cuisine
Coffee culture in Albania — espresso for €0.70 and afternoons that disappear
Albania drinks a startling amount of coffee. Here's what to order, where, and why an Albanian café visit takes two hours.
By myAlbania Editorial·April 28, 2026·2 min read
Albania has more cafés per capita than any country in Europe (a real statistic). The default order is kafe ekspres — Italian-style espresso served in a small cup with a glass of water, €0.70–€1.00.
Other orders
- Makiato (small) — espresso with a touch of foamed milk.
- Kafe turke — Turkish coffee, sometimes ordered after dessert.
- Frappe — iced shaken coffee, summer essential.
The unspoken rule
Nobody rushes coffee. Locals will sit for 90 minutes nursing a single espresso while the conversation goes wherever it goes.