A Belo Horizonte Coffee School Reopens Today, Three Times Bigger
Belo Horizonte · FOOD & DRINK
Key Facts
- Academia do Café now at Rua Grão Pará 1010, Funcionários, Belo Horizonte.
- Opens Tuesday 18 August 2026, in a house three times larger.
- Hours every day, 9am to 6pm.
- Coffee espresso from R$9.50, about US$1.83.
- Food house-made toasts and pastries, R$16 to R$32, roughly US$3 to US$6.
- Also on site a coffee counter, a roastery and an experience room.
The café and coffee school has moved into a house three times the size of the old one, on the same street. The menu changed with the address.
Academia do Café reopens on Tuesday 18 August at Rua Grão Pará 1010, in the Funcionários district of Belo Horizonte. The new house is three times the size of the old one.
What Academia do Café has become
The move is a few doors along the same street, but the difference is scale. The new house is three times the size of the one it replaces.
It now works as four things at once: a café, a coffee school, a roastery and a room built for tastings. The owners describe the extra space as the point of the move.
A dedicated counter has been given over to coffee preparation, which is what the school teaches.
Academia do Café has not gone far. The old address was on the same street, which keeps the regulars it built there.
The new menu
The drinks list has widened. A simple espresso is R$9.50, about US$1.83 at the rate of R$5.2012 to the dollar quoted on 17 August.
An italian cappuccino is R$15, a shakerato R$18, the house mocha R$26 and an orange brew with strawberry R$28. That last pair sit around US$5.
The kitchen is new. Toasts on naturally leavened bread come with mushrooms and spices at R$28, roasted peppers at R$32 or creamed chicken at R$32.
A grilled brioche cheese sandwich is R$28. A ham and cheese roll in potato-bread dough is R$16, and a creamy corn broa the same.
Everything on the food side is now made in house. That is the substantive change, more than the address.
For the sweet end
A chocolate and cashew brownie is R$18, a cheese and guava tart R$24, and cream doughnuts R$10, which is under US$2.
Guava and cheese together is the Brazilian pairing known as Romeu e Julieta. It is a Minas Gerais staple rather than an invention of the house.
Prices sit where a good independent café in Brazil sits. Nothing on the list breaks US$7.
Where it is, and when to go
Funcionários is a central district of Belo Horizonte, next to Savassi and walkable from most of the city-centre hotels.
The café opens seven days a week, from 9am to 6pm. That is a daytime business rather than an evening one.
It is a short walk from the Praça da Liberdade museums. That makes it a plausible stop rather than a detour.
What a café and school does differently
Most cafés sell you a coffee. This one also teaches you to make it, in a room built for the purpose.
For a foreign resident, that is the practical difference. The counter staff expect questions about method, and answer them.
Why a coffee school matters here
Minas Gerais grows more coffee than any other Brazilian state. A large share of what the country exports comes from its hills.
A school attached to a café in the state capital is closer to the source than almost any equivalent elsewhere. The courses are part of the business, not a sideline.
Academia do Café sells the roast as well as the cup. The roastery is part of the new building.
The courses were the reason for the bigger house, so a schedule is likely to follow shortly.
What has not been announced
Course dates and prices for the school have not been published alongside the reopening.
The full previous address has not been given either, beyond the fact that the old site was on the same street.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Academia do Café now?
At Rua Grão Pará 1010, in the Funcionários district of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. The new house is three times the size of the previous one on the same street.
When does it open?
The new site opens on Tuesday 18 August 2026, and trades every day from 9am to 6pm.
What does coffee cost there?
A simple espresso is R$9.50, about US$1.83. A cappuccino is R$15, a shakerato R$18 and the house mocha R$26, which is around US$5.
Is there food as well as coffee?
Yes. The kitchen makes toasts on naturally leavened bread from R$28 to R$32. Pastries and cakes start at R$10.
Sources
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