The Folks Blue Street — Specialty Coffee

Tiramisu latte is the drink people order first at The Folks Blue Street, but the counter behind it belongs to a Lisbon roaster with beans of its own.

House-roasted coffee in the old town

The Blue Street café is the Bacalhoeiros branch of The Folks, a Lisbon specialty coffee and brunch group founded in 2022, and it draws on the group's in-house roastery rather than working as a one-off espresso bar. The retail bean range gives the clearest sense of the coffee language: Coconut Splash from Colombia, Sunset, Chelchele Funk and Floral Echo from Ethiopia, Abraço from Costa Rica, Siesta Decaf from Colombia, and Vale do Mel from Brazil.

The profiles run through floral, citrus and orange into honey, brown sugar, toffee, nuts, caramel and dark chocolate, so there is a light end and a comfortable end to choose between. At the bar itself the service covers espresso, batch brew and hand pour-over, single origins as well as blends, with oat milk as the standing alternative. The signature drinks sit on top of that: tiramisu latte, espresso tonic and matcha.

A shaded terrace and a slow breakfast

The setting does a lot of the work. This is the group's old-town café, on the blue-painted street it takes its name from, among cobblestones, sun-warmed façades and a shaded terrace. The experience is closer to a slow breakfast than a grab-and-go counter, and the terrace is the part regulars come back for.

The house style across The Folks cafés is a home-like room built around good coffee and honest food, and Blue Street reads as the quietest expression of it: a small, welcoming space that suits eating alone, a long conversation, or a takeaway cup carried down towards the river. Staff are part of that, with food suggestions and local advice offered as a matter of course.

Order the tiramisu latte, then eat

Start with the tiramisu latte, the drink most closely tied to this branch. Espresso tonic is the brighter alternative, and matcha covers the non-coffee end. If you want the roastery rather than the flavour work, take a batch brew or a pour-over of whichever single origin is on.

The food is brunch proper, not snacks. Turkish eggs and salmon Benedict lead the savoury side, raspberry pancakes and carrot cake the sweet, and the smoothies run to Pink Oat Dream and The Champion. Vegan, gluten-free and halal options run through the menu. Read the branch as a roaster's brunch room where eggs, pancakes and specialty drinks share a table.