My list of the best cafés in Tallinn starts in Kalamaja, at Salt’sUp salt café, because I have done more work there than in any office: at a pink table with a matcha in one hand and a laptop in the other. None of the cafés paid to be on this list.
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Tallinn has hundreds of cafés and most of them are perfectly decent. This list is not about decent. It is about six places that each have their own thing: salt, sourdough, 160 years of history, buns people cross the city for, the Swedish coffee break and a back garden worth sitting in. Every café has a map, so you can see straight away where it is.
Best cafés in Tallinn: the quick version
| Café | Where | Go for | Open |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salt’sUp salt café | Tööstuse 33, Kalamaja | filled croissant, beer bread, 60+ salts | winter daily 9–18 |
| RØST | Rotermanni 14 | Swedish style cinnamon roll | Mon–Fri 8:30–18, Sat 9:30–17, closed Sun |
| Maiasmokk | Pikk 16, Old Town | the 1913 room and the marzipan room | daily 9–20 |
| Karjase Sai | Marati 5, Kopli; Balti Jaam market | cheese roll and chocolate bun | Kopli daily 9–15 |
| Fika (Leib ja Kohv) | Telliskivi 60a/1 | cardamom bun and coffee | Mon–Fri 8–17, Sat–Sun 10–17 |
| NOP | J. Köleri 1, Kadriorg | proper brunch and the back garden | Mon–Fri 8–21, Sat–Sun 9–20 |
1. Salt’sUp salt café, Kalamaja
Salt’sUp is one of the smallest cafés in Tallinn, in an old wooden house on Tööstuse street with pink chairs by the door. The brand has been in gourmet salt since 2015, and the café stocks more than 60 salts and peppers that you can taste on the spot. Beer bread and cheesecake are baked on site, and the pastries use the same salt that sits on the shelf. You can also order the salts online at saltsup.com, or at gurmeesool.ee within Estonia.
In winter it is open every day from 9 to 18. My winter order is a croissant filled with salami, or buttered beer bread with a hot chocolate. In summer I take a mango lassi and a gluten free brownie. My favourite salt is Inka Sunflakes, because it makes quick pickles in 15 minutes: leave a fresh cucumber in the salt and it tastes exactly like a proper pickled cucumber.
2. RØST, Rotermann Quarter
RØST sits in the old wheat mill of the Rotermann Quarter and does two things: sourdough bread and buns. A cinnamon or cardamom bun costs €3.50, a pastel de nata €2.50. The beans come from small European roasters such as La Cabra in Aarhus, and you can taste it in the cup. It is closed on Sundays, so do not make the mistake every weekend visitor makes.
My pick is the Swedish style cinnamon roll. Mornings are always busy, but it is worth it anyway: coffee, a cinnamon roll and the morning paper, and the day is sorted.
3. Maiasmokk, Old Town
Maiasmokk was founded in 1864 and calls itself the oldest continuously operating café in Tallinn and probably in all of Estonia. There has been a bakery on the site since 1806. The room you sit in dates from 1913: wooden display cases with bronze ornaments and a painted glass ceiling. The founder Georg Stude supplied marzipan to the Russian imperial court, and in 2007 marzipan making returned to the building, so in the marzipan room you can watch figures being painted by hand.
Maiasmokk is the original Old Town café. I went there as a child because we lived in the Old Town, and I still send every tourist and guest there. The room is sweet and beautiful and everything on the counter is good. Yes, it is a tourist place, but it is also a room nobody has ruined in a hundred years.
4. Karjase Sai, Kopli and Balti Jaam market
Karjase Sai is the reason people drive out to Kopli on a Saturday morning. The bakers start at four in the morning in the old Põhjala factory on Marati street, and when the door opens at nine the counter is full. Croissant €2.80, cinnamon bun €3, almond croissant €4.50 and a half kilo sourdough loaf €6. There is a second outlet in the Balti Jaam market courtyard, and in Kopli the door closes at three, so this is a morning place.
I have been once, after a half marathon, as a treat to myself. I had a cheese roll and a chocolate bun and they were just ridiculously good.
5. Fika (Leib ja Kohv), Telliskivi
Fika is the Swedish word for a coffee break that is more than drinking coffee: it is an agreement that in the middle of the day people sit down. Fika (Leib ja Kohv) in Telliskivi Creative City does it with cardamom buns, breakfast and hot sandwiches, and sells coffee beans under its own name.
To be honest: I have not been to Fika yet. It is on the list because everyone in Tallinn talks about it, and the reviews praise the cardamom bun and the coffee most. If you get there before me, tell me in the comments whether it lives up to the hype.
6. NOP, Kadriorg
NOP lives in a 150 year old wooden house on Köleri street and has been open for more than 17 years, which in Tallinn café terms is an eternity. There is an organic shop with goods from small producers in the same house. On weekends they only take reservations for groups of four or more.
NOP is the odd one out on this list. The others are bun places, NOP is brunch. Breakfast is filling and good: eggs, buckwheat and that kind of thing. At first it feels a little hippie, but that is exactly the vibe of the place. The best seat is outside in the back garden.
NOP is five minutes from Kumu, and if you have read my honest Kumu review, you know that coffee is needed after that building.
How to do all six in one day
Morning in Kopli at Karjase Sai, because it closes first. From there a tram to Kalamaja for the salt café, then on foot to Fika in Telliskivi. RØST in Rotermann for lunch, Maiasmokk in the Old Town in the afternoon, and NOP in Kadriorg for the evening, since it is the only one open until nine. I do not recommend six coffees in a day. Three coffees and three buns is a sensible split.
If you are combining this with museums, the Kalamaja cafés are ten minutes from the Seaplane Harbour, and I keep a separate list of free museums in Tallinn.
Tours and experiences in Tallinn
Best cafés in Tallinn: quick answers
What is the oldest café in Tallinn?
Maiasmokk on Pikk street, founded in 1864. The interior dates from 1913.
Where is the best cinnamon bun in Tallinn?
My favourite is the Swedish style cinnamon roll at RØST. At Karjase Sai a cinnamon bun costs €3, so try both and decide for yourself.
Which cafés are open on Sunday?
All of them except RØST. NOP stays open the longest, until 20:00 on weekends.
Information checked on the cafés’ own websites.
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