Visit in Hungary and Slovakia

Iwona Wierzbanowska

September 27, 2022

Coffee by the Danube river

Beginning of September was a time for us to visit two beautiful cities located next to Danube river – Budapest in Hungary and Bratislava in Slovakia.

We visited Kavekalmar, which is a family driven specialty coffee roaster, with a headquarters in Szentendre, next to Budapest. With Gabor and his wife, we cupped some of our basic coffees for espresso and selected Brasilian and Ethiopian crops dedicated for brewing methods.

In the center of Budapest we visited Lumen Cafe as well – one of the city’s popular destinations to grab a coffee or have a tasty lunch or beer. In Lumen you can also listen to great jazz improved music, we recommend you to check their concert agenda. Before the concert, it’s a great idea to have additional energy trying a cup of good Guatemalan Mixtli coffee from our offer.

Next specialty coffee location on the Budapest map is MTRM roast, a roastery with 10 years tradition, where the quality of the coffee and roasting is very important. Together with the owner – Eduard – we tried our Constellations from Salvador and Ethiopia and also chocolaty profile proposals for espresso.

The last stop in Hungary was Miskolc. Located close to the mountains and nature, post industrial city, has also its secret side – A Haz Coffee Roasters. Milan, the head roaster and the owner of the roastery and coffee shop welcomed us in his modern coffee shop with a cup of espresso and home made cake, that was just an introduction to our cupping. We tried fresh lots from Salvador and Ethiopia.

From Hungary we moved to Bratislava, which is another Eastern European capital located by the Danube river. Bratislava has a different ambience, cafeterias and restaurants are appearing not only in the old city center but also in the post-communist and industrial parts of the city. One of such coffee shops is just opened Goriffee on Kosicka street. In Goriffee you will be served with real carefulness, finding almost every coffee that you could think of. V60, cold brew, cappuccino, grains from Africa, or more traditional from Central America. The roastery of Goriffee is located in a huge industrial hall and it was a perfect spot to organize a cupping of Mare Terra coffees. We tried winey and fruity crops from Salvador and Ethiopia, but also searched for the best coffee for espresso preparing Colombian and Kenian cups.

We gave a visit also to Black, a rising roastery on Bratislava market, where we had a chance to see the roastery and coffee preparation place. Together with the team of Black. we cupped Mare Terra coffees from Colombia, Peru, Ethiopia, Kenia and Brasil. Hopefully, we will have a chance to meet again soon!

The last spot of our visit was Good Times Coffee Roasters. The company is now focusing on opening a new coffee & tea shop in the downtown area, very promising and interesting idea, that we wish will have a strong launch.