Top 10 coffee shops around the world

I’ve visited 13 countries in the past year and enjoyed countless cups of coffee and tea while working on my first feature documentary The Connected Cup. You could say that my love for caffeine runs deep. However, I have always defined a “perfect cup of coffee” by the ambiance, conversation and people I get to share it with. The documentary itself examines how coffee and tea play an integral role as an ethnological and social connector around the world.

Since coffee is currently my work, my life and a startling 80 percent of my daily diet, I feel obliged to share with you, my fellow caffeine addicts and travelers, my top 10 coffee shops around the world (in no particular order).

Caffé Florian
Venice, Italy

Artcaffé
Nairobi, Kenya

Brooklyn Roasting Company
Brooklyn, New York

Kaffi Vinyl
Reykjavik, Iceland

Café Babalú
Reykjavik, Iceland

Toma Café
Madrid, Spain

Café de Monteverde
Monteverde, Costa Rica

Tsige Abebe Traditional Coffee
Lalibela, Ethiopia

Caffe delle Arance
Trastevere, Rome, Italy

Prairie Lights Café
Iowa City, Iowa

Brooke Bierhaus is a University of Iowa School of Journalism alumna currently working as a documentary filmmaker and broadcast journalist. Her work in the two years since graduation has taken her to 21 countries on five continents. Brooke focuses on narrative-driven visual storytelling with an emphasis on human rights. To view some of her work, or to contact Brooke, visit www.vidbee.org. This article was originally published in YogaIowa’s Winter 2018 issue.