Believe it or not, finding bars or cafés that serve good coffee in Barcelona is no easy task. There are only a few places where having a coffee isn’t simply a way of waking up but a ritual, in which the beans, their origin, the blend, the pressure, the cup and so on all matter.

Barcelona café, Bond Café (formerly Animal Coffee)

Bond Café (locals will know it by its old name, Animal Coffee), on the corner of Carrer Santaló and Avenir, is a small, quiet and pleasant place.

It’s one of those cafés where coffee time is more than just breakfast.

They buy their coffee from a local roaster and change it every two or three months. It’s usually a blend of beans from two origins, which you can also buy for your espresso machine or moka pot, ground or whole bean.

Nomad Coffee café, Barcelona coffee roaster

The sandwiches are delicious too: there’s ham, cheese, salchichón (cured sausage), sobrasada (soft cured sausage) with brie, and the bread is made on the premises.

On Saturdays they also have tortilla de patatas (Spanish omelette), served with pan con tomate (bread rubbed with tomato).

There are also pastries such as freshly toasted croissants or pain au chocolat, or the odd slice of cake.

Breakfast sandwiches at Bond Café

The breakfast deal (coffee + small juice + half a sandwich) costs €4.50.

They also do small set lunches of ready-made dishes, such as salads or quiches, for between €10 and €12.

It’s worth knowing that once a month they hold a coffee-tasting workshop you can sign up for if you want to learn more about it. They teach you what to look for when judging a good coffee, and how it’s prepared, roasted and served.

To be honest, it’s one of my favourite places for breakfast. I have to confess I go quite often, either on my own or in good company. 😉

As an aside, if you’d like to discover cafés like this in Barcelona or anywhere else in the world, there’s an app that finds them by geolocation and lets you read users’ reviews of the coffee. It’s actually pretty useful if you look carefully at the ratings and comments. It’s called Beanhunter.

Bond Café opening hours:
Monday to Friday: 8am–6.30pm
Saturday: 8am–2pm.
Sunday closed.