Berlin Coffee Roasters
If you are a coffee lover, and want to experience the high quality brew at your favorite cafe at home, the crucial element – next to the brewing equipment, method and water quality – is of course: freshly roasted beans.
There is nothing like freshly brewed coffee, and fresh roasted beans are necessary for an exquisite taste and flavor experience. It’s the roasting process that produces the character of the flavor and the enhanced aroma that makes your coffee experience perfect. The smell of it releases endorphins and triggers your senses, making it therapeutic.
Buy local.
So, where to get your beans? Spoiler – stay away from supermarkets and the shelves of foil and tin bags, loaded with aged coffee, preserved for shipping, storing and shelf times of up to a year.
Perfection starts with precise selection. A roaster can handpick the best coffee beans for roasting. And just like the right grape for a wine, a well chosen coffee bean – professionally and locally roasted – brews a quality and flavor you can taste from the first sip. Buying local brings the freshest roast you can think of. If you don’t believe us, check the roasting date for maximum freshness. Most small local roasters go after their business with an utmost passion and love and deeply care for the craft of roasting. From the bean sourcing and selection to roasting in small batches, it’s almost a guarantee for the highest quality. On top of this is skillful guidance and expertise when it comes to selecting your personal beans and roast according to your brew method, coffee drinking style, and personal taste. Whether you like a strong, dark Columbian bean with notes of nuts and chocolate, or a medium roast with light, floral notes – it’s out there waiting for you! Plus, each roaster will be happy to grind the coffee for your preferred brewing method in case you do not have a grinder at home.
Berlin coffee roasters.
Luckily, Berlin has one of Europe’s most interesting coffee scenes today, and there are quite a number of great roasters to choose from, and here are our favorites. Our recommendation is to try them all.
THE BARN
The concept behind The Barn is as simple as it is strict: No compromises. It was founded in 2010 by a quality obsessed caffeine aficionado to focus on something he really believed in.
The Barn’s strength is to find memorable coffees and roast them to perfection. They aim to have the shortest distance between source and product, and only choose premium coffees from sustainable and traceable farming. The uncompromised dedication to quality and detail is running like a golden thread through everything they do. The highest bean quality, fresh in season, lightly roasted in small batches, fully traceable, and absolutely no blends to showcase individual flavor and terroir and the work of each farm. Today, the Barn is a leading Specialty Coffee Roastery in Europe, shipping their roasts as far as New York, London, Dubai or Japan, and operating three of the highest quality coffee bars in Berlin.
The Barn Roastery. Schönhauser Allee 8. 10119 Berlin
The Barn Café. Augustraße 58. 10119 Berlin
The Barn at Café Kranzler. Kurfürstendamm 18. 10719 Berlin
BONANZA
Founded in 2006, Bonanza was Berlin’s first specialty and third-wave-coffee company. Their key to great coffee is passionate people. From planting till serving, coffee goes through numerous hands of many remarkable and specialized individuals. All critical efforts in between are made with one single goal in mind: how does the final product taste in your cup.
In terms of sourcing and trade, they believe in paying for the best quality and an authentic affiliation with farmers. For their production, it is all about “Retro innovation”: Continually searching for the best production methods, combining the best of old techniques with the best of new techniques. Their idea of roasting is quite opposite to what is commonly regarded as the way to roast coffee. At Bonanza, they roast it as little as possible, just enough to develop all flavors, with the aim to highlight what makes a coffee distinct. You can taste the result: the coffee is clean, clear and pure, free from tastes that are produced by the roast itself.
Bonanza Roastery & Café. Adalbertstraße 70. 10999 Berlin
Bonanza Café Prenzlauer Berg. Oderberger Straße 35. 10435 Berlin
FIVE ELEPHANT
A specialty coffee micro roaster, bakery and café and founded in 2010, Five Elephant is a roastery promoting the ethics of source and production, and transparency is a fundamental pillar of their work.
Five elephant aims to source the best coffee in the world in a way that is both socially and environmentally responsible, in the most direct way possible, and to get a clear understanding about the journey that particular coffee takes from the farm to the cup. Sustainable and long-term partnerships with their farmers are what they are building, to help understand their processes and cultures. They want to involve their customers in a real conversation about coffee, and are so passionate about the quality and the excellence of all their products that you can definitely taste it with every sip.
Five Elephant. Kreuzberg Café & Bakery. Reichenberger str. 101. 10999 Berlin
Five Elephant. Mitte Café. Alte Schönhauser Str. 14. 10119 Berlin
Roastery. Berlin Kreuzberg. Open by appointment only.
Fjord is a roastery with quite a new concept, and a young collaboration between two leading coffee shops – Silo and Father Carpenter. The idea was born out of simple economics, as both coffee shops planned to start roasting for their shops, and after working out the numbers, realized that it makes much more sense to join forces than to run individual operations that compete with each other. When all was said and done, Fjord Coffee was born.
Located far off in East Berlin, the roastery is not a place you can visit and watch the roasters work while enjoying your flat white. Here, everything is about producing the best coffee possible. Once a week the team comes out here to roast fresh coffee. Fjord pays homage to the Nordic style of roasting by making a great effort to bring out the most delicate and nuanced flavors it its carefully selected beans. They work with partners who not only pay the farmers better, but also initiate educational projects and infrastructures, so that the farmers learn how to grow coffee the right way, how to treat the beans, and produce the high quality product that Fjord needs. Well selected, lightly roasted, and packed by hand, Fjord not only stands for finest coffee, but can also be a role model for others planning their own roast, but can not come up with the required manpower, skills, and space. Join forces, instead of fighting yourself!
Father Carpenter Coffee Brewers. Münzstraße 21. 10178 Berlin
Silo Coffee. Gabriel-Max-Straße 4. 10245 Berlin
Roastery. Berlin Marzahn. Open by appointment only.
This is just a small selection, there are more great roasters in Berlin. If you don’t live in a town where you can buy your local roast, still check out the ones above, as they all offer shipping or even a subscription service.
