A Coffee Lover's Guide to Copenhagen

Copenhagen is a very walkable city, making it ideal to wander and explore from one coffee shop to the next. While I would recommend getting lost in the city with no particular goal in mind, if you happen to stumble upon one of these recommendations, it might be worth a stop.

Rosenborg Castle is a Dutch Renaissance palace home to the crown jewels. Even if you don't want to go inside, the surrounding gardens are a peaceful haven in the middle of the city.

Shop some world-famous Danish fashion on Vognmagergade and surrounding streets. From Ganni to Baum und Pferdgarten, and Cecilie Bahnsen, Danish fashion has become a staple of the cool girl (and boy!) uniform.

Christiansborg Palace, once the home to Kings and Queens and now housing the Parliament, is well worth a visit. You'll get to see the remains of the 13th century original structure in the basement. Then go to the upper floors where most royal banquets are still held today.

Eat your way through Torvehallerne, an exquisite medley of fresh vegetables, meat, fish and flower stands. With lots of the best prepared food stalls Copenhagen has to offer, you will be hard pressed to not want to come back here for lunch every single day.

The Botanical Garden is home to over 13,000 species. Access to the garden is free, but we recommend visiting the Palm House and the Butterfly House if you are there in the summer. The garden also has a special air-conditioned greenhouse that can recreate environments suitable for Arctic plants.

Nyhavn is probably the most recognizable spot in Copenhagen, with its colored homes along the canal. Although it is certainly full of tourists and I might not recommend stopping there for a coffee or food, the charm it exudes is undeniable and it's certainly worth a stroll!

Take a boat trip with Hey Captain. It won't take you long to see why Copenhagen seen from the water is a magical experience. If you want to avoid the usual tourist boats, this is definitely the right experience for you.

Visit the shops at the revamped Copenhagen harbor. Located right behind the opera house, I love seeing the city from a different angle. Plus, there are lots of places to stop for something to eat or drink.

Unlike most of Western Europe, there is more of a focus in Scandinavian countries' coffee culture on filter coffee than espresso. That does not mean you can’t get a good cappuccino, quite the contrary! Scandinavian countries, and Denmark especially, are considered to have some of the best coffee roasters and baristas in the world. You will almost always see fresh pastries sold alongside it, so make sure you don't skip on the cardamom buns!

Coffee Collective - With quite a few shops around the city, you are guaranteed to have access to a quality cup of coffee no matter where you are exploring that day. They roast daily and focus on sustainability from seed to cup. Our favorite location is the one in Torvehallerne so you can have a lovely Smørrebrød (Danish open-faced sandwich) followed by a freshly brewed coffee. They also opened a Collective Bakery, where they are “exploring baked goods and bread in interaction with our coffee”.

April - this is definitely the most innovative of all coffee roasters on our list and you are guaranteed to walk out having learned something new. As I mentioned earlier, I personally am very intolerant to caffeine, so I usually am just along for the ride (and maybe a pastry here and there!). But at April, upon hearing about my predicament, they immediately got excited to have me try this new, naturally low caffeine bean they had been experimenting with. They had made a cold brew with it. I can confirm, no shakes! My husband got to taste very unique coffee as well, all with different fermentation and roasting methods.

ROAST Coffee - Whereas you usually might only have a choice between a couple of different beans for your pour-over, ROAST lets you pick from any of the bags of beans they currently have on sale. And although you will notice a lot of light roasted beans in Copenhagen, this coffee shop roasts at every level, from light to dark.

H A N S - tucked in a cute little basement space right near Christiansborg Palace, everything about this place is cozy. Just like in all the other spots, you can definitely get espresso based drinks here and their pastries are exquisite! They just opened a new location in Christianshavn.

Prolog - They always carry at least 8 or 10 different kinds of coffee beans, making it an ideal spot to get a souvenir to bring home. Their main location is in the Meatpacking District, a very cool neighborhood filled with great restaurants and bars, which I will have to make a whole other post about!