Charlottenburg cafés with standout design
Charlottenburg cafés picked for their design, from a gluten-free bakery in a courtyard to SETS and the Literaturhaus, plus three Berlin roaster cafés on our wishlist.
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Charlottenburg, the old center of West Berlin around the Kurfürstendamm, has some of the city’s best-looking cafés within a few streets of each other. Aera is a gluten-free bakery in a planted courtyard, with dark walls and long timber counters inside. SETS is all blush-pink walls, round mirrors and herringbone parquet. The Wintergarten café sits in an 1889 villa with a garden. Callas, the retro bar of the Hollywood Media Hotel, is closed for renovation until later in 2026. The guide ends with the three Berlin roaster cafés at the top of my wishlist, including The Barn on the Kurfürstendamm.
The photos and design notes for Aera, SETS and Callas come from Andrew Chung of Best Cafe Designs, photographed by Niculae Vladimir and published with the first version of this guide in October 2023. I’m Sasha Pavlovich, CoffeeHow’s editor. I haven’t been to Berlin yet, but I very much want to go, so the Wintergarten and the wishlist at the end are researched, not visited. In October 2026 we rechecked every address and opening time on the cafés’ own websites.
Updated October 2026: rewritten as a Charlottenburg design guide. We added the Wintergarten im Literaturhaus and my Berlin wishlist, rechecked every café, marked Callas as closed for renovation and added Aera’s second café in Mitte.
- Aera: a fully gluten-free bakery in a courtyard off Fasanenstraße, where you can watch the bread shaped and baked by hand.
- SETS: a breakfast and brunch café since 2009, with round mirrors, globe chandeliers and herringbone floors.
- Wintergarten im Literaturhaus: a café in an 1889 villa, with a garden in summer and a historic winter garden in the cold months.
- Callas: closed for renovation; the hotel expects to reopen it in 2026 with a new interior.
- On my wishlist: The Barn at Kranzler-Eck, Bonanza’s roastery café in Kreuzberg and Five Elephant in Mitte.
The cafés at a glance
| Café | Where | The design in a line | Picked by | Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aera | Fasanenstraße 74, Charlottenburg | Planted courtyard, dark walls, long timber counters | Andrew Chung | Check Instagram |
| SETS | Schlüterstraße 36, Charlottenburg | Blush walls, round mirrors, herringbone parquet | Andrew Chung | Mon–Fri 8:00–16:00, Sat 9:00–18:00, Sun 9:00–17:00 |
| Wintergarten im Literaturhaus | Fasanenstraße 23, Charlottenburg | An 1889 villa with a garden and a winter garden | Me, researched | Check the café |
| Callas | Kurfürstendamm 202, Charlottenburg | Checkerboard floor, red banquettes, film-star portraits | Andrew Chung | Closed for renovation |
| The Barn, Kranzler-Eck | Kurfürstendamm 21, Charlottenburg | Double-height glass café in raw oak | My wishlist | Mon–Sat 9:00–19:00, Sun 10:00–18:00 |
| Bonanza Roastery | Adalbertstraße 70, Kreuzberg | Bright roastery café in a backyard | My wishlist | Mon–Fri 9:00–18:00, Sat–Sun 10:00–18:00 |
| Five Elephant Mitte | Alte Schönhauser Str. 14, Mitte | White room around a terrazzo and brass counter | My wishlist | Mon–Fri 8:00–18:00, Sat–Sun 9:00–18:00 |
Andrew chose his cafés for their design: the layout, the materials, the light, and how each room connects to the street or courtyard around it. Coffee quality wasn’t a criterion, and the list isn’t ranked. Hours are as published by the cafés, in October 2026.
Aera
Aera is a fully gluten-free bakery. It has been perfecting the same bread recipe since November 2016, using natural sourdough, a long rise and organic ingredients, according to Aera. At its bakery on Fasanenstraße you can watch the loaves being shaped and baked by hand every day.
You reach it through a courtyard set back from the street, with planted beds, timber benches and a tree. Inside, the walls and ceiling are dark, and long timber counters run the length of the room under track lights. A glass wall lets you see straight into the bakery.
Aera’s second café, at Rosenthaler Straße 72 in Mitte, is the better-known room. Gonzalez Haase AAS designed it in 2021 entirely in ultramarine blue, according to ArchDaily. We don’t have photos of it yet.
- Address: Fasanenstraße 74, 10719 Berlin (in the courtyard); second café at Rosenthaler Straße 72, 10119 Berlin
- Food: everything is gluten-free; bread, pastries and grilled cheese
- Hours: not published on Aera’s site; check @aera_bread before you go
- Online: aerabread.com
SETS
SETS has served breakfast and brunch on Schlüterstraße since 2009, according to SETS, and it does catering too. The room is long and narrow, with blush-pink walls, round timber-framed mirrors and globe chandeliers hanging along its length. Herringbone parquet runs from the counter to the back.
At the window end there are white stucco ceilings, a long teal banquette with mustard cushions, and pink velvet armchairs. A neon sign reads “Don’t be like the Rest of them, Darling!”
- Address: Schlüterstraße 36, 10629 Berlin
- Hours: Monday to Friday 8:00 to 16:00, Saturday 9:00 to 18:00, Sunday and holidays 9:00 to 17:00 (as of October 2026, per SETS)
- Food: breakfast, brunch and lunch; tables can be booked
- Online: setsberlin.de
Wintergarten im Literaturhaus
The Literaturhaus Berlin is in a villa on Fasanenstraße, less than 100 meters from the Kurfürstendamm. It was built in 1889 in a late classical style modeled on Italian suburban villas, as a wedding present for Louise and Richard Hildebrandt, according to the Literaturhaus. It has housed the Literaturhaus since 1986.
Its Café-Restaurant Wintergarten calls itself one of Berlin’s most famous cafés, according to the Literaturhaus. It serves breakfast, coffee and cake and hot dishes every day, in the garden in summer and in the historic winter garden when it’s cold. There’s a bookshop, Kohlhaas & Co., in the basement. We don’t have photos of it yet.
- Address: Fasanenstraße 23, 10719 Berlin
- Reservations: +49 30 882 54 14
- Hours: not published by the Literaturhaus; check cafe-im-literaturhaus.de
Callas
Callas is the bar of the Hollywood Media Hotel on the Kurfürstendamm. It’s closed for renovation, and the hotel expects to reopen it in 2026 with a new interior, according to the Hollywood Media Hotel.
When it was photographed in 2023, Callas was a room built around old Hollywood. It had a black-and-white checkerboard floor, red leather banquettes and crystal chandeliers, a mural of Audrey Hepburn and a wall of framed portraits. The new design may look nothing like this.
- Address: Kurfürstendamm 202, 10719 Berlin (Hollywood Media Hotel)
- Status: closed for renovation as of October 2026; reopening expected in 2026
- Online: filmhotel.de
On my Berlin wishlist
I haven’t been to Berlin yet, and I very much want to go. When I do, these three cafés come first. I’ve brewed beans from The Barn and Five Elephant at home and really liked them. Bonanza’s coffee is still on my wishlist. I want to taste all three coffees in their own cafés, made by the people who roast them.
I also love beautiful café spaces, so from each roaster I picked the café with the strongest design. The Barn’s is right on the Kurfürstendamm, a short walk from Aera and the Literaturhaus.
My first taste of Berlin coffee came in Rome, from a bag of Rozali Coffee. I wrote about it in my Rozali Coffee Tabe Burka review.
The Barn at Kranzler-Eck, Charlottenburg
The Barn reopened its Charlottenburg café at Kranzler-Eck in November 2024, after the historic Café Kranzler closed for several years of renovation. It had served there since 2016, according to The Barn. The new café covers more than 100 square meters, with a double-height ceiling and a glass façade that fill it with light. The Barn’s in-house team, led by Andreas Poulakidas, designed it around the brand’s usual raw oak and industrial stools.
- Address: Kurfürstendamm 21, 10719 Berlin
- Hours: Monday to Saturday 9:00 to 19:00, Sunday 10:00 to 18:00 (as of October 2026, per The Barn)
- Online: thebarn.de
Bonanza Roastery Café, Kreuzberg
Bonanza has roasted specialty coffee in Berlin since 2006, according to Bonanza. Its roastery café is in a backyard off Adalbertstraße in Kreuzberg. Wallpaper describes it as a bright, modern space by the Dutch interior and furniture design firm Modiste, with the coffee roasted on a rebuilt 1965 Probat drum roaster (Wallpaper, 2022).
- Address: Adalbertstraße 70, 10999 Berlin
- Hours: Monday to Friday 9:00 to 18:00, Saturday and Sunday 10:00 to 18:00 (as of October 2026, per Bonanza)
- Other cafés: Oderberger Straße 35 and Jägerstraße 58–60 (Bonanza)
Five Elephant Mitte
Five Elephant opened its Mitte café in 2016, its second in Berlin after Kreuzberg. The café was a total rebuild inside a building from around 1900, according to Five Elephant. The room is white, and the centerpiece is a custom beige terrazzo counter with brass inlays and abstract shapes in jewel tones. The coffee is roasted at Five Elephant’s roastery on Glogauer Straße in Kreuzberg, and the bakery is known for its Philadelphia cheesecake (Five Elephant).
- Address: Alte Schönhauser Straße 14, 10119 Berlin
- Hours: Monday to Friday 8:00 to 18:00, Saturday and Sunday 9:00 to 18:00 (as of October 2026, per Five Elephant)
- Also: the original café at Reichenberger Straße 101, Kreuzberg
Charlottenburg cafés FAQ
No. Callas, the bar of the Hollywood Media Hotel at Kurfürstendamm 202, is closed for renovation. The hotel expects to reopen it in 2026 with a new interior.
Yes. Aera is a fully gluten-free bakery, making sourdough bread from organic ingredients. Its cafés are at Fasanenstraße 74 in Charlottenburg and Rosenthaler Straße 72 in Mitte.
At Kranzler-Eck, Kurfürstendamm 21. The Barn reopened there in November 2024 and is open Monday to Saturday 9:00 to 19:00, Sunday 10:00 to 18:00.
SETS on Schlüterstraße serves breakfast and brunch every day, and the Café-Restaurant Wintergarten in the Literaturhaus on Fasanenstraße serves breakfast in a garden or a historic winter garden.
Five Elephant in Mitte, built around a terrazzo and brass counter, Bonanza’s roastery café in Kreuzberg, designed by Modiste, and The Barn at Kranzler-Eck, a double-height glass café on the Kurfürstendamm.
Sources
- Aera: Über uns and store addresses
- ArchDaily: Aera Bakery, Gonzalez Haase Architects
- SETS Berlin (hours, since 2009)
- Literaturhaus Berlin: Café/Buchhandlung and Geschichte
- Hollywood Media Hotel (Callas closed for renovation)
- The Barn: Kranzler-Eck
- Bonanza Coffee Roasters and Where to find
- Wallpaper: Bonanza Roastery Cafe (2022)
- Five Elephant Mitte and Five Elephant Kreuzberg
- Best Cafe Designs: Andrew Chung’s picks; photos by Niculae Vladimir
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