Chapter 1 New Coffee Hot Spot in Berlin
Exclusive interview - First Siphon Bar in Germany!
In december 2011 Nora Smahelová opened Chapter 1 in Berlin. It's the first coffeebar in Germany where you can taste coffee prepared on the Bonmac Hikari Siphon Bar. Specialtycoffee's Maarten van der Jagt had an exclusive interview with Nora.
Why did you want to start your own espressobar?
I´ve been working with coffee since 13 years, mostly as a part-time barista in different shops in Berlin. In 2002 I won the German barista championship and had the chance to compete at the WBC in Oslo. This was my first real contact to the amazing world of specialty coffee. Since then I started to be more involved into judging at national barista competitions and tried to get as many information as possible about specialty coffee... Last year I finished my studies at the University of Arts and decided to open my very own coffeeplace together with my businesspartner Björn with whom I've worked together in a coffeeshop. We came to the conclusion that we have the same goals.
Since last year I´m a WBC certified judge and traveled a lot. So the urge to create an own coffeeplace became stronger and stronger... on the other hand it became more difficult to find a place to work where the quality matched our vision. Another point was to have the possibility to design our own space, a perfect fusion of my two professions: product design and coffee. It`s comparable with a big portfolio, a platform where you present your skills.
Location is very important for a successful espressobar. What was on your shortlist that had to be fullfilled?
Hmm, that`s a very difficult question. You never know how it pans out when you`re planning something. For us it was very important to find a place with a certain atmosphere. Our idea was to find a place where you feel right at home; a space which reflects the spirit of old Berlin. In addition it should be in a nice neighborhood where the locals have a certain appreciation of quality. I always dreamt of a place with old tiles on the floor and lucky for us we found it...
How is the coffee culture in Berlin?
Fortunate for us in development. We are very happy to have the biggest coffee community of Germany and the most coffeeshops which serve specialty coffee. I believe this is the advantage of living in a major city. Nevertheless we still have a lot of space and need for new ideas and have to work very hard to inform people about specialty coffee. In Germany a very dark espresso is still very dominant in combination with huge amounts of milk.
The coffee culture in Germany is milk based. How do you cope with that, if you want to promote or focus on the coffee itself?
It took quite some time to find the right compromise for this problem. As a result we only serve small amounts. The largest one is a Caffe Latte, based on a double espresso and smaller than a 10oz cup. We only use milk of the highest quality, produced by local farmers.
Most of our customers get really snoopy when they see our brew bar, which on purpose we have placed in the centre of our counter so they try our filter coffees. As a result we already have a lot of regulars who completely changed their coffee habits and now only drink filter coffee.
You also work with the siphon bar. How do customers react?
Our customers love the siphon bar. Most of them have never seen one so they are impressed by the visual play. The majority of our clients is not used to get so many detailed information about the way of preparation, the preparation and the end result in the cup. We have one price for all brewed coffees, although the ceremony of preparing a siphon is more spectacular than other brewing methods, it has the same status. The customers have a lower inhibition level to order it.
Which kind of coffee do you use for the siphon?
We serve all the filter coffees which in our view are showcased in taste by the preparation in a siphon. We don`t have a fixed coffee for the siphon because we want to take our customers on a expedition and let them discover for themselves the possibilities and experience more about how coffee can taste and get an idea of the whole coffee chain from the plant to the cup.
Do you want to share a recommendation when using the siphon bar with other baristas?
We have the luck to use the Bonmac Hikari Siphon Bar in our shop. Before I only worked with single Siphon units and with slower heat sources. The Bonmac is very easy, fast and not as complicated. You can work parallel very well because the machine has integrated timers and a very good temperature control. In addition we have a battery off six siphons whichmakes the workflow much easier. I think a lot of people still think that it takes a lot of time to prepare a siphon. In my opinion it`s faster than to brew a hario v60, woodneck or a chemex. Aeropress depends on the technique you apply....
You have chosen to work on the Linea from La Marzocco. Why?
I know La Marzocco machines since I started working as a barista. Beside the usability of the La Marzocco machines, I like the philosophy of the company, the corporate identity and in addition the members of the La Marzocco family are good friends of mine. As a product designer I prefer simple and ageless design, clear shapes, solid materials and durability of products. The machine is a perfect combination of classical design and modern technology and it visually fits perfect in the interior.
With so much passion for high-end coffee, how do you share this with customers who are not familiar with specialty coffee. Do you offer them free cuppings?
Our coffeeplace is still a work in progress. We have a huge basement where we plan public coffee related events such as cuppings, lectures (history, harvest, processing, roasting, brewing) and trainings for professional as well as home baristas. At the moment we serve free samples of filter coffee several times a day...
Beside coffee, do you offer sandwiches and cakes?
We concentrate on coffee and offer a minmum amount of food in our coffeeshop. We sell self made cookies baked by my mother and Franzbrötchen which is a specialty from Hamburg made by hand by a traditional pastry shop named Café Schmidt, based in Hamburg Altona. In the future we plan to sell two kinds of sandwiches with ham and cheese. The bread: we plan to bake the bread ourself. The ham and cheese we get from relatives of Björn, who have an organic farm near Osnabrück. For us it`s really important to know where the products come from and they have to fulfill our claim of quality.
Which specialty coffees are on this weeks menu?
We like alternation in our daily routine and in addition we want to show the diversity of coffee. That means we change the coffees quite often. We always have coffee on our shelf and sometimes have coffee which is produced by a small roaster in Hamburg named Quijote Rösterei. Their concept is based on transparency, you can see all the contracts of the whole chain, from seed to cup, online. Beside that we like to support other small roasteries in Germany and always have a guest coffee. Let me think of this week: for the filter coffees we have a brazil bob-o-link and sidamo suko quto grade 2 roasted by Quijote Kaffee and sidama dara kebado and Kenya nyeri district gatina lot roasted by jb kaffee.
On the hopper for espresso we had four different espressos all roasted by Quijote Kaffee. Today e.g. it`s a blend of Brazil Bob-o-link, Guatemala Atitlán and Ethiopia Gayo Amaro.
General info
Chapter One Coffee Berlin
Mittenwalder Straße 30
10961 Berlin
Filter: Siphon, Hario V60, Aeropress, Chemex, Woodneck
Espresso: La Marzocco Linea, K30 Vario
Coffee: Quijote Kaffee and guest coffees
When: opening times for now ( open since 18th of December, so we have to check out the habits of the surroundings )
Monday: closed
Tuesday-Saturday: 9.00-18.00
Sunday/Holiday: 11.00-18.00
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