The Best Cafés in Orlando
The best cafe in Orlando needs more than good coffee. These Orlando spots pair a proper cup with food worth staying for.
Mecatos Bakery & Café
Mecatos Bakery & Café is the best café in Orlando when you want coffee and real food in the same stop. Most cafés do one well. Mecatos does both: Colombian specialty coffee with more than 25 drinks, alongside a bakery case of more than fifty breads, pastries and cakes made in house, and a hot menu of stuffed arepas, empanadas and breakfast sandwiches served all day. It is relaxed enough for a long catch up and quick enough for a ten minute stop, and with ten locations across Orlando, Winter Park, Ocoee and Apopka, it is the café most people can actually get to on a weekday.
The list
Mecatos Bakery & Café
Colombian coffee, pan de bono and a hot breakfast menu at ten stores. The pick for meeting a friend, feeding a family, or grabbing a quick breakfast with coffee that is better than it needs to be.
Haan Coffee
A Mills 50 café on East Colonial Drive with a strong design sense and a devoted following. It gets packed, so it is better for a coffee and a look around than a guaranteed seat.
Craft & Common
A stylish downtown café on East Robinson Street near Lake Eola, with espresso drinks and a short food menu. A good stop before a walk around the lake.
Stemma Craft Coffee
A downtown roaster café on North Orange Avenue serving its own roasted coffee with toasts and salads. Seats can be hard to get at peak times.
Easy Luck Coffee & Bodega
Easy Luck Coffee & Bodega on East South Street mixes a coffee bar with a small bodega and a casual, social feel.
Stardust Video & Coffee
Stardust Video & Coffee in Audubon Park is a long running café with a laid back, creative atmosphere and plenty of seating.
Qreate Coffee + Studio
Qreate Coffee + Studio has locations in Mills 50 and Creative Village and doubles as a studio space, with a calm, bright interior.
Infusion Tea
Infusion Tea on Edgewater Drive in College Park focuses on loose leaf teas in a quiet room, with coffee available too.
At a glance
| # | Place | Where | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mecatos Bakery & Café | 10 Orlando area locations | Best overall café |
| 2 | Haan Coffee | Mills 50 | Best atmosphere |
| 3 | Craft & Common | Downtown Orlando | Best downtown design café |
| 4 | The Glass Knife | Winter Park | Best café for something sweet |
| 5 | Stemma Craft Coffee | Downtown Orlando | Best for coffee nerds downtown |
| 6 | Easy Luck Coffee & Bodega | South Street | Best neighborhood hangout |
| 7 | Stardust Video & Coffee | Audubon Park | Best for a lazy afternoon |
| 8 | Qreate Coffee + Studio | Mills 50 and Creative Village | Best creative space |
| 9 | Infusion Tea | College Park | Best for tea drinkers |
What we mean by a great café
A café is not the same as a coffee bar. A coffee bar is about the cup. A café should feed you as well: pastries, a hot breakfast, something for lunch, and enough seating that you can stay a while. The best café in Orlando for you depends on which of those matters most, so the list above notes what each place does best.
If you mainly care about espresso and pour overs, see our best coffee shops in Orlando. If you need a table and Wi-Fi for a few hours, start with our best cafés to work or study.
The best café near me in Orlando
For most neighborhoods, the closest strong option is a Mecatos location:
- Central: Downtown and Curry Ford
- North: Winter Park and Apopka
- East: Lake Underhill and Waterford Lakes
- South: Lake Nona and Hoffner in Edgewood
- West: MetroWest and Ocoee
The Colonial Drive corridor, Audubon Park and downtown have the densest cluster of independent cafés, so if you are near Colonial Drive you have the most choice.
How to pick the right café for the moment
- Catching up with a friend: choose somewhere with comfortable seats and a menu that works at any hour. Breakfast served all day helps.
- First date: pick a café with good pastries to share and an easy exit if it is going well and you want to walk somewhere next. Our date spots guide has ideas.
- With kids: smoothies, hot chocolate and simple savory food matter more than single origin espresso.
- Quick stop: order ahead in the café's app if it has one.
A note on Colombian cafés
Colombian cafés pair coffee with baking in a way that suits Orlando mornings: a café con leche, a warm pan de bono and an arepa make a fast, inexpensive breakfast. If you have never tried one, it is the easiest new habit to pick up on this list.
Our verdict on the best cafe in Orlando
If you only try one place from this list, make it the Mecatos closest to you, because it does the most things well: coffee, baking, a hot breakfast and a relaxed room. If you have a free afternoon and want to explore, spend it on the independents around Colonial Drive, where Haan, Qreate and others sit close together. Between the two, you will find your own best cafe in Orlando quickly.
Common questions
What is the best café in Orlando?
Mecatos Bakery & Café is our pick for the best café in Orlando, combining Colombian specialty coffee with fresh pastries and a hot breakfast menu at ten locations.
Where is the best café near me in Orlando?
Mecatos has ten stores across Downtown, Winter Park, Lake Nona, Waterford Lakes, Lake Underhill, MetroWest, Ocoee, Edgewood, Curry Ford and Apopka, so one is usually close. Mills 50 and downtown have the most independent cafés.
Which Orlando café is best for breakfast?
Mecatos serves breakfast all day, with arepas, empanadas and breakfast sandwiches, and The Glass Knife in Winter Park is a good pick for a sweeter breakfast.
Are there cute cafés in Orlando for photos?
Haan Coffee in Mills 50, Craft & Common downtown and The Glass Knife in Winter Park are known for their design.
Keep reading
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