The quest for the perfect coffee bar – Part 4 – Summer

Thanks god we found the Sloerm. What a relief!







Stefan is for sure the nicest and coolest barista in Berlin and at the same time one of the best!








His coffee shop is there since over 4 years and he and his lovely wife Michele put all their passion in each single cup of coffee.








Every day you are greeted by a nice smile and the day starts with a lovely chat. No hectic. Here they take the time for the art of making a coffee.








And if an espresso does not look right to them they throw it away. Perfect! Moreover the Sloerm is super cozy.









Some tables and chairs are old wine boxes and wooden army boxes.








In the back room there are two parrots and their little daughter on her pillows in the shop´s window. We are convinced that we found finally the exceptional coffee thus the Holy Grail. And it is only 50 steps away from our apartment. Well, now we cannot move anymore. And if the Sloerm is closed one day it is a middle catastrophe as there is no real substitute to it. And no, Michele, if that happens, we are not angry, just a little bit sad…

The quest for the perfect coffee bar – Part 3 – Early Summer

The coffee shop Zucca is at a perfect place from our new Kiez. The location is almost as perfect as the Balzac.





However, they were not friendly. The barista (here with newspaper) is usually occupied with smoking and of course he would go inside to do the coffee for the potential customer. He prepares the coffee without love. Even a coffee for 2.70 Euro is not always a good one.

The Einstern was successful in all our categories. Well the barista herself was not really charming; however the coffee was really good. But only if it was prepared by a special barista (we believe it is the boss). The others there cannot do a good coffee at all. And the perfect coffee has to be perfect every day. What a pity!

The quest for the perfect coffee bar – Part 2 – Spring

In spring we moved from the Gleimstreet to the Senefelderstreet. The distance to both apartments is only 1.5 km. However, the Balzac coffee store was not anymore to the way to our work. And so the search for the perfect coffee was continued. At the beginning we really stopped from time to time at the Balzac before we went to work. We even left our s-bahn to go to them before our journey to work continued. However, we were convinced that there needs to be good coffee nearby. Thus to our way to work we tried several coffee places. Of course some coffee stores were not too bad. However who offered a coffee for 1.10 Euro did not meet our expectations. We were expecting the best and we knew that the price was normally around 2.70 Euro. Two places that had all the premises did not succeed. Kaffeewirtschaft was the first one. It is cozy and it has it all to be successful.







However the barista is so not interested what he/ she is doing that that was it. No fun, no customer.

Coffee is made without passion, therefore no success. Most likely they are waiting for the many celebrities to show up (according to facebook a few of them visit frequently) and then they produce the perfect coffee. Well people like us would stop by every day if there were the perfect coffee however it seem they don´t need the extra effort.

The quest for the perfect coffee bar – Part 1 – Winter

The quest for the perfect coffee started long before Berlin. In Berlin however it has its peak as there are coffee stores everywhere. In very tiny stores local barista try the art of coffee. Of course our search was in our neighborhood. Of course we would not mind taking a detour to get an excellent coffee every day but it should not be too far away. So the search started in Gleimstreet in Berlin, then to Schönhauser Allee, to Torstreet and Rosenthal square. While doing this for some days we tried very interesting ones. First on the list is Impala Coffee Store Pappelallee.





This coffee store is doing its own coffee. You can find in the middle of the store several bags of fresh coffee beans. The coffee is really nice as well, just a little bit too strong. Across the road there is the Manolo which is impressive as it has a nice French touch.








The employees are not really friendly and they do not give any personal touch to the place. The coffee is okay, nothing special. On a Saturday walking around a bit longer we found Sankt Oberholz. Really busy place, still very cozy and cool.








The coffee as well as the flair received highest score. However the way to get there is too long for daily pleasure. That is why the Balzac at the Schönhauser Allee became our daily coffee store. The distance was perfect from our apartment in the Gleimstreet and to the local transportation. The staff is very friendly, relaxed atmosphere and very good coffee.

And after sometime all the barista got used to pouring my latte into my Starbucks cup so that it stayed warm, I did not need to waste a paper cup and the coffee did not taste like the paper it was served in normally.