Visit to specialty coffee shops in Bucharest, Romania

Bucharest, the new capital of specialty coffee?

Anyone who has been to Bucharest in recent months probably knows how special the city is. The capital of Romania has changed a lot in recent years: it has gone from being a post-communist city where you could still breathe the air of an old city to a modern, beautiful and structured place, full of gourmet restaurantsand… specialty cafés.

When you walk through the streets of Bucharest, you get the feeling that you will find high quality coffee on almost every corner. Locals and tourists look for products from all over the world. The coffees found in Bucharest come from every part of the world you can imagine: Ethiopia, Salvador, Burundi, Costa Rica. That said, we think Bucharest can be a great destination to travel and try specialty coffee in its coffee shops.

Our Roasters Services team visited some of the specialty coffee shops in Bucharest. This visit was like a journey through the different coffee origins. Each owner, each shop and each roaster had its own style, its design with a unique interior and personality in every corner.

Visiting our customers

We started our trip in Taste Crafters. Business owner Razvan, is not only our partner, but also a friend. We enjoyed being able to spend time together, chatting while eating fantastic Romanian food andexchanging ideas and thinking about a future together. Taste Crafters is a company with a clear vision for development and a professional attitude. Their cafeteria, called Drophot, is located near the biggest park in Bucharest, Herăstrău, in a nice residential area. Fingers crossed that Razvan’s company will grow rapidly and we really appreciate the visionary style of Taste Crafters, which is so close to our business approach and principles.

Another roastery we visited on our first day was Cube Coffeeshop, a place with a soul of its own: Andrei is owner, roaster and waiter in one. Personally, we love this type of business, because they are run by people with an enormous passion for coffee. During During our visit we had endless conversations where Andrei showed us his dedication and commitment to specialty Coffee, for which we are very grateful.

From Cube we moved on to Bob Coffee Lab, where we met with one of the owners: Alex, whose story is truly amazing. Alex started working in the gastronomy sector and one day he was taught and had a good coffee. From that day on he pursued his dream accompanied by a strong ambition to be the best in coffee brewing and roasting. Alex’s activity led him to win some competitions, including the 2016 Coffee Roasting World Champion.

Alex, an amazing man full of hospitality, showed us how he runs his three coffee shops, located in different parts of the city, where his doors are always open to come in and have a great espresso.

If you want to know how diverse Bucharest is, we encourage you to also go to Pasha Cafe, which is a place in a completely different location and with a different design and approach. Valentin, who runs this business, is truly passionate about coffee, he roasts the best batches from all over the world and at the same time he has a beautifully decorated coffee shop where no detail is missing and he innovates by adding recycled handmade coffee gadgets within the decoration… Pasha Cafe is a place where you can enter if you want to take a break from the frenetic city and also be able to know something more about the coffee you are tasting, a place where you can learn a lot more about specialty coffee!

Our roasters ended the visit at Prajitoria Buimac, which is another example of how passion can create business, not the other way around. Cosmin is a man who can toasting, tasting and talking at the same time. This energy, this commitment, is something we were delighted to experience. Buimac is a cafeteria where you can feel how much work and heart has been put into creating it. It is located in a quiet and green area. It seems that you can just enjoy your time there, without any rush, reading your newspaper or a favorite book accompanied by a +86 SCA coffee.

Our trip came to an end, but we left with a feeling of wanting more. So it will be time to visit Bucharest again, to meet up with all our friends and to enjoy this capital city, which seems to be tailor-made for fans of specialty coffees. We will be back for sure!