Zurich coffee guide: the roasters behind the espresso windows

Five of these seven Zurich businesses roast their own coffee: a roaster founded by two Swiss Barista Champions, with cafés from Kreis 5 to Tokyo; a roastery café founded by two brothers in 2013; an espresso-bar chain founded in Eglisau in 2010 alongside the revived Vivi Kola; an events coffee bar with four shops that started roasting at Stauffacher in 2024; and a coffee-shop business with two shops in Zurich and one in Basel that now roasts its own. The other two pour other people’s coffee: a natural wine bar in Wiedikon with a filter menu, and a dog-friendly coffee studio in Altstetten. These coffee shops in Zurich run from the main station and Europaallee to Seefeld, Kreuzplatz, Oerlikon and the old town.

MAME, Kreis 5 and Seefeld

MAME, named after the Japanese word for beans, was founded in Zurich in 2016 by Emi Fukahori and Mathieu Theis, both Swiss Barista Champions, who went on to place fourth and eighth at the World Barista Championship. MAME baristas have since finished second and third at the World Barista Championship and second at the World Brewers Cup, and Emi Fukahori coaches championship contenders. MAME has roasted its own coffee since 2019, in a Zurich warehouse that also holds its sourcing and training and is not open to the public, and Mathieu Theis searches out the green coffee. The range is split into Daily Coffee and Competition Coffee. The first café, MAME Josef, opened in October 2016 in a former laundry in Kreis 5; MAME Seefeld, by the lake, followed in 2018 and is the largest, then Thalwil in 2024 and Gertrud in 2026. There are two more cafés in Geneva and two in Tokyo, and the motto on the windows is “The best coffee is the coffee you like”.

miró manufactura de café, Kreis 4, Kreuzplatz and the main station

miró manufactura de café was founded in 2013 by the brothers Dani and David Sanchez, after Dani got hooked on specialty coffee in Australia. It began with a 5 kg Probat roaster in a disused garage and a coffee truck, and today the roastery, the training lab and the flagship café, miró Brauer, share one building in Kreis 4, where the café moved in 2018 and the beans are roasted almost daily. The flagship serves a Spanish-inspired breakfast from organic, mostly Swiss produce, with brunch at weekends, no reservations and no laptops at weekends. The newest café is on Kreuzplatz, two take-away bars sit in Zurich main station, and the truck parks at ETH Hönggerberg on Wednesdays. miró imports its own green coffee, mostly fair trade and organic, and roasts seasonal coffees every week; Boa Vista from Brazil was its first direct trade coffee. Many Zurich cafés, bars and hotels pour miró as their house coffee, and since 2021 it has been brewed on board SWISS flights.

ViCAFE, nineteen espresso bars and an Altstetten roastery

ViCAFE was founded in 2010 in Eglisau by Christian Forrer and Kurt Lambert, who revived the Swiss cola Vivi Kola at the same time. In 2014 they opened their first Zurich espresso bar at Goldbrunnenplatz, built on the “window concept”: specialty coffee to go, served through a window onto the street. ViCAFE runs 19 espresso bars, fifteen of them in Zurich, from Bellevue and Münsterhof to Oerlikon and the university, with the rest in Basel, Lausanne and Eglisau. The menu keeps one milk drink, the flat white, in three sizes. Since 2019 the roastery has worked in a former SBB train workshop in Altstetten, which also holds the bakery, the academy and a flagship coffee bar. The coffee is roasted every day on a Loring by two Q Graders, one of them Christoph Meier, the Swiss Roasting Champion 2026, and ViCAFE has been a certified B Corp since 2024.

Rent a Barista, Stauffacher, Helvetiaplatz and Zwingliplatz

Rent a Barista has made specialty coffee in Zurich since 2020, and its mobile coffee bar has worked more than 600 events. Since early 2024 it has roasted its own coffee at Stauffacher, on an electric roaster, with Monday as production day: every coffee is roasted and packed fresh once a week, from green coffee it imports directly. The main shop is at Stauffacher, with seating outside, and there are shops on Helvetiaplatz, in Oerlikon and on Zwingliplatz in the old town, plus a coffee truck at Hardbrücke on weekdays. Its latte art and home barista courses are led by a four-time Swiss latte art champion.

Bean Bank Coffee, Europaallee and Paradeplatz

Bean Bank Coffee has run coffee shops in Zurich since 2020, one by Europaallee and one near Paradeplatz, and has opened a third in Basel. It now roasts its own coffee as Bean Bank Roasters, in a roastery with a roasting lab, a showroom and space for barista training, under the motto “better coffee and less Marketing”. The coffees come from Kenya, Ethiopia, Colombia, Peru, Panama and Brazil, with geishas from Colombia, Peru and Panama, roasted for espresso, for filter or for both, alongside a Brazil and Ethiopia espresso blend. The mascot is Pondu, a galaxy-travelling panda.

169 West, Wiedikon

169 West is a natural wine bar, specialty coffee shop and wine shop in Wiedikon, near Brupbacherplatz and the Lochergut. It serves natural and biodynamic wines, small homemade dishes and breakfast and bar food all day, and takes no reservations. Its filter coffees come from Vertical Coffee Roasters (a Kenyan, a Brazilian and a Guatemalan) and Coffee Architects (a Rwandan, an Ethiopian and a Colombian geisha). It also pours miró. Laptops are welcome in a separate area until five in the evening.

DOGUE Specialty Coffee Studio & Academy, Altstetten

DOGUE is a specialty coffee studio founded by Semra and Emil Dosev, with coffees from different origins, processes and roasters. Rare Panama geisha lots are served on filter only, and the rest of the list runs from Colombian experimental lots, among them Pink Bourbon and Ombligon, to Kenyan and Guatemalan coffees, an Ethiopian natural and a Brazilian house espresso. The studio is dog-friendly, with treats made with Hundelicious and a shop dog called Sunny, and laptops and children are welcome too. The Coffee Academy teaches Espressology, Latte Art, a Specialty Coffee Tasting Experience and private barista sessions, all in English.

What you need to know about Zurich specialty coffee

Which Zurich coffee shops roast their own coffee? MAME roasts in a Zurich warehouse, miró at its flagship café in Kreis 4, ViCAFE in Altstetten, Rent a Barista at Stauffacher, and Bean Bank at its own roastery.

Which roasters do the other cafés serve? 169 West pours Vertical Coffee Roasters and Coffee Architects on filter, and miró. DOGUE serves coffees from several roasters.

Where is the coffee near the main station? miró has two take-away bars inside Zurich main station, ViCAFE’s nearest espresso bars, ViCAFE Bahnhofstrasse and ViCAFE Europaallee, are a minute or two away, and Bean Bank has a shop by Europaallee.

Can you work on a laptop? 169 West has a separate laptop area until five in the evening, and DOGUE is laptop-friendly with free wifi. miró allows no laptops at its flagship at weekends.

Can you book a table? miró and 169 West take no reservations.

Where can you learn to make coffee? miró runs Espresso and Filter Masterclasses at its flagship, ViCAFE’s academy holds barista workshops at its Altstetten roastery, Rent a Barista teaches latte art and home barista courses, and DOGUE’s academy teaches four courses in English.