The following guide (photos and text) originally appeared in the quirky, informative blog "Bears and Vodka." As it was broad, generally spot-on, and fun, we asked them if we could borrow it for our Student Guide to Russia. The article is republished here (in a slightly edited version) with permission.
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The view from Coffeemania's second floor.

The Moscow Coffee Scene
By Irina Vodka
a writer for "Bears and Vodka"

Like any big city in Europe or USA, Moscow is filled with places to hang out and have a coffee. It's never really about the coffee as it is, but about the perks: better service, good atmosphere, reasonable prices—name it. Bears & Vodka is more than happy to share with you the places that we find worth visiting.

The Big Fish: Coffee House (Кофе Хауз) & Shokoladnitsa (Шоколадница)

These places are like Starbuck's in Manhattan: you sit in one and you see another right across the street. These places occupy every crack in the city landscape and are known for their unreasonably high prices, poor service and, as some people say, crappy coffee. Avoid these if you can.

Photocafé (Фотокафе)

The people with vivid imaginations who opened Photocafé didn't care much about the borders of sanity and merged both most popular teenagers' activities: drinking coffee and taking pictures with their semi-pro cameras. There are no menus in this café: tables are equipped with huge computer screens. You take a seat and that's where the magic begins: the screen turns on, showing a huge flow of millions of tabs with food and an impressive range of coffee (you can even have a mojito-flavored coffee for 132 rubles [$4] a cup). As soon as you choose your digital-version-of-the-feast scenario, a set of animated pictures showing the cooking process of the food you ordered appears at the bottom of the screen. However, you can't count on a full-blown meal: the menu has only desserts and pies. But it's worth ordering anyway.

Try e-coffee at Photocafe!

Nevertheless, the special thrill of the Photocafé lays in the "photo" part. You give your USB-flash device to the café employees and the pictures you've taken for the day immediately appear at your table screen. You could simply get the aesthetic thrill of looking at yourself riding a wild boar at the zoo or, if you want to, choose the size and type of photos and have them printed on the spot. You wouldn't even manage to finish your cup of coffee before a waiter brings your freshly printed pictures on a tray.

Red Espresso Bar

Red Espresso Bar is a new name on the Moscow coffee map, a red and black Starbuck's counterpart for adults. Besides nice music that plays through the speakers (you can even order the songs by sending an SMS to a British-based number) you can even feed your giant ego as the staff pronounces your name in the loudspeakers as soon as the order is ready. Sometimes it might cause inconvenience: when last I visited the place, a manager with a soothing tone of voice would keep calling a certain Adolf to take his sandwiches—for 15 minutes. Time passed, there was no sight of Adolf anywhere, and it started setting everyone's teeth on the edge.

The range of coffee-based drinks isn't very broad but you might as well connect it to the fact the chain has appeared just several months ago. As for the food, some say it is flawless. They have exceptionally delicious sandwiches of all kinds with an option to choose from several types of bread. They also offer omelets for breakfast for $6 and a range of pastas for around $10. As for the clientèle, since opening its become a place to get some work done for many of Moscow's young and creative, so there is always a chance to meet the Bears & Vodka staff.

Starbucks

This one doesn't need much presentation. To date, this chain has 28 cafés in Moscow. On to the next chain.

Coffee Bean: Moscow's best espresso.

Coffee Bean

This chain of coffee bars makes great coffee (according to Afisha, they make one of the best espressos in Moscow) and from time-to-time becomes an art gallery, a photo exhibit, cinema and master-classes devoted to most ridiculous things (from valentines drawing to make-up classes). Food prices don't get higher than $10 and the drinks range even has some alcohol (now that's what I'm talking about!)

There is just one problem: Moscow has only six locations and one of them is situated in Bibirevo (a mostly residential area). Nevertheless, it can be considered as a good chance to explore some unknown Moscow outskirts.

One tip: if in summer you choose the Coffee Bean on Pokrovka Street, do not, under any circumstances, sit on the patio. If you do so, you will have to fish out of your precious coffee all the bits of cottonwood fluff that get in there as there are a lot of those trees around that part of the city.

Coffeemania (Кофемания)

This one is top-notch. It is actually the best non-Russian place in Moscow. You should definitely visit the one at Bolshaya Nikitskaya, situated next to the conservatory building. Interesting people, soothing music, best coffee in the city—this is all a man could wish for. And, it's actually fun to watch the students drag their cellos and other massive instruments (thank God they don't have to bring their own pianos to the classes).

The first sign of spring coming is opening of Coffeemania's amazing patio. It is actually an ideal place to work because all your tedious stuff accompanied by a cup of eggnog or small Latte Piccolo ($6.10) acquires a romantic and cozy aura. But there's nothing romantic about the high prices: a Caesar salad costs $20! Caesar was sure a great guy but it's hard to appreciate history for such money.

Costa Coffee

It is one of the few coffee houses in Moscow where Beeline or MTS haven't yet set ridiculous prices for WiFi: it is free here. Except for that, in this self-service café you can find some Starbucks-style desserts and Starbucks-styled jolly baristas. Tea and coffee, no wonder, are Starbucks-style as well.

Lebedev’s Café: Try it! Once.

Everything here tries to be comfy and creative: look at the names for coffee types (which actually taste ok)—Chocolate Cookie Latte, Berry Cocktail Frescato or Hot Chocolate with Mint and Whipped Cream. There are also photos recreating the atmosphere of European leisurely lifestyle. No wonder, as it is originally British. And if you choose Costa Coffee at Tverskaya street, you will even see the profile of Pushkin monument, which stands right in front of the café's windows. You can either have a quiet time, think of all the great things in life or set to do some work. Costa Coffee will be the best place for doing it.

Eat & Talk

Eat & Talk is located just outside the Biblioteka Lenina metro station, and that's a very good place for a spot to be. It has the worst coffee in the area (and the entire food and drinks are probably just not worth trying), but it has power sockets for your laptops, table lamps, paper to draw on, smoking and smoke-free zones and—best part—it never closes.

Additional perks: newspapers, free Internet access and the students of the nearby Faculty of Journalism—Moscow's probably most fashionable and hip crowd. Not to mention that Red Square is some 5 minutes away on foot.

Artemy Lebedev’s Café and Store

Artemy Lebedev is Russia's number one Internet persona. He is known mostly for not giving a crap, and sometimes—for being a reasonable designer and owner of Russia's probably most expensive design studio. Lebedev's café is found on Bolshaya Nikitskaya: it is ridiculously small, and reportedly serves the best coffee in town ever—at least, that's what Lebedev says. It's worth giving it a try sometime even if it means standing in line for everything—from drinks to tables.

If you take the stairs to the basement of the café, you will find yourself in Lebedev's designer store. Everything is designed in Russia, made in China, priced by Lebedev.

The whole place is definitely not to be hung around much, but it's worth visiting once. Not once in a while—once.

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