Porto's Best Coffee Score Belongs to a Shop With No Queue to Keep Moving.
Issue 14
Booínga in Matosinhos has the highest coffee score in Portugal, 9.4, and it comes from a one-man roastery with nowhere to rush anyone to.
Matosinhos is a short train ride up the coast from central Porto, a working fishing town before it was anything else. Down one of its streets, past green coffee sacks stacked by the door, is a one-man roastery called Booínga.
There is no espresso machine racing a queue here. The owner roasts the beans himself, sets them out for you to smell, and talks you through the tasting as he brews. There is only one person working, which means there is a real wait built into the visit, and nobody is trying to shorten it.
There is one person working here, and he roasted what you are about to drink.
The pick, if you only have time for one
Booínga is a Steep Pick, and its coffee score, 9.4, is the highest of any cafe we've reviewed in Portugal. A guide this week argues that the gap between home espresso and cafe espresso has mostly closed on one axis: the freedom to not be rushed. Booínga is the professional version of that same freedom. One barista, one cup at a time, as long as it takes.
- Booínga Steep PickMatosinhos · Porto · Steep Index 8.8/10
A one-man roastery in Matosinhos where you smell the beans, pick the one you want, and the owner talks you through what happens next.
On our radar
The full argument, including what a home setup can now do that a cafe pulling two hundred shots a day structurally can't, is in this week's guide. Worth reading if you've ever wondered whether the best cup of the week really has to come from somewhere you paid to sit down.