The terrace cafes scattered through the old bazaar and on the slopes below the castle offer what may be the best reason to linger in Gjirokastër: a coffee or cold beer with an unobstructed view of the fortress above and the stone rooftops tumbling down to the valley below. Several cafes have claimed the best vantage points, setting out plastic chairs on terraces or inside restored stone buildings with large windows facing the hill.
The standard order is an Albanian macchiato — a short, intense espresso with a shot of cold milk, drunk quickly — or a kafe turke, Turkish-style coffee served in a small cup with the grounds left in. Beer is cheap and local brands (Tirana, Korça) are reliable. In the evenings, the castle is sometimes lit and the view becomes spectacular; this is when the cafes fill with locals as well as visitors.
There is no single dominant café to recommend over others — the best approach is to walk through the bazaar in the morning and pick the terrace with the view you want. Prices are uniform and low across all of them.