafés (and one retail store) to visit on a weekend spent enjoying the bustling city.
Orsonero Coffee
They say that you never forget your first love, and this certainly applies to coffee as well. We visited Orsonero, one of the first specialty cafés opened in Milan, in 2018. It was not so popular at the time, yet it already seemed special to us, mainly because of Brent (the Canadian owner and barista) and the delicious coffee he prepared. Today, six years later, Orsonero is a landmark for those looking for delicious coffee in the city. Here you’ll find several European roasts (usually light-roasted beans from northern countries), a few pastries, and little else. If you’re lucky, you’ll find Brent still making shots like in the early days, but if he’s not there, his fellow baristas meet his high standards. One piece of advice: Pretend you are in a place like Japan (where standing in line for something delicious is the norm) and be prepared to wait in line, especially if you come on the weekend. But don’t give up … you won’t regret it!
Loste Café
We had been wanting to visit the popular Loste Café for a while, and this time we finally had the chance, thanks to its second location near the Milano Certosa train station, perfectly placed in the suburbs in an area with free parking, which is rather unique in the city.
Opened three years ago by Lorenzo and Paolo, food and wine professionals with long careers behind them in restaurants around the world, Loste has managed in just a few years to become a stable fixture in the local community thanks to delicious baked goods, tasty coffee from Italian and European roasters, and healthy, hearty lunches.
Don’t miss the scrumptious cardamom (and butter) roll, perfect to pair with a delicious flat white. The perfect way to start your day.
Nowhere Future Coffee Roasters
During our previous visits to Milan we went to Nowhere at its former location. This small specialty café was always full of people, already quite well known for its home-roasted coffee but also for the delicious brunch served daily.
Now there’s a new location beautifully situated near John Paul II Park, right in the middle of the Porta Ticinese neighborhood, which is famous for its nightlife. The Nowhere team takes advantage of its larger space to do what it does so well: offer a perfect place to enjoy brunch with friends, sip delicious coffee, and create the sense of community that Nowhere is famous for.
And if you’re looking for something less caffeinated, be sure to order their cold cascara (at the time of our visit, infused with peach and rosemary), perfect for soothing the sweltering heat.
Mascherpa Tiramisu + Coffee
A short walk from Nowhere, Mascherpa Tiramisu + Coffee welcomes customers behind its blue-green door with a completely different format.
As the name suggests, Mascherpa is a unique cafeteria that focuses its energies on creating delicious tiramisu and cheesecake, served in single-serve glass jars that are also perfect for takeout, or to buy as a small gift. Behind the counter, Sara, Giuseppe, Giovanna, and their small team welcome customers late into the day. They pair their desserts with coffee roasted by Matteo Pavoni and his Peacocks Coffee Roasters, a delicious local roastery.
But there is something else that sets Mascherpa apart: It is one of those true family-run businesses, welcoming and personal as only a few places can be.
During our visit, we had the pleasure of being served by Giovanna, Giuseppe’s mother, who is primarily in charge of the pastry workshop but deeply enjoys her shifts behind the counter. We spent almost an hour at Mascherpa, drinking a tasty AeroPress (paired with a mango cheesecake) while chatting with Giovanna about her new love of specialty coffee.
“For me, specialty coffee is not only the best way to start a day,” Giovanna told us, “but it’s also the true flavor of a day well spent.”
Coffee Studio by 7Gr.
If you want to go home with a few more bags of coffee beans, or perhaps you just realized you forgot your coffee dripper at home, look no further: Coffee Studio by 7Gr. is here for you. 7Gr. is a female-owned company founded in 2009 in Milan by sisters Mary, Angelita, Anna, and Daniela Mauro.
With a focus on the sale of coffee equipment and specialty beans, Coffee Studio has been welcoming customers for a decade. Over time it has become a true landmark for all of Milan, thanks in part to its on-site workshop for coffee tastings, classes, and workshops.
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.
