Cafelito is a cafe in Kallio, Helsinki.
Cafelito on Hämeentie is a Kallio coffee-and-wine bar with a Spanish slant, pouring espresso by day and natural wine by night in a corner room.
Tip: Espresso early, natural wine late; the small room fills with the Kallio after-work crowd. A Spanish accent throughout.
Address: Hämeentie 26, 00530 Helsinki
18 Grams on Livornonkatu in Jätkäsaari blends a specialty coffee bar with a vinyl listening-bar setup, pouring espresso and filter to a soundtrack.
Signature drink: Espresso in a listening-bar room
Tip: Part coffee bar, part listening room. Good for an afternoon coffee in the newer harbour district of Jätkäsaari.
Rams Roasters on quiet Neitsytpolku in Ullanlinna is a family-run cafe and bakery pouring top roasters, known for some of the city's best cinnamon buns.
Signature drink: Specialty coffee and a cinnamon bun
Tip: A laptop-free neighbourhood room on a residential Ullanlinna street, sharing the block with Restaurant Aoi. The home-baked korvapuusti is the order.
Karl Fazer opened this French-Russian cafe and cake shop on Kluuvikatu in 1891, still the city's grand chocolate-and-cake room under a glass dome.
Signature drink: Hot chocolate with a Fazer pastry
Tip: The breakfast buffet runs on weekday mornings and brunch on weekends. Buy a box of Fazer chocolates on the way out.
Cafe Regatta is a tiny red lakeside cottage near Sibelius Park serving korvapuusti and coffee; in summer the tables spill onto the shoreline rocks.
Signature drink: Cinnamon bun and coffee by the sea
Tip: Bring the coffee outside and sit on the waterfront rocks. Cash-friendly, cramped indoors, and busiest on sunny afternoons.
Café Aalto sits on the upper floor of the Academic Bookstore, a 1969 Alvar Aalto building on the Esplanadi, looking down over the books and skylights.
Signature drink: Coffee and cake among the bookshelves
Tip: Reached through the Academic Bookstore on the Esplanadi. Order a coffee and a slice, then browse the design and architecture shelves.
Ekberg has run on Bulevardi since 1852, the oldest cafe and bakery in Helsinki, where the patisserie counter keeps an old-world ritual alive.
Signature drink: Coffee with a Napoleon pastry
Tip: Come for the morning pastry counter and the Napoleon mille-feuille. It has been a Bulevardi fixture since 1852.
