That's an incredible century: 100th Specialty Coffeeshop check-in

at The Barn, Mitte-Berlin, Germany

I wanted to celebrate this milestone of visiting the 100^th Specialty Coffeeshop on earth & wow it happened to be one of my all-time favourites “The Barn” from Germany.

When I received a sachet of fresh beans as a part of my Standard magazine subscription sometime last year, I was immensely fascinated with their Light Roasts and was looking forward to visiting them sooner than later.

But first & foremost, my heartfelt thanks to each one of you - my amigos for your encouragement to keep on writing these wonderful coffee & coffee place stories for the past two years.

The Barn: How it all started?

Ralf Rüller founded The Barn in 2010. He pioneered Specialty Coffee in an uncompromising way in Germany. By focusing on the core product, farm relationships, roasting and sharing knowledge, he is key to growing Barn’s international reputation. Ralf is involved in all areas of the company to ensure their strength & has a great team to support him on their expansion plans.

Coffeeshop locations:

They have 17 coffeeshops spread across Germany, Spain, South Korea and Dubai along with roasteries in Berlin & Seoul.

Barn loves operating unique cafés for their coffee communities in Berlin and beyond.

All their locations have a different look that is inspired by the architecture or history of each building. They are hubs in your neighbourhoods with the intention to bring our coffee closer to your homes and workspaces.

Their minimalistic approach offers an atmosphere to slow down, relax and to enjoy your coffee.

About the Barn Philosophy:

Their Coffees taste different to what many people have experienced before. The Barn are pioneers of the Third Wave Coffee Movement in Germany. They work closely with coffee farms and literally slow them down – so they can focus on what they are proud of: To produce the best coffee beans in their regions. This movement started in Australia, New Zealand & California – is one of the reasons why so many international baristas continue to work for The Barn.

What makes their coffees so different?

While they’re of German origin, only the highest quality coffees are roasted in Light Nordic Roast Style. It brings out all flavours of the ripe coffee cherry. You will not taster any ashy roast flavours that you typically have in darker roasts. Their coffee aromas are super intense – reason why I got hooked after getting the sample pack 😊 The flavours too are very distinct, more than Tea (up to 800 flavours). This means that we’ll experience different acidity levels than we may have tasted before. The acids are important to give the coffee beverage texture and carry the taste.  Depending on the origin, the beans have different acidity levels, body, flavour or sweetness.

To emphasize, The Barn’s Nordic style of roasting makes all coffees extremely friendly for the stomach.

What did I go for?

Gitwe from Rwanda in V60 Hand Brew paired with Carrot Cake making it a true FIKA moment 😊 for me.

• Origin: Nyamasheke District, Rwanda

• Roast: Filter

• Producer: Gitwe Producers

• Altitude: 1800 Meters Above Sea Level

• Varietal: Red Bourbon

• Process: Washed

• Tasting Notes: Cranberry, Dried Apple

Hope you enjoyed this story, while I draw up my list of next 100 😊

Next up is a fabulous collaboration with TID aka Tanushree Ishani Das with her explorations in Stockholm, Sweden!

Andiamo!!