Black Honey

The first specialty bar in a mountain town

Bansko is a ski town, and Black Honey arrived in it as the first specialty coffee bar in the town. The bar is small and the programme is wide for its size: espresso and milk drinks, pour-over, cold brew and signature drinks, plus tea and craft chocolate for anyone not drinking coffee at all.

The bean list is the real draw. There is a house roast, and beside it guest coffees from roasteries in other countries, which is how a small bar in a town this size keeps the offer moving. Bags are sold across the counter as well as brewed at it. Black Honey was recognised in the 2025 European Coffee Trip awards.

A small room that works as a meeting place

The space is warm and close, with the bar doing the work a larger room would do with seating. It functions as a social hub in the town, the sort of place where people end up talking to whoever is next to them, and the baristas are part of that rather than hidden behind a wall of machinery.

Espresso comes off a La Marzocco, and there are several milk options for anyone building a flat white or a cappuccino to their own specification. It is a counter experience led by the people making the coffee, not a lounge to disappear into.

Order the double ristretto first

Start with the double ristretto. It is the sharpest, most concentrated read on whatever is in the hopper, and it is the drink the bar is most associated with locally.

Espresso is the other direct benchmark. A pour-over gives a slower, longer view of the bean list and is the right order when a guest coffee is on. Cold brew covers the warm afternoons. If milk is the preference, move from the short drinks to a cappuccino or flat white to see how the same coffee holds up against it, and take a retail bag if a particular origin stands out. The craft chocolate and the tea are the offhand orders that turn out to be worth taking seriously here.