It’s challenging not to grab a cup of coffee in the morning, especially an excellent roast. Nothing else compares to this aroma and flavour. It kick-starts your brain, and makes you come back for more. What’s the secret behind perfect coffee? Can you have a cup of perfection at home? And what are the best coffee roasteries in the Tri-City?
Perfect coffee – what exactly is it? Everyone has their own preference when it comes to flavour. Some will choose a more citrusy variety, others will go with nutty flavours. Regardless, great coffee should give us pleasure. If it has a story to tell, and it stimulates your senses, then you’ve got yourself a perfect cup of coffee.
“Conscious coffee drinking requires top-quality beans. Freshly roasted coffee is incomparably better than one shelved for countless months in stores, which makes it lose its smell, flavour, and the ‘wow’ factor,” said Jagoda WItkowska, roaster at Mitte Coffee Roastery in Gdańsk.
What exactly is coffee roasting? First, coffee beans are gathered at plantations, and then, in raw form, are transported to a roastery, where they are processed in a special furnace. Freshly gathered beans do not have the kind of aroma we’re all used to, they acquire it during roasting. This is why it’s so important for an experienced roaster to oversee the entire process, as they are able to take out what’s best in these beans. Are there any roasteries in the Tri-City that are worth checking out? Here’s our subjective list.
Mitte Cafe – a small coffee roastery in Gdańsk
There is a small roastery in the heart of Gdańsk, one that hides great secrets. Its owner, Marcin Potkański, has gone a long way from his own advertising company, through taking a journey into himself at an Indonesian coffee plantation, to finally get to the point he is currently in – as an owner of a small roastery. Mitte Café is a place where you can eat delicious sandwiches, drink excellent coffee, and buy “take-away” beans. However, before Mitte coffee gets poured into your cup, it has to go a long way, which starts at a plantation, like the one in Indonesia.
“Everything starts at a plantation, the “birthplace” of any coffee. Unlike commercial roasteries, we import high-quality coffee that was carefully selected by farmers. They are the ones that make sure that only defect-free, uncontaminated beans make it to the final product. Because we are a small roastery, we roast coffee in smaller quantities, which lets us each time completely dedicate ourselves to the process. Specialty-quality coffee is rich in flavour and this is what we’re striving to achieve from roasting,” said Jagoda Witkowska, roaster at Mitte Café in Gdańsk.
Cafe Ina – when dreams come true
A small company that dreams big. That’s how the owners of Café Ina describe their business. There’s a lot to it – Café Ina has turned from a small business into a thriving coffee roastery that supplies with aromatic beans to many restaurants and hotels all across Poland. Despite rapid development, coffee is still being roasted by the roast master in a traditional drum roaster and packed in the spirit of “zero waste”. Café Ina offers beans from across the globe, including: Angola, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, and Mexico, as well as low-acidity coffee from Nicaragua, with hints of chocolate and caramel. Every coffee geek will find something for themselves.
“The difference between craft coffee and commercial one is mainly the dedication of staff involved in the production process, as well as the fact that quality is more important than quantity (i.e. time required to manufacture the product). In case of large, commercial enterprises, the human factor is reduced to an absolute minimum, and the entire production process is fast and in bulk. There’s no place for individual approach, which is so important in case of small roasteries. Small and medium coffee manufacturers attach particular importance to high quality of green coffee beans, as well as ensure that the entire roasting process, storage, and packaging are optimal. Buying coffee from a small roastery we have a guarantee of fresh product. We also have influence over the degree of roast and grind size,” explained Magdalena Kiełpińska, responsible for marketing at Café Ina.
Nieczapla Coffee Roasters – mission: great coffee
Experience the district of Wrzeszcz (Gdańsk Wrzeszcz) and the famous Wajdeloty street. Here, you will find several excellent venues that serve delicious food, but not only. Right next to the herbalist’s shop at the roundabout, there is a small coffee roastery, whose aroma can be smelled even before entering the premises. No surprise here, after all a diagnostic team of two develop perfect solutions using all of the senses.
“Crossing the threshold of a local roastery, you can be certain that there are freshly roasted beans waiting for you. No lingering bitterness, no added aromas – all selected by a trail of numerous sensory tests. The flavour and aroma palettes? Everything from floral and fruity notes, through chocolate, nutty and sweet characteristics. Everything’s up to your preference, the rest is in our hands,” said Patryk Szczypior, owner of Nieczapla Coffee Roasters.
Minimalistically designed labels are a front for rich aroma and flavour. Nieczapla offers, among others, coffee with pronounced apple, cranberry, and raspberry notes, as well as peach and jasmine variety.
Flemming Cafe – a coffee roastery in Gdańsk
Flemming Café is yet another example of a conscious, dedicated roastery. Its history began in 2008, from a small, drum roaster installed in a small room in the heart of Gdańsk. Today, Flemming Café is located on the fringes of the Oliwski Park, and is the embodiment of all the best coffee has to offer.
“We like to think of coffee as a dialogue. As a coffee roastery, we are engaged in a sort of a triad – we translate the language of coffee into the needs of our clients. Raw beans hide an entire history: from the dedication of the planter who takes care of the coffee plant, through gathering and processing methods, to transport. Our experience allows us to select high-quality green beans and adjust the degree of roasting, which in turn helps to emphasize the characteristics of the final product in the best possible way,” said Mateuszy Szymański, owner of the roastery.
Flemming offers, among others, the “Oliwska” coffee with dark chocolate aftertaste, hints of nuts and cocoa, topped with sweetness of honey. Another one is “Starogdańska” coffee, which is a reference to the 19th century tradition of coffee roasting in Gdańsk.
Kawana – specialty coffee roasteries in the Tri-City
There are over a dozen varieties of coffee that Kawana has to offer from carefully selected plantations. All are aromatic and worth giving a shot. The offer includes both chocolate and nutty flavour compositions as well as hints of blackcurrant, or sweet cherries in syrup. The team of Kawana oversees the entire process from beginning to end. And they most probably know everything there is to know about coffee, hence the workshops that they run.
“We’re quite excited about coffee, it’s our friend. After all, we often refer to it as “ours”. My coffee, I can’t function without my coffee. There is a decent roastery in almost every smaller town and larger city right now. There are several of them in the Tri-City area. Good luck hunting them down, and see you with a cup of coffee in hand,” says Beata, e-commerce specialist.
Skład kawy – coffee roastery in the Tri-City
If you’re looking for excellent coffee, you should check out Skład Kawy, three guys who share the love for coffee. Piotr, Łukasz and Rafał oversee the quality of the beans and the aroma. As they like to stress, coffee is a mission in which there’s no room for compromise. We are inclined to agree.
“Quality is our number one priority. Top-notch beans are just the beginning. Other elements include water, proper equipment, a bit of skill and lots and lots of passion,” says Rafał Olszewski, roaster at the Skład Kawy roastery.