Almaty LocalTip

Julius Specialty Coffee

Center · Kabanbai Batyr St 83, Almaty

8–97 visits · last Sep 2026

A prime corner, one of the best terraces in the city, and pastries they make themselves.

Outside Julius Specialty Coffee
Outside Julius Specialty Coffee
Espresso at Julius on Nazarbayev, beside the bean card for Costa Rica La Pastora from Tarrazu
Espresso at Julius on Nazarbayev, beside the bean card for Costa Rica La Pastora from Tarrazu
The street terrace at Julius in the evening, under a large parasol
The street terrace at Julius in the evening, under a large parasol
A breakfast plate at Julius: potato rosti, ham, scrambled eggs with peas, avocado and spinach
A breakfast plate at Julius: potato rosti, ham, scrambled eggs with peas, avocado and spinach
An espresso at Julius on Kabanbai Batyr, in a white cup on a steel tray, on a wooden table by the window with the terrace parasols outside
An espresso at Julius on Kabanbai Batyr, in a white cup on a steel tray, on a wooden table by the window with the terrace parasols outside
The street terrace at Julius in autumn: a wide dark-red parasol over terracotta tables and stools, a cup of coffee and a glass of water on the table in the foreground, and the yellowing avenue trees beyond
The street terrace at Julius in autumn: a wide dark-red parasol over terracotta tables and stools, a cup of coffee and a glass of water on the table in the foreground, and the yellowing avenue trees beyond
A finished espresso at Julius on Kabanbai Batyr: the white cup with crema traces stands on a steel tray beside a paper napkin and spoon, with a glass of water and a pair of tortoiseshell sunglasses on the wooden table
A finished espresso at Julius on Kabanbai Batyr: the white cup with crema traces stands on a steel tray beside a paper napkin and spoon, with a glass of water and a pair of tortoiseshell sunglasses on the wooden table

For a while I worked around the corner from here and came in every day. Julius was one of the first places in Almaty to take design seriously, and the room still holds up — but the coffee was never an afterthought to that. The options are solid, they run microlots, and the pastries are their own.

The terrace is one of the best in the city, and it sits in about the most lucrative spot a cafe in Almaty can have.

They have since opened a second, larger room at the Samal mall, up at Nazarbayev 226. For a while the two sat level at 8 apiece — the July espresso in the log was pulled at Samal, the one on 22 August on Kabanbai Batyr.

Then Kabanbai Batyr pulled a 9. That is the first time this counter has reached the top band of my scale, and it is six days after the same counter gave me an 8, which is the honest reason the log below shows every visit rather than an average. The next morning the same counter was back to an 8. One cup is a good morning. Two would be a verdict. Go to whichever room is nearer and expect an 8; the 9 says how high the ceiling is here, not what you are owed.

Three weeks later the same counter came in at 8.5. Four scored cups on Kabanbai Batyr now read 8, 9, 8, 8.5, which is about the shape I would expect from a place whose good mornings are genuinely good and whose ordinary ones are still better than most of the city. The advice does not change: expect an 8, and count anything above it as the morning going your way.

The card that came with the Nazarbayev shot names the farm, the varietals and the altitude: Costa Rica La Pastora, catuai and caturra, fully washed, grown between 1,500 and 1,800 metres in Tarrazu. That is what the microlots line in the table below looks like in practice.

The facts

Own roaster
No
Microlots
Yes
Espresso, all in
1,650 ₸ · ≈$3.50
Map
Google Maps

My visits

  1. 20 Sep 20268.5espresso — on Kabanbai Batyr
  2. 29 Aug 20268espresso — on Kabanbai Batyr
  3. 28 Aug 20269espresso — on Kabanbai Batyr
  4. 22 Aug 20268espresso
  5. 26 Jul 20268espresso — at the Nazarbayev branch
  6. 12 Jul 2026espresso
  7. 25 May 2026visited
  8. 3 May 2026breakfast

Nearby

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