VNT coffee gallery & events space

Cold brew, matcha, hojicha and chai

Four drinks define the counter: cold brew, matcha, hojicha and chai. Cold brew anchors the specialty coffee side, matcha and roasted hojicha pull the list towards tea, and the chai covers the spiced end, so the board balances bitter, herbal and aromatic instead of chasing sweetness. Each is made with attention to where it came from rather than treated as a category to fill. The room they are poured in is a former electricity house at the edge of Malasaña, in central Madrid, and the founders like the continuity of the idea: the building used to generate electricity, and they argue it still does. VNT opened in late 2025 and reads first as a coffee bar, whatever the second half of its name says.

A minimal room built by designers

The space was put together by Eduardo Villalón Chafe, the Spanish designer behind MUT Design, and Fabien Peronnet, a French hotelier who co-founded La Novieta in Valencia, and the discipline shows. Clean lines, uncluttered surfaces and a lot of soft daylight; exposed structural elements left where they are, so the industrial past stays legible under the finish. It is quiet in the way a good gallery is quiet, which makes it a better room for a slow cup than for a loud table. Nothing is over decorated and nothing competes with the drink in front of you, which is a design decision as much as a hospitality one, and it is the reason the coffee reads as the subject rather than as the accessory.

The first order is cold brew, unless tea is calling

If the visit is about coffee, cold brew is the most direct order and the one the counter is proudest of. It sits better in this room than a long espresso ritual would, and it suits the pace people keep here. If tea is the answer instead, the three routes are clear: matcha for something green and vegetal, hojicha for the roasted and deeper toned version, chai for spice and aroma. Whichever you take, the drink arrives made rather than assembled, which is the whole proposition. Alongside the bar, a 90 square metre space takes pop ups, exhibitions, launches and talks, so what is on the walls changes between visits; it is worth a look on the way in, but the cup is why you came.