Specialty coffee Zagreb

Zagreb, and Croatian in general, like coffee. You won't be seeing any resemblance with Turkey, the country and their people with which the Croats 

shared some time in history, starting from the 13th century.

Croatia's next neighbour, Hungary, spent 150 years under Turkish rule, leaving some remnants of their culture in the capital, but not in Zagreb.

And certainly not in the form of coffee, though oddly enough, Croats do drink Turkish coffee.

That may have been more so in the past, but with specialty coffee, more and more roasting facilities around Croatia (notably in Zagreb), the Croatians, those aged between 20 and 40 now gravitate towards specialty coffee.

I'd say Italy and Croatia are very much alike concerning their love for this warm drink.

Wherever you go around Zagreb, you'll most probably make a note to yourself: These Croatians are so idle. They just sit around, mostly in company, and while away their time drinking coffee all day long.

Coffee as a necessary routine, also when doing business

 You'll see coffee on tables in cafes in the capital.

Espresso is much loved here alongside capuccino.

Names like "americano", "cafe latte", "cortado" are also understood. 

Coffee is a universal language here. It binds people together.

Not only do Croats socialize during drinking specialty coffee, they also do business while having coffee.

It's so normal to invite a potential customer to have some coffee with you and try to wrap a deal over a drink (not necessarily coffee though), that "coffee" entered speech to mean any kind of socialising or spending time with someone, a client or friend.

When did specialty coffee arrive in Zagreb, Croatia?

I don't know the exact moment when specialty coffee entered the Zagreb scene, but I recall the opening of the first coffee shop in Zagreb where they served just that: It was Cogito in Varšavska street. In the city centre, inside a small alley, drawn back from one of the main shopping streets in the centre. And they served their very own brand, locally roasted some 2-3 streets away, close to the Botanical Gardens and the Main Train Station.

I mentioned them, as they are still heavily in the coffee business, although there's another specialty coffee shop, led by one-time barista champion, that actually introduced specialty. Elli's in Ilica street. It's a bit hard to find their space open, as they now work shorter hours, but you can see the apparatus with which they roast and make their coffee inside, in the space hidden in the back.

You can have a detailed look at the current specialty coffee scene in Zagreb.

On to some photos now:

From top to bottom: 

- a visitor inside one of the most classiest interiors in Zagreb serving coffee, today it is the space to have dinner or lunch at alongside coffee or wine (today's Sol)

- past exhibition on new Croatian design (the "džezva" - the pot in which Croatians make their Turkish coffee)

- me with specialty coffee shop owner (Monocycle Coffee)