A 24-hour self-service laundry downstairs and a balcony café upstairs on Rua das Gameleiras, Pipa. Brunch from 8am to 4pm, with vegan options.
Caju solves two things at once, which is why it belongs in any long stay in Pipa: downstairs there is a self-service laundry open twenty-four hours, and upstairs there is a café with a wooden balcony where breakfast runs into lunch and on into mid-afternoon. The sign at the door says it in the house's own words: laundry and mate house. You put a load on, you go up, you order a coffee, and by the time you come back down it is done.
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| Type | Café and brunch · self-service laundry |
|---|---|
| Area | Rua das Gameleiras, centre of Praia da Pipa |
| Address | R. das Gameleiras, 25 — Praia da Pipa, Tibau do Sul (RN) |
| Laundry | Open 24 hours, self-service |
| Kitchen | Monday to Thursday 8am–noon and 12:40–4pm · Friday and Saturday 8am–4pm · Sunday 8am–2pm |
| Seating | Wooden balcony upstairs and tables downstairs, both open air |
| Service | Dine in, with table service |
| On the menu | Brunch · coffee · toasts · bakery · desserts · wine |
| Diets | Vegan and vegetarian options stated |
| For working | Stated as a good place to sit with a laptop |
| Bathroom | Gender-neutral |
| Payment | Debit card · contactless from your phone |
| @cajudapipa |
The ground floor is a self-service laundry: a row of washers and dryers against an exposed brick wall, a patterned cement-tile floor, two wicker baskets and a wooden bench to wait on. The machines carry their instructions on the front and the room is open twenty-four hours, so washing does not depend on the kitchen's hours.
Upstairs is the café. A spiral staircase leads to a wooden balcony with a railing, woven fibre lamps hanging from the eaves and round tables for two. Downstairs there are tables too, on the tiles and under the plants. The house states table service, so you order at the table rather than at the counter.
That crossover is Caju's whole angle, and it is worth using exactly as it comes: if you are in Pipa for weeks, laundry day stops being an errand and becomes the morning you have a slow breakfast. It is also the practical answer to something that happens on every long beach trip, once half the bag is full of sand and salt water.
The house states brunch, and the menu its own photographs show is exactly that: not a quick breakfast and not a full lunch, but the format in between, the one you can stretch.
On the savoury side there is a shakshuka served in a metal pan, with tomato sauce, eggs and basil, alongside thick slices of toasted sourdough; an avocado toast with shredded carne seca and egg; a toast of pulled beef with pickled red onion; a caprese toast with confit tomato and leaves; and an omelette filled with carne seca and cheese.
On the sweet side there are croissants, one with almonds and icing sugar and one filled; half a papaya served as a bowl with granola, strawberries, kiwi and blueberries; banana bread with chocolate; pistachio, berry and chocolate cookies; brownie; and a whole chocolate cake in the counter display.
The house also states vegan options and vegetarian options, small plates and quick bites, which in practice means you can come in for one thing and leave, or settle in with the table full.
Coffee is stated by the house and it is what repeats most across its photographs: cappuccino with latte art, a turmeric latte in deep yellow, a green matcha, iced coffee with milk in a tall glass and a cold chocolate with cream. There is also orange juice with lime, a red berry drink with foam, and the house states wine.
It is the kind of list that explains the other stated attribute: that this is a good place to work with a laptop. Between the balcony, the coffee and the long morning hours, it is one of the tables where you can sit for a while without anyone hurrying you along.
The house describes itself as casual and quiet. The front is mint green, two storeys, with roof tiles along the eaves and the fibre lamps hanging from the balcony. Inside, the floor is blue and white cement tile, the walls mix exposed brick with olive green, and the furniture is pale wood.
The counter display is part of the room: it sits in the middle of the space with the day's baking on view, and it is where the order usually gets decided before anyone sits down. Behind it are the coffee machine and the glasses lined up on a wooden shelf.
Two stated attributes are worth knowing: there is a gender-neutral bathroom and the house presents itself as a safe space for transgender people. It also states that it is good for eating alone, which in a brunch café is no small detail.
The kitchen opens at 8am every day. Monday to Thursday it serves until noon and comes back from 12:40 to 4pm; Friday and Saturday it runs straight through from 8am to 4pm; Sunday it closes at 2pm. The laundry, on the other hand, is always open.
The hour that suits it best is the morning, before you head down to the beach: you leave the load in the machine, have breakfast upstairs and get on with the day having dealt with it. The other good window is mid-afternoon on a Friday or Saturday, when the kitchen is still open until four and the centre is still quiet.
It is self-service: the machines stand in plain sight on the ground floor, with the instructions printed on the front of each one, and washers and dryers are separate. The wooden bench and the baskets are there for the obvious thing, which is waiting, but the point of this place is precisely that you do not have to: you start the cycle and you go upstairs.
The room being open twenty-four hours changes how the day gets organised. You can wash at night, after the beach, or early, before the kitchen opens. And since the house states neither delivery nor collection, you drop the load off and pick it up yourself: it pays to time the cycle and come back, or to stay upstairs over breakfast while it runs.
It is at Rua das Gameleiras 25, half a block from the centre of Praia da Pipa, in the stretch of stone streets where the shops are. You can walk there from almost any place to stay in the village.
If you are coming up from Praia da Pipa, it sits on the way into the centre, so it falls naturally on the walk back from the water. If you are arriving from Natal, from the airport or from another beach along the coast, look at the transfer options for the long stretch and then get around on foot.
For the long stay: anyone renting by the week who needs to do laundry without hiring a service or losing half a day.
For anyone who takes breakfast seriously and wants a calm table in the morning, with machine coffee and sourdough, before the beach day starts.
And for anyone working while travelling who needs somewhere to sit with a laptop for a couple of hours without feeling they are passing through.
No. The laundry is self-service and open twenty-four hours; the kitchen opens at 8am and closes at 4pm Monday to Saturday, and at 2pm on Sunday.
Until 4pm Monday to Saturday, and until 2pm on Sunday. Monday to Thursday there is a break between noon and 12:40.
Yes: the house states vegan options and vegetarian ones too.
You can, and the house states it as one of its uses.
The house states dine-in service with waiters. It does not state delivery.
Yes, by debit card and contactless from your phone.
Yes: a wooden balcony upstairs and tables on the ground floor, both open air.
The listing publishes no phone number. The direct channel is the house's Instagram, @cajudapipa.
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