While Budapest
California Coffee Company is a taste of both worlds, combining great coffee that stands up even to Hungarian taste buds with a distinctly western style of coffee shop. Now that they’ve opened another huge location at Kalvin tér, it’s even more accessible to the international students, businesspeople and tourists flocking around the National Museum
If you’re in a rush, the American way of doing coffee – take away – is certainly easy to do, as the staff can whip up your choice of flavored cappuccino, espresso, macchiato, fruit smoothies and more along with a tasty snack and have it ready to go in just minutes. Don’t worry about the language barrier – part of being a Western-style café means being able to speak English (and probably a few other languages) at the counter.
If time is on your side, however, the spacious and airy place is perfect for relaxing and checking your e-mails or surfing the web on the free high-speed WiFi. Made up of a ground floor with large, comfy chairs and low tables and a mezzanine that extends nearly twice the floor space of the area below, there’s plenty of space to find a quiet corner to work, or gaze out the enormous two-story windows at the impressive National Museum while you sip a hot (or cold) drink. The décor is light and airy, with the matte pastel furniture nicely taking advantage of the abundant natural light.
When you start feeling hungry, there are plenty of pre-made sandwiches on bagels and ciabattas by the coffee bar, or there are American-style muffins and brownies for those with more of a sweet tooth. For our light breakfast we had our sandwiches heated up , a nice touch that you’ll appreciate on these cold winter days. Quiet when we arrived, the queue was soon bustling with quick-talking and happy students speaking at least three languages at once.
While you probably aren’t going to California Coffee Company for the “Hungarian Experience”, this taste of home is a great spot to rest between sights or simply to touch base with a more familiar culture. And if the inspiration strikes, you can connect the two by buying a great souvenir from the shelves on the ground floor. They have everything from coffee mugs to CDs and lots of other items that you can actually use. Check it out whenever – they’re open early to late!
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