What Life According to Kawa is known for

Opened in 2016 near Dubrovnik's Ploce Gate, Kawa pairs Croatian-made fashion, jewellery and homewares with Cogito specialty coffee and an international grocery corner. A co-working area and a partnership with The Byron Dubrovnik round out the concept store.

Life According to Kawa opened in 2016 in a converted garage just outside Dubrovnik's Ploce Gate, within walking distance of the Old Town, built around Croatian-made fashion, jewelry, homewares, wine and craft beer rather than the souvenir-shop staples typical of the area. A dedicated section, branded '8th Kontinent Trading Co.', stocks groceries from China, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East — spices, instant noodles, sauces and other specialty ingredients not otherwise easy to find in the city.

Coffee comes from Cogito, which Kawa describes as Croatia's top specialty roaster, served to-go alongside a co-working seating area with views over the town — a layout that positions the shop as somewhere to linger and work, not just browse and buy. The business also partners with The Byron Dubrovnik, a UNESCO heritage building with seven modern rooms, extending the concept-store model into short-stay accommodation.

The shop supports Nelly's Trust, a cat welfare organization, and takes recipe submissions directly from customers by email — small details consistent with a business built on local, specific relationships rather than a franchised or generic retail format. For visitors, the combination of Croatian design retail, third-wave coffee and an international grocery corner under one converted-garage roof is unusual enough on its own to be a reason to visit, independent of any single product category.