Zagreb runs on coffee. The Saturday-morning ritual called špica — getting dressed up to parade through the centre with a coffee and stop at three or four cafés — is the city's defining social practice. A coffee in Zagreb is rarely a 15-minute pit stop; it is a way of holding a table for two hours of conversation. Locals will keep ordering as a tax on the space.
The café strips are around Bogovićeva and Petar Preradović Square in the Lower Town, and along Tkalčićeva and Radićeva in the Upper Town. Bars get going later — most of the city drinks coffee until 7pm and then switches to wine or rakija. The craft beer scene is small but growing.