The aroma that you can smell on the street is not deceiving. At number 2 Rua de Marques Gomes, right in the center of Aveiro – next to the Church of Vera Cruz -, there is always freshly brewed coffee. Even better: freshly roasted coffee. Opened last summer, Bastardo Coffee Shop is proud to be one of the few, nationwide, that roasts its own coffee (a process that transforms raw coffee into dry beans). And there in full view of the clientele, as the machine fits into the decoration of the space.
Luís Santiago is the man behind Bastardo. An unconditional fan of coffee, Luís was carried away by the “trend of urban markets to return to the traditional” and decided to start roasting coffee. “Until the end of the 70s, we had a great tradition of roasting. In 1975, there were 550 roasters registered in the country. There were two in Aveiro alone,” he says, in conversation with Aveiro Mag.
It was in 2010 that Luís Santiago began his connection with coffee. Firstly, in the Coimbra area, with “a small roasting plant”. In 2023, it established itself in the city of Ria, where it already had most of its customers. “And also because I like the air, it’s a progressive land,” he says.
