Tucked away deep inside a former brick factory courtyard, Sofi has become the epitome of artisan bakeries in Berlin. The man behind it is the Danish chef Frederic Bille Brahe, who also runs Atelier September, Apollo Kantine & Bar as well as Kafeteria in the National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen. Entrance Sofi is specialised in sourdough bread, tebirkes (a Danish pastry), cookies and cakes. According to the shop, 90% of the flour they use is produced in a small organic mill in Denmark named Kornby. ...

Named after the character Isak Sellanraa in Nobel prize winning author Knut Hamsun’s famous novel Marken’s Grøde (in English: Growth of the Soil), Sellanraa is a café, bar, and restaurant fittingly located in the Trondheim Literature House. Sellanraa focuses on locally sourced ingredients from Trøndelag, and updates its menu depending on the season. Ay, I’ll buy you coffee, that I will. A paper of coffee, was it? Why not a pound? A pound of coffee, while you’re about it. ...

Jacobsen og Svart has been on top of the trends in coffee from the very beginning, being among the first to kickstart “third-wave coffee” in Norway. According to the owner Tony Jacobsen, Jacobsen og Svart was the 12th coffee roastery in all of Norway when the roastery was established in 2012 in a 6 square meter space behind a hair salon. As of 2024, the number of roasters tally over 100, and the Trondheim region has since given birth to well-known roasteries such as Langøra Kaffebrenneri and Pala. The “new” Jacobsen og Svart opened in the first floor of Arkitektenes Hus (in English: The Architects’ House) after covid put the nail in the coffin for the “old” café and roastery. ...

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 Hakone Coffee’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. ...

Very few new places attract as much attention as Lut/Laget. Located in Clemenskvartalet, part of the latest developmment in Bjørvika, Lut/Laget is many things at once: a two-storied French style brasserie (their interior decoration features an Eiffel tower), a bar, a bakery backed by Åpent Bakeri and a pizza restaurant as part of the Lofthus Samvirkelag. The name Lut/Laget, originally meaning “joint-stock company” in Norwegian, emphasises this multi-faced cooperation between Lofthus Samvirkelag and Åpent Bakeri. But the collaboration behind Lut/Laget goes much deeper. The pastry chef Diana Elizondo used to work at Maaemo, whereas the bistro chef Martin Gnecco is from restaurant Panu—and they are a couple. ...

Tim Wendelboe is, to a certain degree, the coffee shop that has single-handedly put Oslo on the world’s coffee map. The owner, after whom the shop was named, started his career working as a barista at Stockfleths, a well-known Oslo chain, in 1998 and won the 2004 World Barista Championship. He left Stockfleths three years later and opened his own shop in Grüners gate 1. Wendelboe has since won multiple world championships in roasting and is one of the best-known front figures of the third-wave coffee in the whole Scandinavian region. Today, the shop attracts hundreds of tourists from all over the world every day. ...

About 10 minutes walk from Majorstuen subway station and camouflaged by idyllic greenery, Havens Kafé lies at the heart of the affluent neighbourhood Fagenborg. The location has witnessed several attempts to establish a neighbourhood café, and Havens is the latest one since 2023. Interior The space inside the café is fairly compact, with only four window counter seats and a tiny table occupying the centre of the room. Interior was decorated in a simple, elegant retro-style. We came to the café on a sunny Saturday morning. There was a group of elderly ladies sitting in the corner, chatting over their morning coffee, a mother with her son sitting next to us by the window. More people chose to take their seats outside in the small garden. Some of them came for a coffee and some pastries after jogging. Some were still in their morning routines reading the newspaper over their brunch. This is clearly a café geared towards people living in the neighbourhood. ...

Never heard of Skullerud in southeast Oslo? Now you have a reason to. Thirty minutes away from Oslo Central Station by subway, the neighbourhood is home to Oslo Klatresenter, one of Norway’s largest climbing gyms. Entrance Located in the climbing gym’s foyer is Tid Bakeri, which translates into “Time Bakery” in English. The bakery started out as some sort of climbing boys’ club with its three jaunty male bakers scurrying behind the counter. A few years ago, they brought in Katerina Soukupova, a veteran baker from arguably Oslo’s best-renowned sourdough bakery Ille Brød, who has lent the place a somewhat female and delicate touch. ...

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. ...

La Maison, despite its high-quality and price, started as a neighbourhood bakery at Paul-Lincke-Ufer 17 in Kreuzberg. In October 2023, they opened a high-end boutique not far away but more accessible by subway at Urbanstraße 70A. Rum Canelé Selection of baked goods In constrast to the old shop that features a shabby chic décor, the new one has a modern and minimalistic interior design, with large bright glass doors and windows, open space, as well as a natural wood colour palette. ...