Coffee Shops in Lebanon: Third-Wave Newcomers and Classics

The specialty coffee wave that hit the Gulf and Cairo took a few years longer to fully arrive in Beirut, but it's now firmly established — local roasters, baristas trained internationally, and a community of customers who actually care about origin, roast date, and brew method.

The specialty checklist

A serious specialty shop will:

• Display roast dates on bags and use beans within 4–6 weeks of roast.
• Offer single-origin espresso and multiple manual brew methods (V60, Aeropress, Chemex, cold brew).
• Use scales and timers visibly during preparation.
• Be able to talk about the bean's farm, varietal, and processing.

What to order for a first visit

If you usually drink milk drinks, ask for a flat white — fewer foam tricks to hide bad espresso. If you want to taste the beans, order a V60 of a fruity natural-processed African coffee and skip milk and sugar. For iced coffee, cold-brew or shaken espresso are usually better than "iced filter."

Brewing at home

• Buy whole bean from a local roaster; grind right before brewing.
• Invest in a grinder before any other gear — burr, not blade.
• Weigh: a kitchen scale matters. Standard pour-over ratio is 1g coffee : 16g water.
• Use filtered water — Beirut tap water has variable hardness.

Lebanese-style coffee separately

Turkish-style coffee (qahweh) remains everywhere and isn't going away. Stovetop "rakwe" preparation with cardamom is a beautiful end to a meal — it's a different experience from specialty espresso, not a competitor.