The Folks Sé — Specialty Coffee

Two lattes carry this branch, tiramisu and pistachio, poured in a room that looks straight at Sé Cathedral.

Origin-led coffee, and a flavoured counterpoint

Coffee is the centre of The Folks Sé rather than a brunch accessory. The group sells its own beans for espresso and filter, running through Colombia, Ethiopia, Costa Rica, Brazil and a Colombian decaf, and the retail side extends to drip bags and boxed drip coffee, so what is brewed at the bar can be carried home in the same form.

At the counter that translates into two directions. One is straight: espresso and filter, origin-led and well balanced. The other is the flavoured signature work, where the tiramisu latte and pistachio latte sit alongside matcha, fresh orange juice, and a Calamansi and Sage Lemonade for anyone off coffee entirely.

A cathedral view and a fast brunch rhythm

The Folks began in Lisbon in 2022 and grew from a single café into several locations and a roastery, and Sé is the one the group calls its third home. It is a daytime café, not an evening bar or a formal restaurant. It sits beside the cathedral, where old stone meets a bright modern fit-out, and the invitation is to pause and drink slowly rather than to eat and move on.

In practice the room fills quickly at peak brunch, and the service keeps pace: fast, attentive and multilingual. It is only partly a working café, with laptop use kept to one designated table so the rest of the room stays a dining space. That balance is deliberate, and it makes the place better for a long conversation than for an afternoon of email.

Order the tiramisu latte, then pick a plate

The tiramisu latte is the easiest signature to begin with, and the pistachio latte is its equal on the sweeter side. If you want the roastery instead, take an espresso or a filter from the Ethiopian, Colombian, Costa Rican or Brazilian lots, or the decaf if the day is already busy.

The food deserves the same attention. Pancakes with raspberry and mascarpone are the sweet order to beat, syrniki with seasonal fruit the more interesting one, and the Benedicts hold the savoury side. Vegetarian and vegan dishes run through the menu, and the breakfast dishes use halal turkey bacon, which widens the room further. A latte and a plate of syrniki is the representative order.