Last updated on 07/03/2026
A good book, a cup of coffee and a slice of cake: Berlin's reading cafes combine food for the mind and the palate in their own particular way. The Buchkantine in Moabit is a bookshop and a stylish cafe in one, while the taz Kantine on Friedrichstrasse is docked right onto the newsroom and throws in the smell of newsprint for free. At the Cafe Tasso by the Frankfurter Tor, a whole Sunday can be idled away among antiquarian volumes. If you want to combine pretzels and literature, the BrezelBar Leselounge in the Bergmannkiez is the place, and the Cafe BilderBuch in Schoeneberg invites you to feast between the shelves. Everywhere the rule is the same: lingering is expressly encouraged. In which of these cafes would you want to sink away for the whole afternoon?
Ellen Mehrhoff-Roddewig
I do not need silence to read, but rather the soft clink of cups and the smell of old paper. That is why I like to retreat to the Buchkantine in Moabit or the Cafe Tasso by the Frankfurter Tor, where an afternoon quickly turns into evening. For this list I looked for the places where book and cake are allowed to sit side by side as equals.
Bookstore, reading café, and delicatessen all in one: The Buchkantine, located in Moabit on the Spree, combines literature with culinary delights across approximately 400 square meters. Browse books, drink cappuccino, taste champagne - all with a view of the water.
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The taz canteen (formerly taz-Café) on Friedrichstraße is not just named that, but is actually connected to the editorial office of taz.
Spending the whole day with a good book in the café – a Sunday at Frankfurter Tor could hardly be cozier.
The BrezelBar Reading Lounge in the trendy Bergmannkiez offers not only fresh pretzels and lye rolls from its own bakery but also intellectual nourishment!
Feasting and reading are paramount at Café Bilderbuch in Berlin-Schöneberg.
At Hennwack Antiquarian Bookshop in Berlin-Steglitz, books are the focus! Hennwack is Berlin's largest antiquarian bookshop and also offers a small café.
A good book, delicious cookies and coffee – what more do you need for Kreuzberg's "LeseGlück"?
Shakespeare and Sons is a bookstore with an attached café in Berlin-Friedrichshain.
The small literary café on Bornholmer Straße in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg functions as a reading stage, mouthpiece, and creative center for the Berlin publisher periplaneta.
