You know the feeling. It is just past nine, the Nordkette still has that cold blue light on it, and what you want more than anything is a table, a good cup, and nobody rushing you.

Innsbruck is small enough that you could walk between all ten of these places in a single afternoon, and stubborn enough that every one of them does coffee its own way. Some roast their own beans. One is really a tea house. One lives inside a training centre. What they have in common is that somebody behind the counter actually cares how your cup turns out.

Here is where to go, and when.

KAFFEEGESELLSCHAFT

Where the Regulars Sit

When you walk past this one on Leopoldstraße, you will want to go in before you know anything about it. The light is warm and low, the interior is more living room than café, and the windows fog up in the best possible way in winter.

What gives it away as a locals' place is what happens at the tables. Regulars come in, spot other regulars they did not plan to meet, and stay another hour. It is the kind of café people start calling "ours" after three visits.

Order the affogato with pistachio when you want the thing people talk about afterwards, or the tiramisu latte when you feel like dessert disguised as coffee. The sandwiches are better than they need to be.

Leopoldstraße 19. Tuesday to Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday.

MIDORI TEEHAUS

For the Days When Coffee Is Not It

Some mornings your body says no to espresso and you need somewhere that takes the alternative seriously. Midori does. This is a proper tea house, quiet and small, where the matcha is whisked with attention rather than dumped into milk.

The room is tiny, which is part of the charm and also the warning: when you come with four friends on a Saturday, you may be standing. Come alone or as a pair, take the window seat, and let it be slow.

The matcha runs smooth rather than sharply bitter, so when you like your tea grassy and intense, say so when you order. The strawberry version is the one everybody photographs.

Bürgerstraße 15. Open daily except Monday, and yes, that includes Sunday.

FELICE COFFEE & WINE

Espresso in the Morning, Wine After Dark

There is something reassuring about a place that stays open long enough to see your whole day through. Felice opens at half seven for the people who need coffee before anything else, and on Thursday, Friday and Saturday it is still going at midnight with a glass of wine in front of you.

The croissants come out of the oven during the morning, and when you time it right, the apricot one is still warm. The owner is the kind of host who remembers what you drank last time. The dog helps.

This is the spot for the working morning that turns into an aperitivo without anybody deciding it should.

Universitätsstraße 33. Open every day, Sundays until late afternoon.

CCB CAFÉ

The Terrace Nobody Tells You About

You would walk straight past this one, because it sits on the university campus at Innrain and looks like it belongs to somebody else. It does not. Anyone can go in, and in summer that is worth knowing.

In the afternoon the outdoor bar opens and there are sun loungers with a full view of the Nordkette. For the price of a coffee you get one of the better seats in the city, without a single tour group in sight.

Coffee and pastries from eight, proper food from eleven: bowls, tarte flambée, an aperitivo when the day is going that way. Plenty of power sockets, so when you need to actually get something done, this works.

Innrain 80/82. Monday to Friday only, closed at the weekend.

THE COOKIE CLUB

When You Came for the Cookie and Stayed for the Matcha

The cookies are the reason you go in and the coffee is the reason you sit down. They are baked fresh every day, thick and soft in the middle, and the flavours are named after cities: Vienna, Tokyo, Paris, Buenos Aires.

Be honest with yourself about the timing. On a Sunday afternoon in the middle of Maria-Theresien-Straße you will not get a table. Come on a weekday morning instead, or take the box and eat it on a bench with the mountains in front of you.

Maria-Theresien-Straße 38, with further locations in the city. Open seven days a week.

KARAFFU

The Pistachio Cake You Will Think About Later

Karaffu brought a bit of big-city energy to Leopoldstraße and never made a fuss about it. It is self-service, which sounds unromantic until you realise it means you can settle in downstairs with your laptop and nobody will hover.

The pistachio cake is the signature, the strawberry matcha is the one that ends up on everyone's story, and the vegan cakes are not an afterthought. In summer, the iced cold brew does what it is supposed to do.

There is a second layer to it too: a share of the profits goes to educational projects in Zanzibar. Your afternoon cake is doing something.

Leopoldstraße 9. Open daily, Sundays included.

BASEFIVE

Coffee Inside a Training Centre

This is the entry on the list that surprises people. BASEFIVE is a training and physio centre on Universitätsstraße, and the coffee bar sits right in the middle of it, open to anyone who walks in.

The atmosphere is completely different from every other place here. Nobody is whispering. People come off the gym floor, sit down still warm from training, and the conversations are loud and friendly. When you have ever felt like the only person in a café who is not on a laptop, you will like it.

It also opens at six in the morning on some days, which no ordinary café in this city does.

Universitätsstraße 5. Early on weekdays, short hours on Sunday afternoon.

COFFEEKULT KAFFEERÖSTEREI

Where the Beans Actually Get Roasted

When you want to understand what Innsbruck coffee tastes like at the source, go to Tschamlerstraße. This is the roastery, and the smell hits you before the door closes behind you.

The roasts run light, which in Austria is still something of a statement. Ask what came off the drum this week and you will get an answer with actual detail in it. They sell Aeropress filters and brewing gear, so when your home setup needs something, this is the stop.

Two practical things: bring cash, and note the short weekday hours. There is also a bean vending machine outside that runs around the clock, for the Sunday evening when you open the cupboard and find nothing.

Tschamlerstraße 10. Weekdays, mornings into the early afternoon.

BRENNPUNKT COFFEE COMPETENCE

Under the Viaduct Arches

The Viaduktbögen have slowly become one of the best stretches in Innsbruck, and Brennpunkt is the reason a lot of people go there before dark. Vaulted brick ceiling, roastery at the back, pastries made in house.

This is the most technical cup on the list. The espresso is pulled to be balanced rather than punchy, the milk foam is done properly, and the machines behind the counter are the sort people photograph.

It sits at the higher end price-wise, so know that going in. When you care about extraction, you will not mind.

Viaduktbögen 46/48. Monday to Saturday, closed on Sunday.

AND WHEN IT IS SUNDAY

Sunday is the day this city quietly closes, so keep this shortlist somewhere you can find it: Unbound from early morning, Karaffu, Midori, The Cookie Club, and Felice until late afternoon. Kaffeegesellschaft, CCB, coffeekult and Brennpunkt all stay shut.

Opening hours in Innsbruck shift with the season, so a quick look at Instagram before you set off saves you a walk.

Follow @innsbruck_insights for more spots like these.