Back when we visited Copenhagen, we could see in Democratic Coffee and Coffee Collective how serious Danish people are about specialty coffee. It doesn’t stop there. They brought this energy to Lisbon in 2013 already: Copenhagen Coffee Lab.
Google maps:
They have multiple locations across the city, and we visited their Alfama cafe.
The place is in one of the many picturesque mini streets of Lisbon, with the historic tram running through it – it can get pretty tight there.
Going down into the cafe is a welcome escape from the heat of the late summer, as it is in a basement with a patio in the back and plenty airflow throughout.
For brunch, it seems to get pretty busy and staff was still busy cleaning up after the apparent big wave of people that we had just missed (we visited just after noon on a Sunday).
At our visit, 3 different beans were available for pour-over: A Colombian, a Kenyan and an Ethiopian. I would say that the Colombian and Ethiopian beans were a little old; they had been roasted end of July but were still offered by late September. We went for the Kenyan beans which were roasted ‘only’ 3 weeks ago (end of July).
The pour was, despite visible exhaustion, excellent. Filter and other components were rinsed, scale and timer in check throughout. Also, water was poured very slowly and steadily – many would be much more hasty than that.
The result was a clear cup with a lot of lime taste, and a bit of black currant.
Overall a happy visit due to great execution of pour and a tasty coffee; but in our opinion it could be even better with really fresh beans.
