The Utterly Incomplete, Deeply Biased And Soon-To-Be-Outdated “Working From Coffee Shops Guide” In Valencia

It’s been already a year since I moved to Spain and many parts of my life are starting to fit together quite nicely. One of the most important parts, work, was specifically interesting during last year and in today’s post I’m going to share what went good, not so good and great about working from coffee shops in Valencia.

This article is constructed like a guide, but, given the high entropy of this specific ecosystem, expect changes and updates very often. The first version accounts for Spring 2020.

Working From Coffee Shops – Criteria And Classifications

I work remotely as a software engineer and my work requires a more than average degree of focus (which implies a relatively silent environment), but also mild frequent meetings to discuss briefs or other requirements. Other people work patterns may be different, so take this into account when you read the following criteria:

• laptop friendly: yes / no
• internet quality (average means I frequently use my phone connection, good means I can get by without my phone)
• price (affordable means below 5 EUR / desayuno, expensive means above this)
• sound ambiance (noisy / suitable)
• staff friendliness (a personal assessment of how I get along with staff: 5 stars means we can be friends, 3-4, means polite and diligent, 2 means neutral and 1 means stiff)
• overall ambiance (a personal assessment of how much I like staying in that place for more than 2 hours)

As for classifications, I came up with these:

• highly recommended – my go to places
• spares (when any of the above aren’t available – closed, renovation, holidays, whatever) – spares are actually very good places to work from, just not in my immediate circle of choices
• emergency (when none of the above is available, good spaces to work from, but not spectacular)

Some places cross off all these criteria, while others don’t.

Before diving into it, a few words about etiquette:

• please remember that these places aren’t designed as workplaces, they are primarily coffee shops and they first must be really good at being coffee shops – being able to use them as workplaces is merely a fortunate coincidence
• if you’re going to stay more than 3 hours in a row in one of these places at least be prepared to give something in return (on top of whatever you consume there, which I hope is a bit more than a cortado): from a constant good mood to lift the spirit of barristas / camareras / owners, to advice, small services, recommendations, etc
• do your own research about the best tables to work from, close to power outlets, and carry on your own extension – be as autonomous as you can
• be flexible with your place – many times I am happily moving from one table to another, if there are larger groups that must be accommodated

Without further ado, let’ start.

Artysana

Situated in the buzzing barrio of Ruzafa, Artysana was my go to place to work for the last year. As you can see from the classification, it crosses off all the requirements but it’s also more than that. In time, I got to know all the people working there and I keep them all in high regard, both professionally and personally. I’ve been very productive in that place and that’s by far my first recommendation for any digital nomad in Valencia. The theme of the coffee shop is art (as you can infer from the name). They host painting expositions quite often (some of them permanent), you can actually buy some of the works – and also have a very consistent and diverse events offer. From intercambio de idiomas (every Friday), up to live music or Cine y Cena (a unique, private event involving dinner and a movie projection), they cover a very large area of preferences. My favorite desayuno there consists in a double espresso and a tostada de aguacate y tomate, but I often stay for the brunch or menu del dia.

Flying Bean

Flying Bean is a newcomer, opened less than a year ago, but it managed to become a consistent presence – at least in my working routine – and for good reasons. Their focus is on coffee, the owner and barristas have a clear passion for this thing, and that translates in what I call “probably the best coffee in Valencia”. If you’re into coffee, expect to find there all the bells and whistles, from double espressos, up to V60 or aeropress. All extremely good. They recently started a series of coffee related events, plan to open their own roasting facility, which – rumor has it – will also have a small coworking place, in a space adjacent to the present coffee shop. My favorite desayuno there is double espresso and tostada Dragos. Yeap, they made a tostada specifically for me, and I’m not telling you what it has, because you have to try it, but, spoiler, it contains aguacate. One final note about the “special” classification for the sound ambiance: one of the barristas also has a passion for the 70s music, and, for a while, there was a real turntable pickup in the coffee shop, playing real vinyls. Hope they’ll make this a permanent thing.

Jardin Urbano

I’m starting the series of spares with Jardin Urbano, also in Ruzafa. Remember, spares are places which are also very good to work from, which I use when none of the highly recommended above is available (closed, holidays, etc). The highlights of Jardin Urbano are: vintage furniture, indoor garden and good food. The vintage furniture is really vintage and can become uncomfortable if used for more than 2-3 hours (and I mean chairs here). The indoor garden, which features even a small fountain, with real water pouring constantly, is very nice and gives you the feeling of being at the same time in a forest and in a closed perimeter. Food is the main reason I go there, because coffee is suboptimal (let’s say they can do serious improvements in that area). My preferred desayuno there is double espresso (as you probably learned by now) and tostada de aguacate, tomate y nueces (the original touch here being not only the nueces, but also the thin rucola layer they spread on top of the tomato and aguacate pieces).

Rogel

With Rogel I’m taking the working places outside the cool & hipster area, more into the neutral area of Valencia. Rogel is a regular coffee shop on a boulevard, a place where you usually go to enjoy some insanely good Argentinian postres or pasteleria, but it can also function as a place to work, provided you don’t do that very often. First time I went there I was surprised to see a large group of senior ladies, occupying 4-5 tables in the back, for what it looked like an intense game of Mahjong. I met this group a few more times, later on, and they were always exuding a very good vibe, “enjoying life always” kind of. My favorite desayuno there is a coffee (again, suboptimal, with the concept of double espresso becoming harder to explain as you go further away from Ruzafa) and a tostada de tomate (sometimes they can add aguacate too, if you talk nicely). The highlight here is the price. For the 5 EUR you usually spend in Ruzafa, you can get here an extra empanadilla, for instance, on top of the standard desayuno. A distinct feature of this place is the incredibly nice odor that comes from the laboratory in the back, where they bake a lot of sweet stuff (some of it you can buy there, but my guess is they are providing for a lot of other places).

Fornelino

Fornelino is a rather recent place, only tried it during last month, but it’s an interesting one. It’s in the barrio of Monteolivete (which seems on the rise, recently), and you wouldn’t give it too many points, because from the outside it looks like a normal neighborhood coffee shop, with the terrace bigger than the inside. But once you get inside, and get past a narrow passage around the mostrador, you discover a huge room, recently renovated, with many tables, and almost desert. The internet is shaky (the “average” in classification is a polite statement) and they don’t seem very event friendly. Power outlets are scarce and the whole big place looks like a recent reclaim from what it may have been an industrial part of the space (a bigger laboratory?). Just like Rogel, they seem to bake sweets and pastry for other restaurants. A nice option if you’re stranded outside the center and need to do some quick 2-3 hours worth of work. Also, desayuno is under 2 EUR, which I find almost surreal (coffee suboptimal and tostada a bit small, but still).

Ubik

With Ubik we get back for a quick round in Ruzafa again. Ubik is probably the oldest “hip” coffee shop in Ruzafa (or so I was told), dating for as long as 4-5 years ago. The furniture is also vintage, and the main feature of the place is that it’s also a library. There are actual books on the shelves, and not just as decorations. Another distinctive feature is the small kids playground near the entrance, making Ubik probably the only child-friendly coffee shop in Ruzafa (please don’t get me wrong, all others are child-friendly, they all have child seats if you ask them, they just don’t have a specific playground for kids). I used to go to Ubik mainly on weekends, when they also have live music events, and that’s probably why my feeling is of a rather populated place. You can still do some decent work, if you don’t aim for more than a 1-2 hours window. Coffee is decent and their menu del dia well above decent.

Blue Bell

Blue Bell was one of the first coffee shops I tried to work from, more than a year ago, and I still keep a nice memory of those days. Things have changed, and the place evolved a bit – for instance, they don’t allow laptops on weekends, but that’s to be expected for a place relatively small, and with a lot of competition they get from other places on a rather small square. When you do get to work from there, on weekdays, that is, the place is very intimate and it does support productivity and prolonged focus. Also, the food, albeit a bit on the expensive side, is exquisite. I especially like tostadas de aguacate y huevos – something that I only tried there, as far as I remember.

Paniacos (Canovas)

Paniacos is a franchise / chain comprising (at the moment of writing) at least 3 locations in Valencia, I’m writing about the one in Canovas (click on the map or lookup the address on the right column above). I’m working from that place mainly on events – there is a weekly meetup that I like to attend there. The coffee shop has the standard atmosphere you would expect from a local neighborhood coffee shop: noisy during desayuno hours and very relaxed after. It’s also one of the cheapest places, with a suboptimal coffee and a tostada de tomate which, again, can be embellished with some aguacate, if you ask nicely. I like the vintage furniture (some of it really bulky) and, again, if you have less than 2-3 hours of work, it could be a good option.

La Noa

With La Noa we make the transition towards the more commercial and touristy area of Valencia. Situated right at the “border” of it, this small coffee shop somehow manages to function as a decent place to work (especially in the morning, when it’s not that crowded) and a nice coffee shop where to spend a couple of lazy hours. They serve a moderately good espresso and they have (when I went there, don’t know about now) even ecological, paper cups if you want your coffee to go. The choice of postres and pasteleria is solid, tostadas are average / good and the ambiance pleasant. It may get crowded in the afternoon, but that’s something common to all the other places too.

Raw Coco

Raw Coco is already in a moderately touristy area, just behind the first row of buildings surrounding Plaza de Ayuntamiento. Its primary focus is serving moderately expensive green food and providing a poche space to stay. They have two coaches near the entrance, which may function as a pop-up coworking area, but I wouldn’t set more than 1-2 hours of working from there. Menus are reasonably priced for a central area, and coffee is average. Good alternative for changing the scenery every once in a while.

Savoiardi

Savoiardi is in the heart of the tourist area, on the busiest food street, Calle de Ribera. It’s actually the ground floor of a hotel, and, because of this and of this New York style decoration, it looks more like an interwar airport lounge. I’ve only worked from there during the co-working events organized by the digital nomads group I’m in. It’s not suitable for long periods of sustained focus, as it gets really noisy (all the tourists from the hotel are usually getting their coffee there). The places are very comfortable, though, and the dim light may give a bit of intimacy. I’ve always had tea when I worked from there, so no coffee or food recommendations for this one, sorry.

Federal

Federal is a chain (there is another one in Madrid, too) with an ample space and a more modern decoration style. They have only limited places for laptops (a big table close to the mostrador, and the bar chairs in front of the windows). Food is usually very good (can’t complain abut coffee, either) and they even have something that I never found in any other place in Valencia: a tostada con vegemite (the owner / founder seems to be Australian). Based on my personal research, I may be the only living thing in Valencia ordering (and actually eating) that tostada. A nice differentiator is their AI powered music service: I don’t know how they do it, but the music there somehow matches the weather and, usually, it’s a very good match.

Batisfera

Batisfera is one of the (very) few choices in Cabanyal, so if you want to work close to the beach (like 300 meters close to it) that’s a very good place. It’s also a library, just like Ubik, with which shares a part of the shareholders / founders. It’s brand new and still settling, but it’s already a solid option for anyone considering a productive chunk of the day, followed by some beach hangout. Coffee / food similar with Ubik.

Starbuckses (4 of them)

Starbuckses are what I call “emergencies”, places from which I work if none of the above is available. As someone who started this digital nomad thing 10 years ago, way before it was cool, I still have a strong connection with the place. Lately, Starbucks is taking pride in defining themselves as the “third place” (after work and home) and, from this point of view, is a legit and quite productive work place. Coffee is not exactly my favorite choice there, I usually get a tea, and the internet has a tendency to not work as expected (most of the time I use my phone ok, though). Please be aware that especially during summer, the air conditioning there can be a bit too brutal (as in too cold).

Tim Horton’s

Tim Horton’s is a Canadian franchise (didn’t know about it before coming to Valencia, to my shame) and they recently opened a location right across the street from one of the biggest Starbuckses. It’s what you would expect from a worldwide franchise, fast service, relatively comfortable ambiance and suboptimal coffee. As a differentiator, they sell some incredibly sweet stuff, called “timbits”. Decent place to work when all else fails.

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I hope you enjoyed this guide. If you have suggestions or questions, feel free to add them in the comments.