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"
Rosie's Coffee & Wine in Malmö, Sweden

Rosie’s Coffee & Wine in Malmö, Sweden

A humble apology for the lack of updates lately – I’m finishing up my masters in applied cultural analysis at Lund University, and it has been taking up all of my concentration. On the bright side, I just recently made a trip back to Sweden for a few seminars and meetings, and got to visit...
A visit to Tapped & Packed, London

A visit to Tapped & Packed, London

I wanted to share a few photos I took of Tapped & Packed, a specialty cafe with two locations in London – marked on the outside only by their street numbers “114″ or “26.” Each space is different, with No. 26 feeling more like a cozy neighborhood haunt, and No. 114 like a destination you’d...
Blue Bottle Coffee, Manhattan

Blue Bottle Coffee, Manhattan

Blue Bottle has been one of the bigger success stories in specialty coffee, garnering press and praise since the early 2000s, starting with its locations in San Francisco. Since then, they’ve expanded rapidly, with recent profit growth of 50% each year. Blue Bottle excels in creating and telling its own trend-setting story about coffee, using...
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...