The purrfect cup of coffee? Inside Madrid’s cat café By Bárbara Sánchez Ramos

A cup of coffee at La Gatoteca costs €4 – not cheap, but then you also have to consider your drink comes with your own cat to stroke for the next half hour or so. The first, and so far only, cat café in the Spanish capital – next door to the Reina Sofía art museum on Argumosa street – opened its doors a year ago, providing an imaginative solution as to how to bring abandoned cats in touch with potential adoptive families. On EL PAÍS's visit the two-floor space is occupied by 14 felines, who seem to have made themselves at home and, when not curled up asleep, make their way between the tables, perhaps in the hope of persuading one of the customers to take them home. Over the last year, Aznar says she has been able to place 24 felines. La Gatoteca owner Eva Aznar says she got the idea from Japan, where there are around 200 cat cafés. EL PAÍS English