AUSSIE COFFEE

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If your adventurous and your Rio itinerary takes you beyond the beach neighborhoods, put Café Lunático on your Tijuca list. A few steps from Praça Saens Peña, this small, modern specialty bar has become a neighborhood favorite for clear, well-made coffee and an easygoing room that welcomes both nerds and newcomers. The idea Lunático is built around a simple promise: do the fundamentals well, explain the options without fuss, and keep the atmosphere light. The team treats orig

If you’re mapping out a coffee crawl in Rio, make room for Coffee Five in Centro. Since 2018, this compact kiosk on Rua da Quitanda, 86 has become the downtown stop for a proper espresso, a carefully made filter, or a well-treated tea. The people behind it explain a lot about why it works. Emerson Nascimento has been in coffee since the late 2000s. Before opening Coffee Five, he did time at Curto Café, competed nationally (and won many times!), and taught barista courses. Tha

Rio’s specialty coffee scene is small and easily overlooked, but beneath the surface are a few key figures who have shaped its quiet evolution. Among them, Leonardo “Léu” Gonçalves, founder of Café ao Léu, stands out for his consistency and excellence. Photo Credits: TomasRangel for Rio Comer e Beber Long before opening his compact café in Copacabana in 2019, Leonardo had been part of the city’s independent food movement. He was a regular at Junta Local since 2013 — the comm