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Pamplona evokes the beatnik cafés of the 50s. Smokers sit outside on the sidewalk terrace while tobacco-free hipsters favor the low-ceilinged basement room. There’s a Basque influence to the menu and the coffee is as dense and dark as a Baudelaire poem.

The jukebox at the largest of North End’s Italian cafés has nearly every song ever recorded by Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and Al Martino. The menu is long on short coffees and short drinks, including at least seven varieties of grappa, as well as a fair selection of Italian ices.

Diesel is the quintessential Davis Square gathering spot where the tragically hip rub shoulders with lesbian couples and scruffy Tufts students. The spacious café has old-fashioned booths, couches, and a pair of pool tables out back. The coffee menu includes a double-caffeine “High Octane” brew plus teas and tisanes.

Bibliophiles make pilgrimages to this fine bookstore. The in-store café and bar serves light and casual meals ranging from breakfast eggs to lunch wraps as well as dinner dishes like lasagna.

Although continental breakfast is served, the scene doesn’t really kick in until lunch time. By dusk, Sonsie is full of folks who just stopped in for a post-work drink and ended up making an evening of it. The food – pizza, pasta and fusion-tinged entrées – deserves more attention than most café-goers give it.

Multiple-pierced and bodyart- beautiful Berklee music students and healthobsessive Boston University waifs hold down the stools and tables of this coffeehouse-cum-smoothie shack on the “wrong” side of Massachusetts Avenue. Edge without danger is part of the draw, and the espresso sports a perfect crema.

The 1369 Coffee House is as community-based as Starbucks is corporate. The original Inman Square branch has a more interesting cross section of ages and ethnicities but Central Square has sidewalk seating. Both branches serve mostly caffeine drinks and sweets – with sandwiches at lunch.

The best-dressed, most buff South Enders patronize this gem of a café for tasty dishes like duck pâté with bits of pistachio and orange or classic French onion soup. Prepare to wait in line at lunch time for the sandwiches or stop by mid-afternoon to savor a large molasses cookie with a cappuccino.

Located next to an art gallery in the central atrium of an artists’ studio building, Café 300 is a magnet for architects and artists. They come for the laid-back vibe, pasta of the day, and tasty sandwich combos like grilled eggplant, tomato, basil, and mozzarella.

During warm weather, the tables outside Parish Café offer a terrific view of the lower Back Bay street scene. Parish has some of the most creative sandwiches in the city – designed by chefs of Boston’s top restaurants. Comfort food dishes (meatloaf with mashed potatoes, fishcakes with Pommery mustard) are also excellent.