Hakone Coffee

Hakone (箱根) region in Japan, thanks to its abundant geothermal resources, is usually associated with Onsen (温泉), the traditional Japanese style hot spring baths. In Oslo, however, people name their coffee shops after it.

The reason, said Camilla Inanda Svanberg, one of the café’s founders, is to evoke fond memories people attach to the healing effects of such places and, in this way, remind them that “to buy coffee is to buy well-being”, according to her interviews with Norwegian media.

The café officially opened its doors earlier this month at the bustling Folketeaterpassasjen at Storgata (it has another shop on Karl Johans Gate), with a generous offer of a free cup of coffee for first-timers. One only needs to scan a QR code and apply for a free membership, in order to obtain a digital loyalty card, which gives you the first cup of coffee (or tea) for free—and every fifth cup after that is also free.

We came to the shop on a weekday afternoon. After scanning our first-time free QR code, the staff behind the counter let us choose anything we would love to try on their menu. In addition to the above coffee menu by the counter, they also have cold drinks such as cold brews (55-69 NOK) , iced matcha latte (65 NOK), iced hojicha latte (65 NOK).

Mind you, even though iced matcha latte is getting more and more popular in Oslo, iced hojicha latte remains a rarity. Hojicha (焙じ茶) can be roughly thought of as roasted green tea. The high-temperature roasting process not only reduces the caffeine left in the tea leaves, but also gives them a roasted nutty fragrance, less bitterness compared with matcha and a lingering aftertaste. If you have not tried it before, we would encourage you to give it a go. On the counter you will also find salads, croissants, flapjacks, and other pastries.

The interior is elegantly decorated, with light wooden furniture and a large counter by the window looking into Folketeaterpassasjen. Because of its central location and limited inside area, serving hand brew would not be realistic—it would simply take up too much time and space.

One ingenious solution by Hakone to overcome these limitations is to put in a Poursteady—a machine that can “handbrew” multiple V60s at the same time. Admittedly, the machine can never replace the human attention during the brewing process, but it would reduce the training cost for the shop, as well as make it easier for the staff to standardise the handbrew quality—a necessary trade-off between efficiency and quality for busy coffee shops like this.

After some thinking, we decided to go for their cold brews. Their nitro cold brew is very tasty, whereas the cherry cold brew (69 NOK) comes as a positive surprise. It has a very distinctive cherry flavour, with the coffee forming a solid foundation. The fruity acidity and cherry aroma has completely transformed the coffee taste to the next level, delivering a clear and refreshing aftertaste.

On the shelves were bagged coffee beans from Romerikes Kaffebrenneri for sale. The shop claims that they are open to collaboration with all top-notch roasteries across the country, so we expect to see beans from other places in the future.

Another thing that caught our attention is the one-cup pour-over filters on the counter. These one-cup pour-over filters are quite common in Japan—pre-dosed bags of coffee with “hanging ears” that suspend the coffee filter over the cup, waiting for water to be poured over. They are perfect for the coffee aficionado who does not want to bring all the brewing equipment when traveling. For 39 NOK per bag, it is a bit on the pricy side. Nevertheless, this is the first time we have seen a café in Norway sell these.

Take a cup of cold brew, find a quiet corner to sit down and crack open a new book about Japan—there are worse ways in which to spend a summer afternoon.