Express Bar

Specialty coffee and cocktails share one list at Express Bar, a central Zagreb room on Petrinjska Street where the flat white in the morning and the drink at night come from the same counter.

Coffee, tea, chocolate and cocktails

The coffee is direct trade and drawn from a range of origins, which puts Express Bar in Zagreb's specialty circuit rather than at the edge of it. The flat white is the order most closely attached to the place, and the shortest route into what the bar can do.

Tea gets unusual attention for a coffee bar. Organic leaf teas, matcha and oolong are all on the board, and the iced teas are made by hand to order rather than poured from a bottle, closer to a mocktail than a soft drink. The chocolate thread runs alongside, built on artisanal and fine chocolate and showing up as a hazelnut chocolate and a spicy cacao. Cocktails are part of the public identity from the start, not a late addition to a cafe.

The terrace does most of the talking

The room is compact, and the street-facing terrace on Petrinjska is what most visits are built around: central Zagreb people-watching, with the interior as the calmer alternative when the weather or the crowd argues for it.

Service is the other thing regulars mention. One group came back almost daily, played cards and stayed put, which tells you more about the pace than any description of the furniture. Express Bar takes a quick flat white as easily as it takes a long afternoon around tea, cards and conversation, or an evening that ends on a cocktail. It was recognised in the 2025 European Coffee Trip Awards.

Flat white first, then the iced tea

Start with the flat white. It is the clearest named coffee order here and the fastest way to read the direct-trade sourcing behind the bar.

Then move into tea. Matcha and oolong are both worth ordering, and the handmade iced teas are the more interesting call when the visit is less about espresso and more about a crafted cold drink. The chocolate drinks are the third direction, with the spicy cacao the one to try if a hazelnut chocolate sounds too easy.

Keep cocktails in view for later. The whole point of the room is that specialty coffee and a proper drinks list sit together, so the sequence that works is flat white, then handmade iced tea or matcha, then a cocktail if the visit stretches into the evening.