Fresh Ground is a blog for global nomads and kindred cosmopolitans. Plan your own trip, or follow along with my guides to cafes and reviews of the world's best coffee in Asia, Europe, North America, and beyond.

Posts tagged "cafe"
Prufrock Coffee, London

Prufrock Coffee, London

Prufrock Coffee is home to Gwilym Davies, 2009 World Barista Champion. The affable, scruffy bearded barista who lives on a boat has assembled a talented supporting cast at two locations in London. My favorite is Prufrock Cafe on Leather Lane, a large, airy and colorful space, inviting you to linger and enjoy one of the...
ST.ALi - Coffeebar, Cafe, Roastery in London

ST.ALi – Coffeebar, Cafe, Roastery in London

ST.ALi is an Aussie transplant that opened a London location in the Spring of 2011. They hope to “showcase our love for things that, while simple and accessible, are undeniably delicious,” which is a mission statement I can agree with. The cafe itself is massive, comprised of a ground floor coffee bar and roastery with...
Searching for the Best Coffee in Stockholm - Part 2

Searching for the Best Coffee in Stockholm – Part 2

Here’s part two recapping my Easter visit to Stockholm (click here if you missed part one). As it turns out, most shops were closed during the Easter holiday, but we did manage to stop at Drop Coffee and Snickarbacken 7, while peeking in at a couple other places. Cupcake STHLM One place we popped in...
Searching for the Best Coffee in Stockholm - Part 1

Searching for the Best Coffee in Stockholm – Part 1

Another post long overdue! During Easter break I took my first trip up to Stockholm (“sthlm” to the Swedes), riding one of the cheap Veolia trains that look like they’re from the 1950s. Stockholm at Easter is a city full of people relaxing in the park, barbecuing, or vacationing out in the country. Those good...
Solde Kaffebar - Malmö, Sweden

Solde Kaffebar – Malmö, Sweden

This post is incredibly long overdue given that one of the first people to welcome me to Sweden was Dan Stenqvist, blogger, barista extraordinaire, and roaster for Solde Kaffebar in Malmö. It’s been about nine months since I arrived, and I think I’ve been to Solde more often than any other coffee bar in Malmö....
Cafe 14 - Malmö, Sweden

Cafe 14 – Malmö, Sweden

UPDATE: Sadly Luis has sold his shop, but I’m pretty sure we haven’t heard the last from him! Keep an eye out for future updates. When I heard from Oscar that Luis from Cafe 14 was competing in next week’s Swedish Barista Cup (the winner goes on to the World Barista Championship), I had to...
Espressamente Illy - Seoul, Korea

Espressamente Illy – Seoul, Korea

A lot of coffee drinkers stumble upon Illy in their initial quests for better coffee. It’s hard to miss their shiny silver and red packaging in the supermarket or at the cafes serving their coffee. Established in the 1930s, Illy is family owned and known for pursuing scientific coffee research, and creating standards for brewing...
Coffee Collective - Copenhagen

Coffee Collective – Copenhagen

Coffee Collective is a world renowned Danish cafe and roastery, part-owned by 2006 World Barista Champion Klaus Thomsen, along with Peter Dupont, Casper Rasmussen, and Linus Törsäter. Their coffee is highly regarded and I’ve seen their bags proudly displayed like trophies behind the bar or in the back rooms of specialty cafes around the world....
Bear Pond Espresso, Tokyo

Bear Pond Espresso, Tokyo

Bear Pond is one of the better known specialty coffee destinations in Tokyo, having made a good impression on a number of blogs, magazines, and newspaper articles over the past few years. Owner Katsu Tanaka lived in the US for many years and apparently worked as a trainer with well known specialty coffee purveyors Counter...
Paul Bassett, Shinjuku, Tokyo

Paul Bassett, Shinjuku, Tokyo

Paul Bassett’s shop at Gosok Terminal in Seoul, Korea (article here), was one of my most frequented shops due to its consistently great espresso (though its convenient location didn’t hurt). They also have a shop in Tokyo that I had a chance to visit this past summer. It turns out that Paul Bassett’s Shinjuku cafe...
Streamer Coffee in Tokyo, Japan

Streamer Coffee in Tokyo, Japan

Streamer Coffee is a cool cafe located in a more residential part of Shibuya, not far from the station. It’s run by Hiroshi Sawada, a latte art champion, along with Takehiro Kato. They have quite an ambitious array of branded products (t-shirts, leather cup-holders, glass jars, etc. etc.), including some co-branded with Espresso Parts (you...
Anniversaire Cafe, Tokyo

Anniversaire Cafe, Tokyo

Omotesando is a neighborhood known for its cluster of high-fashion flagship stores (Chanel, Dior, Prada, you name it, it’s there), as well as its boulevard lined by Zelkova trees that provide welcome shade and refreshing greenery. It’s in this setting that we visited Anniversaire Cafe and found ourselves in the midst of a wedding ceremony,...