Cafeography
San José · Centro

Cafés in Centro

Avenida Central's pedestrian blocks, the Teatro Nacional's café, the Mercado Central and Calle 9.

Photo: Mario Spencer, Pexels License

Centro is the grid around Avenida Central, the city's oldest street, known as the Calle Real in the 18th century and the Calle del Comercio in the 19th.1 Its twelve most central blocks became a pedestrian boulevard from 1994, and more than 3 million people cross it each year; to the west the same avenue turns into Paseo Colón.1 Along it stand the Mercado Central, the Banco Central and the Plaza de la Cultura, the Teatro Nacional's forecourt, with the Museo del Oro underneath.1

The coffee comes from market stalls, older cafés on the boulevard and a few roasters. Rincón Retana desde 1943 is on Avenida Central, whose official name honors Rogelio Fernández Güell, an opponent of the Tinoco dictatorship.1 El Tostador has two outlets a few blocks apart, on Avenida Central at Calle 2 and on Avenida 3, and La Mancha is at the corner of Avenida Central and Calle 1.

Local tip: On Sundays La Mancha and Café del Barista Morazán are closed, but Alma de Café in the Teatro Nacional opens 09:00–18:00.2

At a glance

29Cafés listed
4With opening hours
07:00Earliest opening
19:00Latest closing
  • Opens earliest: Café del Barista Morazán, from 07:00 (Mon–Sat 07:00–18:00).
  • Closes latest: La Mancha, until 19:00 (Mon–Sat 10:00–19:00).
  • Most common features: wi-fi (14%), specialty (7%), card payment (3%).

Incluyeme

  • Avenida Monseñor Castro Jiménez
  • Mon–Sat 09:00–18:00
  • Card payment
  • Wheelchair access
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Coffee chains in Centro

Alma de Café inside the Teatro Nacional

The theater's own café, Alma de Café, serves Costa Rican plates, breads and handmade pastries, and opens Monday to Saturday 09:00–19:00 and Sunday 09:00–18:00.2 Its menu lists a Café 7 Provincias: you choose beans from one of Costa Rica's seven provinces, and they are ground to order and served chorreado, through a cloth filter, or in a French press.3

The menu's cover reproduces the building's best-known image, the Allegory of Coffee and Bananas by the Milanese painter Aleardo Villa.34 Villa never set foot in Costa Rica and painted the scene from letters describing the country.5 It appeared on the five-colón bill, first issued in 1968 and printed until 1992, six years after coins had replaced the note.5

The Mercado Central and the streets around it

Cafetería y Café Central works from the northeast end of the Mercado Central, a covered market a block long, among produce stalls, sodas and bric-a-brac counters.6 Near the main entrance, La Sorbetera de Lolo Mora makes a single ice-cream flavor of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and vanilla; Saveur gave the parlor's age as 111 years in 2012.6

Café Pertutti and Fud Fad are on Avenida 1, and Cafeteria Coffee KB gives its address as 125 m north of the Teatro Melico Salazar, between Calles 0 and 1. Trigo Miel is on Calle 3, Cafetería Valle on Calle 9, and Cie7e's and Dreams 22 on Avenida 8, south of the boulevard.

La Mancha, Café del Barista and Wi-Fi downtown

La Mancha's owner, Alberto Font, worked as a photographer until 2016, when he left that career for coffee.7 The café opens Monday to Saturday 10:00–19:00 and has Wi-Fi, as do Sphaera Coffee Bakery on Calle 7 and Sabor Cultura, a short walk east.

At the north edge of Centro, Café del Barista Morazán on Avenida 7 opens at 07:00 from Monday to Saturday and closes at 18:00. Saboreaté y Café Morazán keeps 09:00–17:00 every day of the week.

Calle 9, the Paseo de los Estudiantes

The Paseo de los Estudiantes follows Calle 9 from Avenida 2 to Avenida 18, between the Iglesia de La Soledad and the grounds of the Liceo de Costa Rica.8 It is named for the students who protested against the dictatorship of Federico Tinoco in 1917–1919, and its twelve blocks between Avenidas 2 and 14 opened as the Barrio Chino on 5 December 2012.8

Yomi Cake & Tea and Tang Dian Xuan both have addresses on this stretch. On Avenida Monseñor Castro Jiménez, Inclúyeme opens Monday to Saturday 09:00–18:00; Jonnathan Benach, who has a hearing disability, founded it in 2017 with braille menus, ramps and staff trained in Costa Rican Sign Language (LESCO).9

Sources

  1. Avenida Central (San José), Wikipedia (Spanish), accessed October 2026
  2. Cafetería: Alma de Café, Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica, accessed October 2026
  3. Menú Alma de Café (PDF, 2022), Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica, accessed October 2026
  4. National Theatre of Costa Rica, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  5. Billete de cinco colones, un lujo numismático, Teletica (April 5, 2021), accessed October 2026
  6. Costa Rica: San Jose's Mercado Central, Saveur (Jane Sigal, May 17, 2012), accessed October 2026
  7. Descubra 5 joyas del café de especialidad que debe visitar en San José, La República (August 2, 2023), accessed October 2026
  8. Paseo de los Estudiantes, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  9. Cafetería rompe esquemas sociales en el centro de San José, La República (October 3, 2017), accessed October 2026
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In Centro, also browse: Wi-Fi Bakery cafés

FAQ

Centro cafés: questions

Where can you have coffee inside the Teatro Nacional in San José?

Alma de Café, the Teatro Nacional's café, opens Monday to Saturday 09:00–19:00 and Sunday 09:00–18:00. Its Café 7 Provincias lets you choose beans from one of Costa Rica's seven provinces, ground to order and served chorreado or in a French press. The cover of its menu shows Aleardo Villa's Allegory of Coffee and Bananas.

Where is the coffee counter in San José's Mercado Central?

Cafetería y Café Central is at the northeast end of San José's Mercado Central, the covered market on Avenida Central, among produce stalls, sodas and small shops. Near the main entrance, La Sorbetera de Lolo Mora makes a single ice-cream flavor of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and vanilla.

What is the Paseo de los Estudiantes in central San José?

The Paseo de los Estudiantes is Calle 9 between Avenida 2 and Avenida 18 in central San José. It is named for the students who protested against the dictatorship of Federico Tinoco in 1917–1919, and its stretch between Avenidas 2 and 14 opened as the Barrio Chino on 5 December 2012. Yomi Cake & Tea and Tang Dian Xuan are on it.

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