Coffee or Rakomelo at the Kafeneia of Chora

There is a moment in Chora, on Anafi, when time, quite literally, slows its pace. You sit at a small table on the cobbled lanes, the cup steaming in front of you, and the only sounds are a conversation from the next table and, further off, the wind passing between the white houses. Here, at the southeastern edge of the Cyclades, coffee and rakomelo are not simply drinks; they are the ritual that initiates you into the island’s true pulse.

The kafeneio as a Cycladic institution

On every island of the Aegean, the kafeneio is something more than a place to eat and drink. It is the village’s living room, the point where generations meet, where the day’s news is exchanged, and where the visitor becomes, if only briefly, a member of a small community. In Chora, on Anafi, where the population is measured in a few hundred residents, this sense of intimacy is even more pronounced. You sit beside fishermen, farmers, and travelers who fell in love with the island years ago and never truly left.

Morning coffee and the island’s quiet

Mornings in Anafi have a particular clarity. Greek coffee, served in a small cup with a glass of cold water, becomes the excuse to stand still for a moment. Its aroma mingles with the scent of the sea and the thyme drifting down from the surrounding hills. From many points in Chora, built near the ancient Kastelli, the gaze travels freely all the way to the Cretan Sea, where, according to myth, Apollo made the island “appear” from the waves to save the Argonauts from a terrible storm.

Rakomelo and the warmth of dusk

As the day advances and the light softens, tradition changes tempo. Rakomelo -raki warmed with honey and spices such as cinnamon or clove- is a custom deeply rooted in the Cyclades, ideal for the cool evenings that follow the scorching summer day. Its sweet, warm taste heats the stomach and loosens the tongue; it is no coincidence that the most human conversations unfold around a glass of rakomelo, the stories of travelers who left a life behind to live here, if only for a summer.

A view of Kalamos, a view of eternity

No drink in Anafi is served without a landscape as accompaniment. From the kafeneia of Chora, the gaze often settles on the imposing Kalamos, one of the tallest monolithic rocks in the Mediterranean, crowned by the monastery of Panagia Kalamiotissa. This view, framed by whitewashed walls and pots of basil, functions almost like meditation. You need not speak; it is enough to watch the light shift over stone and water.

In Anafi you do not simply drink a coffee. You take a breath from time itself.Old local saying

A custom that unites locals and travelers

What truly sets the kafeneia of Chora apart is not only the taste of the coffee or the warmth of the rakomelo, but the way they bring together people of different paths. A local fisherman, a family visiting the island for the first time, a solitary traveler with a book in hand; all share the same table under the same sky. It is this simplicity, unhurried and unpretentious, that brings visitors back to Anafi again and again.

As you rise from the table, the taste of coffee or rakomelo still lingering on your lips, you realize that what you have just experienced was not merely a pause. It was a small, precious lesson in the art of slow, true living -one that only an island like Anafi can teach.