A Guide to the Liverpool Café Scene

A brief history of Liverpool café culture + 4 must-try coffee shops in the English city.

BY ISABELLE MANI
FOR BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE

Featured photo by Arthur Franklin

When people think of coffee in England, the conversation tends to start in London, one of the most established coffee capitals in the world. But each city carries its own cultural and historical logic, and Liverpool stands apart in ways that extend far beyond its musical legacy.

Compared to London, Liverpool’s contemporary café culture has developed more recently. As one of the most historically significant port cities in the United Kingdom, Liverpool has long been a point of arrival and exchange of goods, people, and ideas—coffee included.

This is closely tied to what is often described as the city’s “Scouse identity,” a cultural fabric shaped by its working-class history, a distinctive sense of humor, and a social energy that leans toward openness, congregation, and solidarity.

During the week I spent exploring the city, I found myself returning to cafés as a way of understanding its rhythms. Café culture becomes a lens—a way of observing how pausing for coffee reflects the social and cultural uniqueness of each place.

A bit of Liverpool history

Liverpool’s history is tied not only to trade and movement, but also to difficult legacies. By the late 18th century, it was the dominant British port in the transatlantic slave trade. Over time, this contributed to a diverse and externally connected population, including historic Caribbean and Black British communities, alongside significant Irish immigration in the 19th century. These overlapping influences left a lasting imprint on the city’s language, identity, and cultural expression—including a strong musical tradition that predates the global recognition brought by the Beatles.

As a major port, Liverpool was also exposed early to transatlantic cultural flows, including African American musical forms carried by sailors and records brought by them.

Today, that sense of mixture and movement tends to translate into a social atmosphere that feels open, lively, and communal. Liverpool is a city where people gather—in music, in nightlife, in public space—and, increasingly, in cafés.

Across the city, many cafés function as true third places: environments where staying is not only accepted, but encouraged. It is common to see students working for hours, people reading on their lunch breaks or after work, families with children, groups of friends lingering well into the afternoon, and professionals moving between meetings, often all within the same space.

In contrast to more time-bound café cultures, several spots in central Liverpool extend beyond traditional hours, reinforcing their role within the city’s social rhythm. Even in busy areas, cafés can feel like a pause—a kind of urban refuge. In more residential neighborhoods, such as Waterloo, cafés take on a more local function, with a range of styles: from minimalist espresso bars to spaces with more extensive and creative food menus. Despite these differences, there is a shared atmosphere, perhaps shaped by the city’s maritime character, its proximity to water, and the chilled, unrushed vibe that comes with the constant coastal breeze.

That, to me, is what defines Liverpool’s coffee scene. What follows are four cafés that, each in their own way, reflect this ethos.

Bean Coffee Roasters

Bean Coffee Roasters operates at a different pace from most cafés in the city center. Located in Liverpool ONE, the space is structured around a brew bar with multiple pourover options, and spread across different areas and levels, which changes how people use it.

It stays open later than most cafés, and that shift in hours is noticeable. People come in throughout the afternoon and early evening—not just for a quick coffee, but to sit, meet, or spend time. The menu follows the same logic, with a more creative pastry offering, including mini cannolis, alongside standard options.

Coffi

Set on a cobbled backstreet within a conservation area in Liverpool’s Georgian Quarter, Coffi reflects the rhythm of its surroundings: steady weekday foot traffic from nearby offices and institutions, and a quieter but consistent weekend presence tied to the area’s theaters, bars, and historic streets.

Working with a rotating selection of European roasters, it focuses on espresso, batch brew, and pourover. The menu stays in line with that structure: a tight selection of pastries, including pastel de nata (Portuguese custard tart) and a range of viennoiserie.

The space is arranged across two floors, with a communal table downstairs and additional seating upstairs. A designated laptop bar setup shapes how tables are used during the workweek.

Crosby Coffee

Crosby Coffee is a Liverpool-based roaster supplying coffee across the U.K., with four locations across the city, including its original roastery and shop in Waterloo, as well as sites in Lark Lane, Hightown, and Ten Streets.

I visited two of them: the roastery and the Waterloo shop, which also serves as a roastery and flagship, and which I returned to. The Ten Streets site, set in a restored industrial area near the city center, draws a more urban crowd—people stopping in between work, meetings, or passing through.

Waterloo, which also operates as a roastery, is set near the coast, close to Crosby Beach, in a quieter residential area, and it’s part of everyday life, with families stopping in after school and people walking their dogs and coming in for coffee. The space includes a downstairs snug, which shifts how people use it, especially for longer stays.

Across both spaces, the setup is simple: coffee roasted in-house, a small food menu, and a third space used in different ways throughout the day.

Ropes & Twines

Ropes & Twines is not a coffee shop focused exclusively on coffee—and that’s part of what makes it work so well. Combining specialty coffee (from the city’s own Two Worlds Coffee Roasters) with a strong wine selection, it’s easy to understand why it was often recommended to me as one of the city’s go-to spots.

Set in the middle of one of Liverpool’s busiest streets, it has a kind of refuge within the movement—a place that works just as well for coffee as it does for wine. DJ sets, exhibitions, and events in the basement are regular. The menu is concise and versatile, featuring a mix of sweet pastries, such as banana bread and cheesecake, alongside charcuterie and cheese boards, and “toasties” (grilled sandwiches). Bonus points for the Espresso Negronis and coffee-based spirits.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Isabelle Mani (she/her) is a writer, journalist, and communicator specializing in the international coffee industry. Since 2017, she has focused on writing articles and features for various international coffee news outlets. Isabelle has traveled to coffee-producing countries such as Colombia, Kenya, Rwanda, China, and Brazil to study and research coffee. She holds training certifications from the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) and the Coffee Quality Institute (Arabica Q Grading).

Subscribe and More!

As always, you can get a hard copy of Barista Magazine by subscribing or ordering an issue.

Support Barista Magazine and show your love with a Membership.

Signup for our weekly newsletter.

Join us at Camp Coffee Shop Aug. 10-13 in Napa, California.

Read the April + May 2026 21st Anniversary Issue for free with our digital edition. 

For free access to more than six years’ worth of issues, visit our digital edition archives here.