How Greeks conquered the Brussels coffee bubble

Italians take note … and take your time. By ELIZA GKRITSIin Brussels Illustration by Arnau Busquets Guàrdia/POLITICO August 31, 2026 4:00 am CET IN THE QUEUE AT TO MELI, BRUSSELS — It’s the after-lunch coffee rush in the heart of the EU quarter in Brussels and this buzzing café is packed with Eurocrats and lobbyists donning suits in a distinctly limited array of shades of navy blue. I inch closer to the front of the queue. Amid the murmurs of power plays and EU jargon, a familiar intonation rises as I hear the customer in front of me order coffee. “Ena freddo espresso,” she says, “sketo.” Before walking off with her iced sugar-free order, the customer falls into a back-and-forth with the staff. The chitchat has the polite familiarity of old friends bumping into each other while running err