Best Places to Drink Coffee in Tallinn, by TripAdvisor (2022)

Tripadvisor is our friend on every travel. Especially if you are travelling to a new country. For instance, if you travel to Tallinn and need coffee to start your day. You will want to know what are the best places to drink coffee in Tallinn. The easiest way to do that is to type in your location to TripAdvisor.

Of course, like any other rating system, TripAdvisor has its flaws. But still, it remains one of the best ways to check out the new territory. So, let’s see what does TripAdvisor.com think – what are the best places to drink coffee in Tallinn.

What are the best places to drink coffee in Tallinn?
Photo by Leo Roomets on Unsplash

Five best places to drink coffee in Tallinn – TripAdvisor choice

To make this list, we chose the filter Establishment Type and set it to Coffee & Tea. You can also try setting the Cuisine filter to Cafe. The first place will remain the same.

5. Cortile

Cortile boldly claims they have “The best gelato ice cream in Tallinn, guaranteed!”. That can be debated, but this is whole another story. Cortile is an ice cream shop with great reviews. On TripAdvisor, they have a solid 4.5 from 81 reviews. Their Facebook page offers an even better rating – a perfect 5.0 from 217 reviews. Cortile also has its menu shown on the Facebook page, and that makes the first visit easier. The coffee menu is not too rich, but it offers some fine Ethiopian and Guatemalan beans for more than a reasonable price.

4. Maiasmokk Cafe

Maiasmokk Cafe will take you on a trip to the past. Imagine an old Vienesse coffee house…then add some Russian touch to it, and a dash of the 80s. Maiasmokk is more a patisserie than a cafe, but it has an unmatched charm. The Marzipan room is just a reason more for visiting.

Getting a 4.5 rate while having a fascinating 1,083 reviews is not easy. On Facebook, this cafe has an almost similar rating: 4,6 from 546 reviews. Their coffee menu also lacks some diversity, but I had a decent espresso there, more than once. 

3. The Pierre Chocolaterie

As we already established, sometimes you need to get lost to find great things. One great review from TripAdvisor described Pierre Chocolaterie as more French than France and “…it has more calories per square meter than any other café in Tallinn”. This Old Town’s hidden gem has a firm 4.5 from 892 reviews on TripAdvisor. Facebook offers a similar experience, 4,6 from 352 reviews. I lack words to describe the interior but feel free to check their gallery. Tell me, have you ever seen something like that?

2. Rukis

What a surprise, another patisserie on the list. Rukis has that all-in-one offer that Estonians (and tourists) are so fond of. So, you can get a cake, a brunch, dinner, beer and a coffee here, among other things. Excellent pastries and great coffee earned Rukis firm 4,5 from 755 Tripadvisor reviews. Facebook bunch is also satisfied, 4,6 from 253 reviews.

You can read our Rukis review here.

1. Rost

And the first prize goes to Rost, a small, Scandinavian-influenced bakery/coffee shop located in Rotermann. Operating from a small space that used to be a flour mill, Rost owes its popularity to more than great pastry served with excellent coffee. Rost has 4.5 from 147 reviews on Tripadvisor and a straight 5 from 138 reviews on Facebook. If you ever drop by Tallinn, have a coffee and a cinnamon bun in Rost, and you will have a great experience. 

Rost - answers the question what are the best places to drink coffee in Tallinn
Rost – picture from Facebook

Are patisseries really the best places to drink coffee in Tallinn?

You feel this list is weird, and we couldn’t agree more, my dear reader. But we didn’t make it. What we searched for were the top-rated places to drink coffee on this lovely platform. We also saw that the first 20-ish cafes there have the same or similar ratings. Haven’t you noticed that all five have an average 4,5 rating? And it’s the same even further. So, how did TripAdvisor make its list of top places to drink coffee in Tallinn? Using these three factors:

  • Review freshness – how old the reviews are
  • Score of the review – the actual score the visitor left
  • Review volume – was the review thoroughly explained, or just a one-liner like “Great” or “Terrible”

It makes sense now, right? Fresh reviews depict the current state more clearly. If the cafe was great in 1997, it doesn’t mean it’s great now. Combine that with a good explanation of why the customer experience was good, bad or meh, and you will get a much clearer picture.

Are cafes and coffee houses not the best places to drink coffee in Tallinn ?

TripAdvisor is usually used by visitors and tourists. And where do all tourists go while they are in Tallinn? In the Old Town. All the cafes from our lists are in the Old Town, or near it. Thus, these cafes have the largest number of reviews and the freshest ones. Tripadvisor just works that way. 

Don’t get me wrong, all these places are excellent choices for a coffee. But they are patisseries or ice cream shops, not cafes. On the other hand, cafes and coffee shops in Tallinn really need to work on the interaction with customers, along with a better offer of drinks. Only that way, they can stand out among the competition. And yes, that means standing out on TripAdvisor. Do you think that’s irrelevant? Think again. TripAdvisor has fascinating 884 million user reviews and ratings and still is the first place tourists will look.

Conclusion

Perhaps TripAdvisor is not the right address when you start looking for the best places to drink coffee in Tallinn. But it is a good start. All these places will provide you with a fine cup of joe. For a better coffee experience, keep reading our page.  

If you have some great coffee places to recommend, feel free to contact us, and we will visit them. You will get an unbiased review, we promise.