A Coffee Tour of Stockholm

When I decided to visit Stockholm a few weeks ago, I immediately remembered about Aaron Frey, the coffee expert and talented photographer behind Fresh Ground, “a blog for global nomads and kindred cosmopolitans” and a guide “to cafés and reviews of the world’s best coffee”. Aaron has lived in Stockholm for a few months and searched for the best coffee in town, so he was the perfect person to speak to. One tweet later and I was in contact with Jesper Bood, a barista with aspirations to roast coffee, who kindly offered to take me on a coffee crawl. Of course, I was very happy to accept the invitation.

We met early on a cold Saturday morning at Kura Café, an independent coffee house owned by New Zealand baristas Cymon Reid and Jono Paetz. The shop was still closed, but thanks to “V.I.P.” Jesper we were welcomed inside, were we waited for the La Marzocca espresso machine to warm up.

I immediately loved the welcoming and warm ambience: it felt like being at home with  friends having a quiet and relaxing morning! Quickly, customers started coming in, single men with book in hand or young families with small kids.

“Kura Cafe. Home to the flat white” so of course this is what I ordered! :)

While Sandy chose the Thai Style Fruit Bowl, I went for a more substantial breakfast of Scrambled Organic eggs on Sourdough Toast.

To satisfy our sweet tooth, Kura Café offered us Cinnamon Toast with Cream Cheese and Manuka Honey: it was delicious and I loved the combination of cream, cinnamon and honey. Definitely a recipe idea to keep in mind for the future!

Next stop of our coffee crawl was Kafé Esaias, a tiny shop in the shopping district of Stockholm, serving coffee roasted & blended by da Matteo.

Once again we were treated as special guests, thanks to Jesper who introduced us to the café owner Joel Wredlert and barista Chris Nielsonand (you might recognize him from Prufrock Coffee).

Chris brewed the perfect cup of coffee for us, using the Chemex, while Joel offered us homemade jelly from white and red currant on the side: the fruitiness of the jelly enriching the bitterness of the coffee! We also tried the homemade granola with apple compote (from Joel’s garden trees!) and yogurt.

Jesper and Sandy hit it off immediately chatting about Hinduism and coffee roasting, while I happily snapped photos with my D-SLR and iPhone!

Our coffee tour continued at Snickarbacken 7, a concept store with art gallery and café in the heart of Östermalm. Set on the ground floor of a 19th building, the Snickarbacken 7 is the perfect spot for a weekend brunch. By then, we were too full to eat, so we made a quick stop here just to drink a ristretto.

We then crossed over from Norrmalm to the small island of Skeppsholmen, to visit the Espresso Bar at the Moderna Museet. Here we drank some more espresso, of course, and also had a small lunch with Manchego and Carrot Chutney Sandwich.

If you are passionate of modern art and architecture then you must visit this museum and take the chance to stop at the café, for really good coffee and sandwiches in a modern setting.

Our coffee tour of Stockholm ended here, but with many more cafés still to visit I am already planning my trip back to Sweden! :)

A very warm thank you to Jesper for spending half day showing us around and introducing us to some of the nicest cafés and people of Stockholm! Would love to meet him again for a coffee crawl in London!