As the cold season begins in Kyiv, the city’s bars, cafes, and restaurants are closing up their summer terraces and tempting guests inside with a variety of seasonal hot drinks.
City residents are now starting the day with a cup of spicy coffee or herbal tea, and sometimes ending it with a hot alcoholic beverage after work.
The Kyiv Post has picked out the best places to get a warming drink at any time on a cold, winter’s day.
London
This cozy London-themed cafe in Kyiv’s historic Podil district serves various types of tasty coffee. Apart from that, London offers a wide range of other hot drinks, including its house specialty – a herbal drink made with linden-flower, chamomile, or sea buckthorn with rosemary, as well as lots of different types of tea. In addition, the cafe sells hot drinks with alcohol – traditional mulled wine, made from both red and white wine, and Irish coffee. The menu also includes London’s signature drink – the Juicy Strudel – made with rum, apple juice, cranberries, and spices. The cafe sells numerous desserts – cakes, cookies, muffins, – as well as pies with savory fillings, with spinach, cheese, turkey, salmon, ham, and vegetables.
Prices: herbal tea – Hr 55-69, mulled wine – Hr 75, Irish coffee – Hr 89, Juicy Strudel – Hr 79.
London coffee house (18 Verhnii Val St.) Mon-Fr. 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. Sat-Sun. 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. +38068 773 7315
Milk Bar
Milk Bar is a favorite among Kyiv’s young people: They flock here to have breakfast, pick up a dessert, or meet up with friends over a cocktail. The place not only has a diverse food menu but also offers a wide range of drinks. As Milk Bar’s name hints, the venue serves hot milk – flavored with chocolate, lavender, vanilla, and lemongrass. The cafe’s specialty is a drink called “tea without tea” – a hot vitamin drink made of ginger and citrus, sea buckthorn and orange, cranberry or rhubarb, and linden-flower. In addition, the cafe serves Irish coffee and mulled wine. Milk Bar also serves a range of breakfasts (melts, eggs, granola), salads and soups to sate the appetite, as well as lots of tasty desserts with which to pamper oneself.
Prices: Tea without tea – Hr 75, hot milk – Hr 55, Irish coffee – Hr 115, mulled wine – Hr 115.
Milk Bar (16 Shota Rustaveli St.) Mon-Fr. 8 a.m. – 11 p.m. Sat-Sun. 9 a.m. – 11 p.m. +38044 237 0907
Hlintveinia
This spot is located on Bessarabska Square in the center of Kyiv, and as can be guessed from its name, is all about mulled wine. Hlintveinia serves mulled wine made of Ukrainian red and white wine, spiced with star anise, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, carnation, pink pepper, nutmeg, and honey. The white wine version can be made with vanilla, buckthorn or tangerine, while the red one is also available with coffee and chocolate. In addition, Hlintveinia sells tea – with ginger with rosemary, buckthorn with cardamom, and raspberry with star anise. The cafe’s food menu offers breakfasts (croissants, oatmeal, eggs), soups, salads, pasta, the traditional Ukrainian dish banosh, and desserts.
Prices: mulled wine – Hr 55-65, tea – Hr 40
Hlintveinia (2 Bessarabska Sq.) Mon-Thu, Sun. 11 a.m. – 11 p.m. Fri-Sat. 11 a.m. – 1 a.m. +38099 040 7520
The Blue Cup
This cozy coffee shop with comfy sofas and a eye-catching design is a popular place for a cup of coffee, breakfast or lunch, or even just taking some stylish pictures. The Blue Cup offers mulled wine made with red wine, orange peel, and spices. The coffee shop also serves milk punch, which is a mixture of dark rum, milk, nutmeg, vanilla syrup, and spices. In addition, their drink menu includes Irish coffee – either with or without orange peel – and house-specialty tea with masala spice mix, hibiscus-rosemary, plum with currant and sage, and viburnum-rosemary. Apart from that, the Blue Cup also serves breakfasts (eggs, oatmeal, sandwiches), soups, salads, and desserts.
Prices: mulled wine – Hr 79, milk punch – Hr 89, Irish coffee – Hr 109-119, tea – Hr 49-59.
The Blue Cup coffee shop (5 Pushkinska St.) 9 a.m. – 10 p.m. +38050 315 6869
Teplica
Teplica is a restaurant with a rich food menu and reasonable prices. The restaurant serves dishes of various cuisines – appetizers, soups, salads, steaks and even sushi rolls. Apart from that, Teplica makes some unusual hot drinks – caramel brandy, apple Jack and strawberry grog, as well as traditional Irish coffee. In addition, they make hot berry drinks with strawberry and pear or raspberries, and ginger or sea buckthorn tea.
Prices: caramel brandy – Hr 85, apple Jack – Hr 95, strawberry grog – Hr 85, Irish coffee – Hr 95, tea – Hr 58.
Teplica (13 Starovokzalna St.) Mon-Thu, Sun. 11 a.m. – 1 a.m. Fri-Sat. 11 a.m. – 3 a.m. +38044 229 0060
Lubov-Morkov
Another cozy restaurant on Podil, Lubov-Morkov, is famous for serving Belgian waffles with both sweet and savory toppings of various types. But not many people know that the restaurant also makes hot alcoholic drinks – sea buckthorn punch, cider with spices, mulled wine with white and red wine, and Irish coffee. In addition, Lubov-Morkov offers hot chocolate, and cocoa with chili pepper and marshmallow. The restaurant sells breakfasts (eggs, croissants, oatmeal), appetizers (hummus, cheese sticks), meat, salads, soups, and desserts.
Prices: mulled wine – Hr 60-70, cider – Hr 60, sea buckthorn punch – Hr 75, Irish coffee – Hr 80, tea – Hr 45-65.
Lubov-Morkov (23/8 Petra Sahaidachnoho St.) Mon-Fri. 9 a.m. – 11 p.m. Sat-Sun. 10 a.m. – 11 p.m. +38096 013 1333
