String Taste is a specialty coffee café and boutique guitar shop in Kazimierz, founded in 2022 so that a guitarist would not have to choose between a great cup of coffee and time spent around beautiful instruments. The shop carries boutique guitars from builders such as Novo, James Tyler, Knaggs, Tom Anderson and Saito, co-organises Poland Guitar Fest, an independent boutique guitar expo held every year in Kraków, and hosts gear demos, workshops and community nights. The café’s playlist moves between jazz, soul and indie.

In 2026 String Taste began roasting for its own bar as Tens Coffee Roasters, to control the sourcing, the quality of its beans and the roast style. Steph and Adrian roast every batch themselves and like lighter roasts, while treating each origin and variety differently. Three espressos are always on the grinders: a sweet, rounded classic, a balanced everyday origin and a rotating special lot of rarer varieties and processes, and a guest roaster’s espresso is on the menu too. Every coffee scores at least 82 SCA points.

Filter comes from guest roasters, DAK, Morgon, Ineffable, Liquid Dream and Nomad, in a selection that rotates. It is brewed to order on Origami, Pulsar and Cerapotta drippers, or in a Chemex for two, and the guest roasters’ bags are sold to take home. Signature drinks include a caramel cayenne latte and a cinnamon mocha, with matcha and hojicha beside them.

At weekends and on holidays the kitchen serves vegetarian breakfasts rooted in Latin American cooking: empanadas to share, huevos rancheros, a corn almojábana waffle, a potato arepa with Polish cheese and a vegan lentil casserole.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: String Taste