Specialty coffee in the Czech Republic tends to cluster where the tourists and students already are, the historic center, the inner neighborhoods with the foot traffic. Take5 ignores that logic entirely. It's tucked into Židenice, a residential district in Brno, run as a genuine family operation: Honza on the espresso machine, Vendulka commanding the pastry kitchen. It's not a roastery. It's just two people who care enough about the craft to do it properly, sourcing beans from local heavyweights like Fiftybeans and international guest roasters like Dublin's 3FE.

The drinks were consistently solid and well made. The cappuccino was perfect, the cortado was well executed, and Allen genuinely loved his. The beans in rotation that day were above average without being the kind that stick in memory, which is a fair trade when the execution is this dialed in.

The real reason to go is Vendulka's pastry program, and it's not close. The kolaches may have been the best we had anywhere in the country, and the sandwiches held their own alongside a rotation of Czech classics I couldn't pronounce but happily kept eating. She's known locally for everything from custard tarts and doughnuts to double-cream profiteroles and elevated takes on the traditional open-faced chlebíčky, and the reputation is deserved.