The best specialty coffee shops in Taipei

If you are in Taipei this week for the 2025 Taiwan International Coffee Show, held at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center Hall 1, you’ll already be stepping into a city wired for coffee. Between exhibitions and networking, you’ll want places to retreat to. These five cafes are where we recommend you go.

If you want to use your time outside the show wisely, make space for some serious cafe visits. These five are arguably the most respected. They each offer something distinct, and each is near enough to your event base to make a short visit possible.

Simple Kaffa: a quiet room above the city

_{20 minute drive from the Nangang Exhibition Centre}

Simple Kaffa‘s founder, Berg Wu, became the first Taiwanese barista to win the World Barista Championship in 2016. And the shop reflects the mindset of a world champion. The room is calm. The workflow is precise. The menu feels curated rather than broad.

What makes Simple Kaffa stand out is its ability to balance accessibility with excellence. You do not need technical knowledge to appreciate a cup here yet you can taste the care behind it. They occasionally serve extremely rare lots and once offered a cup valued at $635, a small detail that sparked global attention for what a single coffee experience could represent.

Fika Fika Cafe: light, clarity and quiet focus

_{15 minute drive from the Nangang Exhibition Centre}

Fika Fika has become an anchor in Taipei’s specialty scene because it represents a very different interpretation of quality. Everything here feels built around light, space and calm. Instead of leaning into the intensity found in many specialty cafés, Fika Fika leans into comfort and clarity.

The brews are often described as clean and bright with flavours that stay honest to the beans. They avoid heaviness. They avoid noise. They let acidity feel natural rather than sharp. This approach has earned them praise not only from visitors but from local baristas who appreciate how difficult it is to execute clean flavour profiles consistently.

VWI by Chadwang: technique that speaks for itself

_{18 minute drive from the Nangang Exhibition Centre}

VWI matters because it is one of the clearest expressions of technique in Taipei. Founded by Chad Wang, a World Brewers Cup Champion, the shop demonstrates a level of consistency that is difficult to maintain in a public setting.

Rufous Coffee: a steady presence people trust

_{17 minute drive from the Nangang Exhibition Centre}

Rufous Coffee stands out because it is one of the most respected independent cafés in Taipei. It does not rely on trends or spectacle. It relies on the simple idea that a good cup served consistently can build a loyal community.

The shop has been around long enough to feel like part of the city’s structure. People speak about it with warmth. It has earned trust.

All Day Roasting Company: A modern space with real energy

_{12 minute drive from the Nangang Exhibition Centre}

All Day Roasting Company earns its praise because it understands how to combine specialty coffee with a sense of space and movement. It is one of the larger cafés on this list yet it does not lose the feeling of craft.

The shop roasts its own beans and offers a menu with enough range to satisfy both serious coffee drinkers and people discovering specialty for the first time.

Before you leave the city

Each of these shops reveals a different part of the city’s relationship with coffee. Simple Kaffa shows how far skill can go when it is shaped by discipline. Fika Fika shows how clarity can be a style of its own. VWI shows how technique can feel calm rather than stiff. Rufous shows how loyalty grows when a café never tries to impress you, only to serve you well. All Day shows how a big room can still protect the craft at the center of it.

By the time you leave you may realise that Taipei is not trying to prove anything to the world. It is simply doing the work. The city drinks coffee with confidence. It has earned that confidence through years of practice, detail and care.

The show will teach you what is new. These cafés will teach you what lasts.