Coffee in Berlin: independent roasters and cafés

Specialty coffee started early in Berlin. DoubleEye opened in the Akazienkiez in 2001, Bonanza on Oderberger Straße in 2006, when most cafés still poured filter coffee from a jug. Today half the city roasts its own. These 14 are the places where it is worth asking about the bean.

Kolo Coffee – micro-roastery with competition beans

Mitte · CoffeeKolo CoffeeOn the map

Vladyslav Demonenko is from Ukraine and became runner-up world champion in Coffee in Good Spirits in Milan in 2022, the discipline where coffee meets alcohol. During the war he moved to Berlin and in 2024 founded Kolo, a micro-roastery and café on Brunnenstraße. He buys single origins, rare microlots and competition-grade coffees, currently a Colombian Geisha among them. The competition coffees are also served as filter, and that is what you come for.

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Bonanza Coffee Heroes – on Oderberger since 2006

Prenzlauer Berg · CaféBonanza Coffee HeroesOn the map

When Yumi Choi and Kiduk Reus opened their café on Oderberger Straße in 2006, Berlin had hardly any specialty coffee. They had met in Rotterdam. Today Bonanza roasts its own and ships beans across Europe. The current bestseller shows best as filter.

Jules Geisberg – coffee in the old post office

Schöneberg · CaféJules GeisbergOn the map

Jules Geisberg sits in a former post office on Viktoria-Luise-Platz, with a life-size statue still standing above the façade. In September 2020 Jules opened this second shop, after the café at Gleisdreieck. Inside it is bright, with marble and a corner bench. The coffee comes from independent roasters. The nicest seat is the corner bench, with filter coffee and banana bread.

DoubleEye – espresso since 2001

Schöneberg · CaféDoubleEyeOn the map

Arno Schmeil opened the tiny espresso bar on Akazienstraße in 2001, which makes DoubleEye one of the city’s oldest specialty coffee addresses. Schmeil has won barista championships and visits the farmers he buys from. The opening hours are as precise as the coffee: Monday to Friday from 8.19 a.m. to 6.29 p.m. The queue is often long and the room small. The espresso is drunk at the counter; take the house blend home as beans.

Companion Tea & Coffee – tea on equal terms

Neukölln · CaféCompanion Tea & CoffeeOn the map

Companion started in early 2013 as an espresso and tea bar in the corner of a Kreuzberg fashion shop. The founders are from Vancouver and Perth and met behind a Berlin bar. Teas sourced directly from farms soon followed and became their real passion. In 2018 they opened their own tea salon on Weserstraße. Every tea from the current harvest can be traced back to its farm, and there is still coffee.

Distrikt – breakfast all day

Mitte · CaféDistriktOn the map

Sophie Hardy and Hannes Haake spent years going from café to café before opening Distrikt on Bergstraße in 2014. Breakfast is served all day. The coffee comes from Fjord in Berlin and rotating European roasters, the tea from Companion. A good place to start is the breakfast plate with sourdough, Comté, blueberry jam and a soft-boiled egg.

The Barn – it started on Auguststraße

Mitte · CaféThe Barn Café MitteOn the map

Ralf Rüller had worked as an actor in London when he opened his first café on Auguststraße in 2010. He wanted sandwiches and coffee of the quality he knew from London, and went for New York minimalism rather than Berlin vintage. In 2012 he started roasting himself. A sandwich belongs with the coffee; that is how it all started here.

Five Elephant Kreuzberg – the roastery with the cheesecake

Kreuzberg · CaféFive Elephant KreuzbergOn the map

In December 2010 Kris and Sophie opened their first café on a quiet street in Kreuzberg. The roasting happens a few corners away on Glogauer Straße. In 2025 the café was rebuilt after water damage destroyed the floor under the bar. The bar is now aluminium, and there is a dedicated filter coffee corner. The Philadelphia cheesecake has been the guests’ favourite since day one, and a filter from the new corner goes with it.

westberlin – coffee and magazines in St. Agnes

Kreuzberg · CaféwestberlinOn the map

Kai Bröer started out as an architect and first founded westberlin at Checkpoint Charlie. After a fire there the café moved a few streets: since May 2024 it has been at home in the former community centre of St. Agnes, a Werner Düttmann building converted by Arno Brandlhuber. Everything is baked in-house, including the brioche, and the shelves hold magazines like Apartamento and 032c. When the sun is out, the coffee belongs on the roof terrace.

BEN RAHIM – coffee from the cezve

Mitte · CaféBEN RAHIM BerlinOn the map

Wissem Ben Rahim is from Tunisia and found coffee in Brisbane. Back in Berlin he worked at The Barn, and in March 2015 he opened his own café in a courtyard on Sophienstraße, right by the Hackesche Höfe. Alongside espresso and filter, coffee is brewed in a cezve, the small pot from Arab coffee culture. Once you are here, you drink the coffee from the cezve; on principle, there is no sugar.

Oslo Kaffebar – Norwegian by Nordbahnhof

Mitte · CaféOslo KaffebarOn the map

Kristian Moldskred is from Norway. In July 2012 he opened Oslo Kaffebar on Eichendorffstraße, a quiet side street opposite a park near Nordbahnhof. The room mixes Berlin concrete with the wood of a Norwegian weekend cabin, the cookies are baked in-house and old records are playing. They roast their own, and one of the cookies belongs with the filter.

Concierge Coffee – it started in a porter’s lodge

Schöneberg · CaféConcierge Coffee SchönebergOn the map

Concierge Coffee started in 2014 in an empty porter’s lodge on Paul-Lincke-Ufer, about 15 square metres with a window as the counter. Founders Namy Nosratifard and Benjamin Pates have roasted their own since 2015, and there is now a Concierge in Los Angeles too. A croissant goes with the filter coffee from their own roastery.

WIM Kaffee – less is more

Prenzlauer Berg · CaféWIM KaffeeOn the map

WIM stands for “Weniger ist mehr”, less is more. The café on Sonnenburger Straße is tiny and the menu short: espresso, Americano, cappuccino, plus croissants, homemade banana bread and apple tart. Owner Patricia reopened it in 2014 after parental leave and a renovation. The apple tart belongs with the cappuccino.

AKKURAT – a film production company’s café

Kreuzberg · CaféAKKURAT CaféOn the map

Akkurat Studios is a film production company founded in 2019 by Andreas Roth and Rocco Kopecny. When the office on Besselstraße got too small, the team moved into the rooms next door and built a café there. The fittings come from Hamburg’s Tørnqvist Coffee, which closed during the pandemic. It has been open since summer 2021, not far from the Jewish Museum. At lunch there are grilled sandwiches to go with the coffee.