Coffee Shop Tour of Florence

In our quest for great coffee and Latte Art wisdom – we took a course in latte art in Florence! Our course master recommended a host of coffee shops as ‘the best coffee in Florence’ – so we made like an Italian and visted 7 of them.

Ranking them for presentation, cost, taste and of course art – enjoy our choices!

Ditta Artiginale

Ditta Artiginale was founded in 2013 by Francesco Sanapo, world-renowned barista and coffee taster champion, and by Patrick Hoffer. Listed as the #1 best coffee shop in Florence – we could not disagree!

We actually visited two of this high quality local chain – as professional coffee roasters we expected nothing but great taste, however in one of the newer branches – the art was lacking but the atmosphere, amazing location, and great taste was still there!

Temperature: Perfect 60 Degrees – easy to drink
Style/Taste: Espresso Machiato – smooth & creamy deliciousness – not too strong
Cost: ££ not quite tourist prices but on the expensive side of local at 2-3 euros
Latte Art: Fabulous tiny heart at Via De Neri, more like a thistle than a rosetta

Cafe Gilli

The oldest coffee shop in Florence deserved a look and a mention – even if we were also told that they did not make great coffee but had great history and was right in the heart of the tourist zone

Worth a visit – you can stand at the bar or have table service – right in the middle of a busy square – we can see how this place would be a nightmare in summer!

Temperature: Low 50s – too cold!
Style/Taste: Latte Machiato, Latte & Cappuccino – latte and machiato latte were essentially the same – but we found out that the difference is that one has coffee poured on milk, the other has milk poured on coffee!
Cost: £££ tourist prices but on the expensive side of local at 3-5 euros
Latte Art: For such a famous coffee shop – a bit wobbly – great cake though!