The best coffee in Spain is served in Málaga

Coffee is a big part of life in Spain and at any time of day or night, you can usually find someone at a street corner café sipping on a café con leche (coffee with milk) or an after-dinner café solo (espresso). 

Coffee in Spain is not to everyone's liking as a lot of it is torrefacto (the coffee grain has 15 percent of sugar added to it before it is roasted, giving it a distinctively bitter and burnt taste).

But in the last five years or so, coffe with a more natural roast is becoming more common, especially in the bigger cities of Barcelona and Madrid, where lots of independent coffee roasters and artisanal cafeterías have popped up, serving excellent quality cups.

It’s not just the two biggest cities where the coffee revolution has taken place, however. It’s happening all across the country and recently it was revealed that the best cup can be found in the Andalusian city of Málaga.

READ ALSO: Where, when and how to drink coffee like a Spaniard

You can find it at Kima Coffee, just north of the historic centre, whose Bombe Q1 Anaerobic coffee was named the champion of the Aeropress Coffee Awards in Spain for 2022, which judges the best cups from around the country. 

The award-winning Bombe Q1 Anaerobic coffee beans are originally from Ethiopia, but are roasted and brewed onsite in Málaga.

It comes from the Sidama region of Ethiopia from the Bombe de Ato Dukale farm, which sits almost 2,000 metres above sea level. 

The owners of Kima Coffee were surprised when they first tasted this batch of beans, which they say has notes of citrus fruits, strawberries, blueberries and plums.

What makes this coffee so good?

This is an anaerobically fermented batch of coffee, where the cherries have been carefully selected, washed, and sealed for 120 hours in tanks.

"Fermentation was carried out for seven days until the pH level dropped to 3.8 to obtain the desired profile of fruity and juicy flavours. During these seven days, the fermentation tanks were placed in concrete baths of water to maintain a constant temperature between 15C and 18C, rotating them continuously", the owners of Kima Coffee explain.

"The first day they are rapidly dried until the humidity of the coffee drops to 35 percent, then the cherries are placed under the shade to dry for another 30 days to 12 percent humidity”, they continue.

Kima Coffee only opened its doors for the first time in April 2022, but it has already garnered king status among coffee aficionados in the city. The café not only sells excellent coffee, but also roasts its own beans from around the world. It existed before as an online store and barista training only.

As well as regular coffees you’d expect such as cortados (a short coffee with a dash of milk), cappuccinos and flat whites, they serve charcoal lattes, matcha lattes and cold brew. 

Last year’s winners of Aeropress Spain coffee awards were Harmony Coffee Roasters in Barcelona who also won with their blend from Ethiopia.