Argentina Buenos Aires

The 8 Historic Coffee of Buenos Aires

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  Julieta Fraguío 04/07/2016

Buenos Aires owes much of its charm to its legendary coffees. The city of Buenos Aires has more than 20 notable bars that make up the Cultural Heritage of the city. The notable bars of Buenos Aires are the living history of the city: for its age and architectural value, for being the scene of relevant historical and cultural events. You can find them in different neighborhoods of the city but especially in the most classic area: Almagro, San Telmo, San Nicolas, La Boca and Recoleta.

Café Tortoni

It is the oldest and most visited notable coffee in Buenos Aires. With more than 150 years, the most outstanding figures of the artistic avant-garde of the 1920s passed through his living room and cellar in the basement. In that corner of memory the voices of Borges, Bioy Casares, Quinquela Martín, González Tuñón, Luigi still resonate Pirandello, Federico García Lorca, Cortazar, Arthur Rubinstein and Alfonsina Storni. Formerly, it also had a table always available and reserved, far from its admirers for its outstanding and assiduous client, Carlos Gardel.


Currently, the underground of Tortoni offers jazz and tango shows, not to be missed for lovers of Buenos Aires music. The Monserrat neighborhood, where this coffee is located, is synonymous with music. Next to the bar is the National Tango Academy and the World Tango Museum. An excellent option to learn much more about the city and each of its corners is to do it safely and entertainingly with the Walking City Tour.



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La Giralda

In 2020, it reopened its doors with several spare parts and a new administration. Its name refers to the famous 104-meter bell tower located in the city of Seville. La Giralda is known for its exquisite chocolate churros. And by the large number of poets and intellectuals who passed by their small wooden tables debating cinema, politics and literature.


Upon entering this traditional coffee and chocolate shop that opened in 1951, it seems that time stands still with its old decoration, blue tiles and two-leaf access door. They continue their wooden counter, which shows off the classic glass bells to protect the sandwiches, their carved mirrors and the large shelves covered in bottles of all kinds.


In addition to its exquisite breakfasts and coffees to enjoy throughout the day, there are lunches and dinners with the most traditional dishes in the city.


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Las Violetas

It was built in 1884 by its original owners without skimping on effort or expense: fine boiserie, magnificent stained glass windows, Italian marbles and furniture brought from Paris. The Argentine poet Alfonsina Storni was an assiduous client. Its salons were also known by Roberto Arlt and Irineo Leguisamo, the jockey to whom the legendary Carlos Gardel sang in a well-known tango.


Despite its closure in 1998, the City Legislature declared it a Historic Protection Area, so it was reopened in 2001, without losing any of its charm and elegance. In addition to the impeccable pieces of Carrara marble on the bar and tables, there are the sumptuous original bronze chandeliers. As for its menu, the menu is vast and it is impossible not to find the desired dish, be it pasta, risottos, meats of all kinds or fish. Las Violetas is the favorite coffee for adults and for ladies who want to have a tea with their friends while they debate about current events. Although it is still a place that everyone wants to visit and the ages are interspersed between talks, food and music. In 2017 Las Violetas was chosen as the best Notable Cafe in the City among 19,000 voters.


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El Federal

In the heart of San Telmo is El Federal, the oldest bar and restaurant in constant operation in the City. It was opened in 1864 as a warehouse, later it was installed in the current two-story building in the Italianate style, built in the late nineteenth century. The interiors remain original from the beginning of the 20th century, and the coffee is chosen by both the locals and a large number of tourists who visit the historic center of Buenos Aires.


Inside this remarkable coffee, anyone can entertain themselves by looking at old advertisements on its walls, photographs from the 20s and 30s. You can also find old tricycles, vintage bottles of snacks, glass siphons with metal heads and paintings related to characters from the citizen music. On November 25, 2004, El Federal was declared a "Site of Cultural Interest" for witnessing a time in the San Telmo neighborhood.


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36 Billares

The place was born as a coffee in 1894, when Avenida de Mayo became a prestigious food and drink circuit for many, its Parisian and Spanish style made it a unique place in the city. 36 Billares was a meeting place for many thinkers and intellectuals who found a perfect environment to exchange ideas. But its heyday was passing over the years and the crises that the country went through made its doors close. In 2003 considered a remarkable coffee it was saved and reopened. It was renovated, preserving its style and historical profile.

For lovers of good food, we recommend the stone pizza and the fugazzeta or the classic English soup. But there is also room for sweet palates with its exquisite balcarce cake and ricotta tart.


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Bar Britanico

Located on the corner of Brasil and Defensa, a few meters from the green lung of Parque Lezama, is the Bar Británico, which had its origins in 1930 and became the emblem of the neighborhood. Its name is due to the English ex-combatants of the First World War who stayed in a nearby pension and went to the bar daily to share talks and drinks.

Time seems not to have passed inside, its decoration is still vintage and its wooden chairs continue to give it that special touch. There were difficult times for this coffee and it faked with the possibility of being closed but the neighbors mobilized to prevent it and today it is still an unmissable place when it comes to touring the city and enjoying a delicious hot drink. To complete your walk through Buenos Aires without missing its incredible monuments, historical places, avenues and much more. The safest way to get around the city, its monuments, history and neighborhoods with the Walking City Tour.  


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La Perla

La Boca has always been a neighborhood of coffee, like La Perla, located on the strategic corner that overlooks Caminito, on the Vuelta de Rocha. What makes it a mandatory stop for tourists, to drink something fresh or try its traditional menu, empanadas, pizza, sandwiches, pasta, among other dishes on the go. The bar has functioned as such for more than 80 years. Inside, the wood is present on the ceiling, on the refrigerator, on the tables and on the chairs. The walls are covered with photos of all kinds, such as that of Bill Clinton visiting the bar in 1997.


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Esquina Homero Manzi

It is said that the bar was already working in 1914, when the First World War began and this was where the great Homero Manzi (1907-1951) wrote the tango Sur in one of his tables in 1948, "Sur paredón and later, Sur a warehouse light… ”, to which another great musician, Aníbal Troilo (1914-1975) later put music.


The first name of the place was El Aeroplano and in 1937 the coffee was bought by two Japanese partners, the Asato, who changed its name to Nippon. Eleven years later, in 1948 they left the premises. The new owners decided to call it Canadian. In 1953 Don Eugenio García took over. From 1981 the coffee acquired its current name, Esquina Homero Manzi. Osvaldo Pugliese and his wife, Cátulo Castillo, Sebastián Piana, Julián Centeya, José María Contursi, Roberto Rufino, Argentino Ledesma, Carmen Duval, Tito Reyes, Vicente San Lorenzo (author of the tango Almagro), the poet Oscar Pesce, Enrique Maciel and the writer Isidoro Blaisten.


Currently, top quality tango shows are offered on a magnificent stage and with a cafeteria and gastronomy service according to the place. In the eighth and on the access, the unmistakable face of Homer, drawn by Hermenegildo Sábat, presides over the corner. The façade continues as before, decorated with numerous coats of arms: a filleting by Luisito Zorz, in homage to Manzi, from the Argentine Gardel Association or that of the Senate, declaring the corner a National Historic Site.


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