Lisbon: Espresso Map

Lisbon: Espresso Map (September-December 2017)

 

So here I am, putting altogether the experience (sensory, mainly) I have been having these months, visiting Lisbon Specialty Coffee places.

If you are following me on Instagram (@cafesinmentiras), you probably already saw me going to these places, sharing some information about the espressos they are serving, how they taste, and what interesting you can find there. I used the tag #espressosinmentiras for these posts.

I will be talking about what I tried, and describing it, to the degree that my skill and ability allows me. But, after all, as always, it is first of all just my personal view.

Although I am working currently for one of the places, my first preoccupation will always be to be as imparcial and honest as I can possibly be.

So, during these months I visited all 5 Lisbon Specialty places.

• Copenhagen Coffee Lab
• Fábrica Coffee Roasters
• Hello, Kristof
• Montana Lisboa Café
• Wish Slow Coffee House

and some Second Wave shops as well.

I will make a short compilation about the origins used, varieties and processing. And as well the espresso style of the places above. It is based only on the espressos I tried.

Origins used:

• Copenhagen Coffee Lab: Guatemala
• Fábrica Coffee Roasters: Guatemala
• Hello, Kristof: Costa Rica
• Montana Lisboa Café: Honduras
• Wish Slow Coffee House: Guatemala

Variety and Processing:

• Copenhagen Coffee Lab:  washed, no idea about the variety
• Fábrica Coffee Roasters – catuai+bourbon, natural processed
• Hello, Kristof: catuai, washed
• Montana Lisboa Café: catuai, washed
• Wish Slow Coffee House: caturra, washed

My comment: Copenhagen coffee lab has an option of Brazilian coffee, single origin. Fabrica offers a blend, Brazil+Ethiopia, natural+washed, and, as I understood, constantly rotates single origins. I tried natural processed Guatemala.

As you can see, Guatemalan coffee is a popular choice now, as well as Brazilian (mostly in second wave places, and as a component of blend, definitely a safe option for the Portuguese market). Others opt for washed Central Americans.

Espresso Style:

• Copenhagen Coffee Lab: short, straightforward and on the bitter side of the spectrum, therefore primarity dark chocolate notes
• Fábrica Coffee Roasters: lightbodied,  easy to drink, dried fruits+cacao
• Hello, Kristof: long shot, delicate, dried apricot+almond in the aftertaste, medium body
• Montana Lisboa Café: long shot, vivid, a combination of plums, almonds, cashews and cacao, with a medium body
• Wish Slow Coffee House: clean, delicate, lightbodied, red apple, dried fruits, caramel and toffee

My comment: there is a clear tendency to slowly introduce specialty to the Portuguese consumer, who was raised on Robusta and dark roasts, and apparently, Brazil is the first step, because of the coffees that were grown at the lower altitudes, and posess milder acidity and less complexity. Then come the Central Americans, but very mild ones as well, with well-pronounced acidity, but not killing your receptors. Haven’t tasted the Ethiopian in espresso here yet, although I am guessing Fabrica is offering it sometimes, if I am not wrong. But it is more of an exception from the rule.

Roasters:

• Copenhagen Coffee Lab:  Copenhagen Coffee Lab, Denmark
• Fábrica Coffee Roasters – Fabrica Coffee Roasters, Lisbon, Portugal
• Hello, Kristof: Academia do Cafe, Lisbon, Portugal
• Montana Lisboa Café: Café de Finca, Barcelona, Spain
• Wish Slow Coffee House: Five Elephant, Germany

My comment: so here we are having 2 Portuguese roasters vs 3 foreighn companies. The local Roasting scene is growing.

Fabrica Coffee Roasters is growing, and is dedicating more and more to selling coffees to other business, coffee shops, cafes, even coffee vans.

Academia do Cafe is doing the formation according to the SCA system, and also distributes some brewing and roasting equipment in Portugal.

Five Elephant is a well-known coffee giant from Germany, my personal favourite in minimalist packaging, and famous for its Biftu Gudina roast profiles from the times of Patrik Rolf (currenty April Coffee).

Café de Finca – well-known Spanish Coffee roaster from Castelldefels, doing a nice job in combining Coffee and Bikes, and promoting Specialty.

Copenhagen Coffee Lab is coming from Denmark, for the first time I heard about them and tried their roasts here in Lisbon, haven’t heard about them before.

 

I think that’s it. Hope you found it interesting!

Let’s see what’s expecting us further!