Hungry in Berlin

I’ve had a tough time finding coffee beans I like in Berlin. It’s not that I’m one of the aficionados who can tell an Ethiopian bean from a Colombian shade-grown. But it’s a big part of my day. I drink a lot. And I come from the U.S. west coast, where standards (as with beer) have gotten fairly high in recent years.

I brew my own at home, usually with a french press, but with occasional forays into drip, or stovetop-type espresso. I grind my own whole beans, and keep them in an airtight jar, away from light (the keeping-in-freezer thing is trouble, since it breaks down the coffee oils) , and buy small batches, so they don’t age too much before I use them. I use filtered water.

But without good coffee, none of this matters.

Over the last two years, I’ve tried a number of different purveyors. Impala Coffee (several around the city), occasionally produces a decent dark-roast flavor, but I think overroasted. A large cup often destroys my stomach, and makes me jittery and anxious. Zeezicht, on Gleimstr., is typically a bit acidic. Too green. Don’t even get me started on Balzac.

By far the best that I’ve tried (thanks to Ed’s recommendation) has typically been Malango , a French boutique coffee sold in the basement at the Galleries Lafayette, on Friedrichstraße. Stuck into a little bakery counter, they typically have two dozen or so large jars of beans, with wide variety of national orgins and roasting styles. But even this has been inconsistent — I’ve had quite good beans here, and other times found them to be very stale, with the flavor almost gone. My attempts to ask which beans were newest elicited only an annoyed “They’re all new,” from the saleswoman.

However, last week, I discovered that Bonanza Coffee Heroes (Oderberger Str. 35, map here) has begun selling their own beans. Bonanza has long ago won some deserved fame (or hype) in Berlin for its “third wave” coffee, which apparently refers to the serious coffee-geek movement going on in parts of the U.S. and (I’m told) London. They have a high-end espresso machine — of which there are reputedly only three in Europe, for whatever that’s worth — that allows them exquisite control over temperature.

Now, their on-the-premises coffee is definitely good. Maybe the best I’ve had in Berlin. And they’re artists about it too, doing beautiful designs in the latte and cappucino foam. But their beans are also the best I’ve found locally.

According to the owner, what they’re selling currently is a blend — Brazil, Sumatra, Kenya, Sidamo/Ethiopa and Columbia beans. It’s a dark espresso roast, which isn’t ideal for my  French press, but at this point I’m not complaining. It’s smooth, not too acidic, doesn’t wreck my stomach or nerves, and has some lovely fruity notes. And is fresh. In a “Specialty Coffee Association” manifesto they distribute there, they outline their philosophy of using ripe, handpicked beans, small-batch roasts, and of using the beans between between 9 and 17 days of roasting, at the very latest.

They’re also getting their own roasting machine next week, they told me yesterday. So there may be more experimentation in the works, and a greater variety, as they expand. I’m all for this — people who are this serious about beans should be doing it themselves. And even better, their roasts will be as fresh as possible.

Today, their beans are €6.20 for 250 grams - a little more expensive than you’d find at Impala or elsewhere, but worth the extra cash if you’re brewing at home.

So that’s my story. But help me out here — where do you all buy coffee? Variety is a beautiful thing.

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