Each winter, Blossa, one of the most popular glögg producers, puts out a special edition flavor. For the end of 2011 that flavor was revealed as “Arabica Coffee.” It turns out the beans they used were sourced from Finca las Delicias, El Salvador, and roasted by Sweden’s largest specialty roaster, Johan & Nystrom. I couldn’t wait to try it and see what the blend would taste like!

I really enjoyed the flavor of the glögg, but the coffee was so subtle that it was almost imperceptible to me, overpowered by the wine and spices. I’m not sure it’s worth paying the premium for the special edition, when other glögg’s taste quite similar. Have you tried it? What did you think?

Perhaps the coffee they chose was too safe; coffees from El Salvador, in my experience, tends to be middle of the road in flavor, nice and balanced, but not often surprising or full of character. I wonder what a more distinctive coffee might have brought to the already strong flavors present in glögg. Maybe we’ll see some other coffee roasters start experimenting with their own ideas, branching off from the more trendy beer collaborations? If you hear of any, do share! Also, if you know where I can get glögged up in New York, pass the word in the comments – I’m sure others would be curious too.

Anyways, to get you into the mood for some glögg, I’m posting some pictures I took this winter and the winter of 2010 in Sweden and Denmark :)

October saw Malmö getting quite a few visits from coffee industry folks from as far off as Japan. These days it seems like the world is a really small place when you can bump into people at multiple points on the globe by chance. File that under #firstworldnovelties. But if you didn’t have the pleasure of dropping in last month, here are some photos to tide you over and give you a taste of what life is like here.

Looking at these pictures I realize I take a lot of shots that showcase the materiality of the city, but not many of the people that live in it — and while I do love architecture and artifacts, maybe I need a longer lens, or less inhibition sticking my camera in people’s faces? I hope you enjoy the pictures regardless!

Here are a few pictures from today’s rainy visit to Dan at Solde with Luis from Cafe 14, and a visit from Emil with Fabian at Te & Kaffehuset.

It’s been a coffee filled couple of weeks for me here in Malmö. I’ve been biking around the city and visiting a few cafes, tasting the following coffees (I didn’t write notes because I wasn’t planning on posting anything, so excuse the incompleteness and any mistakes):

Koppi – Hama, Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia
Koppi – Misty Valley Microlot, Ethiopia
Love Coffee – Kebado Dara, Ethiopia (I think)
Coffee Collective – Hacienda Esmeralda, Panama (Geisha)
Coffee Collective – Gichathaini (I think, it may have been Kieni)

All of the Ethiopian coffees are nice, but don’t really stand out. What happened to the amazing blueberry and strawberry notes that were prevalent in the best Ethiopian coffees of a few years ago? Is this just how Swedish roasters interpret the coffee’s ideal flavor, or is this the result of changes in the Ethiopian coffee export system? Both? Neither?

On a positive note, the Esmeralda Geisha is tasting even more citrusy than what Coffee Collective had last year. A treat.

I tried a number of espresso blends as well, a few of which included:

Haugaard’s Akura (I think it was a natural processed Caturra from Esmeralda, Panama + Mountain Top Peaberry from Australia) which was still too fresh, but I look forward to tasting it when it’s rested longer.

Love Coffee’s current ‘Concrete Jungle’ blend, the contents of which I forgot to write down; tastes very nice, and much better than a couple weeks ago.

Something from Kulbay, forgot the name – Saudade?

Solde’s special blend for Te & Kaffehuset, as well as their own current blend – which is tasting great. Hints of citrus and almond in a cappuccino, if my taste buds weren’t playing tricks on me.

Good times!

As it turns out, Cafe Lomi is a small roastery and workshop, not a public cafe. Despite appearing busy when we knocked on the door, Aleaume Paturle of Lomi was kind enough to invite Claire and me in.

In our quest for coffee we had interrupted a little barista jam between Thomas Lehoux, training for the French barista championship, and David Flynn, formerly of Murky Coffee in Washington D.C. We had a nice chat and learned about their Frog Fights barista meet-ups, which appear to be growing more and more popular – especially after being featured in the NYT several days after we’d talked to them.

That kind of energy brewing under the surface of the French coffee scene is a good thing. As Oliver Strand at the New York Times has written, the coffee in Paris is generally quite bad. If you look at the reader comments on his articles, you’ll see a lot of silly nationalistic (and misplaced anti-nationalistic) umbrage. But the fact remains, the overall standard for coffee is quite low in Paris. This is because many of the basic tenets of quality coffee practice are not observed. Sure, the same could be said of most major cities in the US, but over the past decade you’ve seen an ever expanding number of cafes and roasteries that are pursuing a higher level of craft and generally raising the bar across the industry.

Cafe Lomi has a pleasant storefront that is completely anonymous when they're closed (I know because I tried finding it three or four times haha).

While high end (or aspiring) cafes and roasteries are popping up all over the place in the US and abroad, if you’re looking for a good coffee in Paris you’re basically limited to La Cafeotheque. Unfortunately when I tried to visit they were closed, but by all accounts they have been the standard bearer for the Parisian specialty coffee scene – sourcing and roasting quality single origin coffee and attempting to maintain some level of consistency and quality in staff training. (Map)

Oliver Strand also suggests visiting David at Le Bal, and I’ll second that recommendation.

So, I look forward to visiting Paris again some time. Hopefully we’ll see Frog Fights and other barista gigs pushing the level of knowledge and quality upwards! With such a rich gastronomic tradition, France is long overdue for a coffee revolution.

A few more random touristy photos from Paris :)

Inside the Pompidou, which was excellent! Their de Stilj exhibit was one of the most comprehensive I've ever seen. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Pompidou Center has great views of the city.

Acide Macaron - owned by Jonathon Blot, trained by Alain Ducasse. I'm not a macaron connoisseur, but these made me a believer.

Christmas day organ recital at Notre Dame Cathedral

From what I gather, they roast in the shop (and have been doing so for almost 90 years?!), though I didn’t get to see what they’re roasting with. I’ll try to follow up on this, just for curiosity’s sake.

Had a really bad experience at this cafe, definitely wouldn’t recommend it. But their interior is insane, check it out.