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Nestled between busy Wenceslas Square and Prague’s number one tourist destination, Old Town Square, the House of the Black Madonna houses a small museum of Cubism as well as the only surviving Cubist café in the world – the Grand Café Orient, which was renovated between 2002 and 2005.

Czechs spent some 92 million crowns, or more than 4.7 million US dollars, on fair-trade products in 2011, which is 15 percent more than in the previous year, according to the Czech Association for Fair Trade. Coffee is by far best selling product, accounting for 63 percent of the fair-trade market, up from 40 percent in 2010. The association said the surge was related to the fact that many cafés offer fair-trade coffee. Other popular products in this sector include chocolate, cocoa and sweets, followed by tea and cane sugar.

In today’s Spotlight we take a trip to a hidden gem of a museum in a Prague suburb which traces the often surprising history of coffee. The private Coffee Museum Alchymista takes you through coffee’s history, cultivation, production and industry covering the many different strains and its progress from a devilish concoction to everyday drink.

Tucked away on Řetězová street in Prague’s Old Town, Café Montmartre is one of the city’s oldest coffeehouses. While it looks rather unassuming from the outside, the former cabaret has a fascinating history. Famous writers such as Franz Kafka and Egon Erwin Kisch are said to have spent many a wild night here, and Café Montmartre continues to draw artists, writers and actors. We spoke to its manager, Iva Nesvadbová, about the café’s history, its guests and its upcoming anniversary.

In this week’s business news: Czech banks are getting ready to sign off on what could be the largest-ever club deal, negotiations between Škoda Auto management and unions continue, the Czech Agrarian Chamber’s president has said that egg prices will stabilize, the cost of fuel has hit a record high and the American coffee retailer Starbucks has opened its first Czech branch outside of Prague.

Prague’s wealth of traditional coffeehouses is a legacy from the era of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But even in today’s hectic time, grabbing a quick cup on the run is fortunately not the only option for coffee lovers in the Czech capital. Probably the best-known café in the golden city is Kavárna Slavia, or Café Slavia. We recently visited this traditional coffeehouse.

Nestled between busy Wenceslas Square and Prague’s number one tourist destination, Old Town Square, the House of the Black Madonna houses a small museum of Cubism as well as the only surviving Cubist café in the world – the Grand Café Orient, which was renovated between 2002 and 2005.

In today’s Spotlight we take a trip to a hidden gem of a museum in a Prague suburb which traces the often surprising history of coffee. The private Coffee Museum Alchymista takes you through coffee’s history, cultivation, production and industry covering the many different strains and its progress from a devilish concoction to everyday drink.

The first dog café in the Czech Republic has opened in Plzeň, western Bohemia, the news agency ČTK reported on Sunday. Dog-owners can enjoy refreshments in the café while their pets are being groomed; the establishment features a dog salon, offers consultations with a vet, and sells dog treats, outfits cosmetics, and other things. The owners said they first wanted to open a café, and then thought of additional services. In the two weeks since the café first opened, around half of its customers came to have their dogs groomed, while the rest just stopped in for a coffee.

Café society was a reality in Prague and many other Czech towns and cities during a golden era before the First World War and between the wars. There were hundreds of such cafés with the latest addition often trying to outdo its predecessors in luxury and splendour. This edition of Prague Spotlight centres on one of the most famous of these cafés, the Café Louvre. It is one of the few great cafés which have survived the ravages of time and has been restored to some of its original grandeur.