Specialty coffee is usually a reliable indicator of quality.
Owners who care about their beans tend to care about everything else: the food, the pastries, the tea.
Once again, we spent our holidays on an island without expecting too much from the local coffee scene, but were happy to discover that La Escala delivers on all fronts.
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| Before you order anything, you’re offered free water, and a range of options, including coffee beans they roast themselves. Notice kombucha, which was very good. |
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| A playfully written menu, albeit containing only a subset of their offering. |
La Escala has it all - a wide range of espresso-based drinks as well as pour-over, lunch offering, various tea offerings, sandwiches, and pastries.
Over multiple visits, we worked our way through the offerings and weren’t disappointed once.
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| Our first, conservative order: a V60 pour-over and a green tea. |
Even though the space is quite small, the efficiency is remarkable.
There’s a high table serving as a laptop zone, a large table for six people, a couple of smaller tables for two to three people.
There’s also a chill-out zone with a low table and armchairs around it, usually shared by strangers.
Even the windows have been fitted with counters for street-side seating.
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| The old town street is too narrow to put any tables outside. |
Behind the counter sits a coffee roaster - impossible to miss.
They serve their own coffee exclusively, also available for purchase in 250 g and 100 g bags.
Food is prepared upstairs in a space not available to guests.
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| An actual roaster in a café is a rare sight. |
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| Raw coffee bean sacks - the working materials of an active roastery, not just decoration. |
We particularly enjoyed a Colombian anaerobic coffee so much so that we took a bag home.
What struck us most during our visits was the staff’s authentic happiness - you could tell they genuinely enjoyed being part of the team.
In an industry where this is uncomfortably rare, finding a place with that energy feels heartwarming.
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| It’s a good practice to inform up front what you’re offering - good food, and good coffee. |