Lille Oslo Kaffebrenneri

Lille Oslo Kaffebrenneri (“Lille Oslo”) in English translates to “Little Oslo Coffee Roastery”, and is one of the latest additions to the bustling neighborhood Grünerløkka. The roastery started out as an attachment to the popular donut bakery “My Ugly Baby” at Youngstorget, which went out of business in 2023. It then branched out as an independent café and moved to its current location at the south end of Markveien, a 1 km long street full of shops, cafés, bars, and restaurants.

With a retro-style wooden plaque hanging by the door and a single big glass window overlooking the street, the café assumes an unpretentious façade and entrance like a neighbourhood barber shop. Inside, the dim lighting and rustique interior creates a pleasant ambience. Bags of unroasted coffee line the wall leading out to the courtyard.

Sharing the room with the roasting machine, the inside seating area is limited to six small square tables and a couple of stools by the window counter, enough space for roughly 10 adults to sit in moderately cramped. Part of the intimate and cosy feeling at Lille Oslo stems from the fact that you can sit by the table looking over the barista’s shoulders while they are preparing your coffee. On a warm and sunny day, however, it is the outer seating by the street and in the quiet backyard, shared with neighbouring wine bar “Territoriet”, that turns out to be more popular.

Echoing its Scandinavian “hygge” style, Lille Oslo roasts their coffee light, allowing the quality and subtle flavors to shine through. On our lastest visit, we tried their summer-special cold brew with lemon. Contrary to the usual cold brews that can be a bit monotonous, low on acidity and “a bit flat”, the cold brew with lemon at Lille Oslo featured rather subtle yet layered flavors, which are further enhanced by an extremely pleasant acidity without overpowering them. With an almost tea-like flavor, this is a summer coffee that is easy to drink and easy to like.

Another added bonus: a glass of cold brew with lemon will run you 52 NOK at the time of writing, which, compared to other cafés in Oslo, is quite reasonable. If the coffee happens to stir up your appetite, there are also pastries from the bakery Mendel’s available at the counter. Lille Oslo roasts their beans regularly on Tuesdays. Pick a Tuesday and pay them a visit, and you will be able to indulge yourself with a nice cup of coffee, surrounded in the sweet aromas of freshly roasted beans.