Potsdam drinks coffee the way a small German city should: seriously, often, and with cake involved. The centre is compact enough to walk end to end in twenty minutes, and the cafes follow the city's shape. Around the Dutch Quarter and the Brandenburger Strasse you get the busy, polished places that fill up at weekends. Towards Sanssouci and the Havel the pace drops and the terraces open up. In Babelsberg the students and the film people keep a quieter, cheaper scene going. Prices sit comfortably below Berlin for the same quality.
This is the coffee heart of Potsdam. The Hollaendisches Viertel, the red brick quarter built for Dutch craftsmen in the 18th century, is packed with small rooms and courtyards. Cafe am Hollaendischen Viertel on Leiblstrasse and Das kleine Hollaendische on Hebbelstrasse are the classic addresses here, with proper cake counters and tables that fill quickly on a Sunday. A few steps away, Bäckerei & Café Steinecke on the Brandenburger Strasse 4 and Eiscafé Boulevard at number 64 cover the fast end of the market, while Café Collage on Mittelstrasse and Café Alice on Lindenstrasse 16 sit between the two.
Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse runs west from the centre past the station area, and it carries a cluster of places that locals use rather than visitors: Bagels & Coffee at number 92, Café Heider at 29, Fahlands Filmbistro at 98, Buena Vida Coffee Club on Am Bassin. Café Ceci on Hegelallee 23 is the one to remember for a quiet morning near the Jägertor. If you are after a filter coffee and a window seat rather than a scene, this is the strip.
Allee nach Sanssouci has Café Franz. Schubert at number 2, the obvious stop before a walk into the park, and further out Café Repin on Gregor-Mendel-Strasse serves the Bornstedt side. Exner at Altes Bahnwerk 8 and the cluster around Café Femo on Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse belong to the Babelsberg side, where the university and the film studios set the tone. Warm weather moves everything outside; the terraces near the water fill early.
Expect milchkaffee, cappuccino and a serious filter culture, with a Kaffee und Kuchen deal in most places between 14:00 and 17:00. Poppy seed cake, cheesecake and seasonal fruit tarts are the local standards, often baked on site. The third wave places roast their own beans and pull a proper espresso. Card payment is normal in the centre, less so in the smaller neighbourhood cafes, and a good number of spots close by 18:00, so plan the after-dinner coffee elsewhere.
Use the list below as a walking map rather than a ranking: the centre entries work as one loop through the Dutch Quarter and the Brandenburger Strasse, and the outer ones are worth attaching to a park or a Babelsberg afternoon.
GPS : 52.4018067, 13.0575672
This cafe on Friedrich-Ebert-Straße makes its bagels, bowls, salads and warm dishes fresh every day. You can eat in, pick up your order or have it delivered. They also cater events like birthdays, business meetings and parties, with smaller orders available through their shop and larger ones from 20 people by arrangement.
GPS : 52.4008152, 13.0589064
Buena Vida Coffee Club is the original Potsdam cafe of Buena Vida Coffee Roasters, opened on 16 August 2014 in the city centre. The beans are roasted several times a week at their roastery in Babelsberg and served here fresh. The roastery works with small producers and cooperatives, pays well above standard market and Fair Trade prices, and builds long term partnerships.
GPS : 52.3995787, 13.0489836
Steinecke has been a neighbourhood bakery for over 80 years and now has more than 500 branches. This café on Brandenburger Straße serves fresh bread, rolls, cakes, snacks and coffee. The house bread is made with a 24 hour dough rest and their own natural sourdough.
GPS : 52.4000807, 13.0515546
GPS : 52.4021251, 13.0486557
GPS : 52.4027691, 13.0595187
GPS : 52.3904499, 13.0906763
GPS : 52.4001042, 13.0456056
Café Franz. Schubert opened on 1 January 2005 in the Allee nach Sanssouci, near the Grünes Gitter entrance to Park Sanssouci. Schloss Sanssouci is about a seven minute walk away. The owner serves guests herself in a private atmosphere with classical music, and alongside homemade cake and coffee you can also buy high quality souvenirs, oil paintings, etchings and copper engravings of Potsdam and its royal rulers.
GPS : 52.3819064, 13.0649845
GPS : 52.4030885, 13.0581256
Café Heider has stood at the Nauener Tor since 1878, at the gateway to the Holländisches Viertel, and locals simply call it their living room. It is a café and restaurant under one roof, so you can have breakfast and coffee in the morning, warm dishes at midday, and a slice of cake in the afternoon. The beans are roasted in house, the cakes and tortes are baked in their own bakery, and the ice cream is made fresh daily. A daily brunch is served from 9am with more than 50 warm and cold dishes, and children up to 7 eat free. The Belle Etage on the first floor seats up to 100 people and has its own balcony terrace overlooking the Nauener Tor.
GPS : 52.4001158, 13.0537149
GPS : 52.4044897, 13.0417642
Café Repin is a cafe in Potsdam, right by the visitor entrance of Sanssouci Palace. It serves coffee and cake in its salons or on the terrace, and everything is homemade, including cakes and "Perlenketten." It is open Saturdays, Sundays and all public holidays from 1pm to 6pm, and cakes can be ordered by phone.
GPS : 52.4036859, 13.0660944
GPS : 52.3894499, 13.0604316
GPS : 52.4036993, 13.0623491
GPS : 52.4014525, 13.0563793
GPS : 52.3999627, 13.0506636
GPS : 52.3898257, 13.0714961
Exner is the Potsdam shop of a family-run bakery from Beelitz that has been baking since 1928. Breads and rolls are made by hand with house sourdough and regional ingredients, alongside cakes, tarts, snacks and coffee. Tobias Exner, the bakery's bread sommelier, is behind the loaves.
GPS : 52.4006728, 13.0575622
GPS : 52.3990678, 13.0510346
Fancy Donuts is a donut shop on Charlottenstraße in Potsdam with a colorful, playful interior. The donuts are topped fresh every day, using brand-name products and fruit, with special creations for holidays. The shop also does donut catering for events and children's birthdays.
