Tag Archives: Hamburg

Kaffetur 27 / Coffee Tour #27: Playground Coffee, Hamburg Germany

This week’s coffee tour is a bit of a throw-back.
While Zack was visiting friend in Germany last year, he had the chance to pop into Playground Coffee.
Playground is housed inside Otto’s Burgers, a very popular spot for burgers, and weekend brunch.

As it turned out on his visit, Otto’s had recently endured a fire. As such, the windows clearly explained,

NO BURGER
Just Coffee

Then again, coffee was exactly what Zack was looking for.

Playground’s set-up is no-frills. A quality third wave coffee shop with some playful splashes of color and chalkboard design thrown in. After all, you gotta find a bit of vintage style when you find yourself with prime real estate in a university neighborhood.

The barista behind the counter was from Australia. He had vast experience and really knew his stuff.

Zack thoroughly enjoyed his pour over.

Playground’s coffee packaging is almost as enjoyable as its coffee. Be sure to check it out on their website.

Learn more about Playground by visiting
https://www.playground-coffee.com

Kaffetur 3 / Coffee Tour #3: Elbgold Kaffee, Hamburg Germany

The more we look, the more it seems an allusive thing. Finding that perfect combination of ambiance and high-quality coffee. And particularly difficult to track down good handcrafted coffee nestled in a place where you want to sit for more than just a few minutes.

And with that, I introduce our readers to Elbgold Kaffee.
Located in an artsy neighborhood of Hamburg, Germany, they have a great selection of coffee for purchase in-house or take-away. They partner with well-known local shops to offer pastries and other baked goods through the day. And their selection of fair-trade beans, all roasted in-house, is quite extensive. Not quite the perfect combination that we are ultimately on a quest for, Elbgold nevertheless offers great coffee and a fun atmosphere.

Aesthetically pleasing coffee shops that offer excellent coffee are always a plus.

Elbgold incorporates several common elements of the current wave of coffee shops into their location: chalkboards, high ceilings and exposed rafters to create that warehouse vibe, a neutral color palette, and seating crafted from coffee bags. The overall feel is relaxed but not overly cozy, leaning instead more towards trendy, a place to be seen. It is busy, and it can get a bit loud [not necessarily the worst thing when you have the kids in tow].

Ample seating indoors and out provides plenty of opportunity for sitting and enjoying a fine coffee. The traditional tables and chairs were a bit odd to me, but they do offer a number of food options on the menu.

I know, I was shocked as well. Who knew people went to coffee shops for something other than coffee?!?

For many people, the atmosphere makes or breaks a place.

But to us, it really is about the coffee. And Elbgold offers quality coffee. We were definitely pleased with what we ordered. Of course we have only been once and that was last year, so I can only speak to that experience. But with such a massive space and such quality beans, it would sure be nice to see some more time and attention given to handcrafted drinks.

Still, the coffee was really good. And in the summertime, a nice cold brew is always a welcomed treat.

 

Overall, we enjoyed the coffee at Elbgold.

Daniel enjoyed it as well! He is always
more than happy to finish off the last sips.
A kid who loves black coffee?!?

So much so that we decided to take one more for the road!

 

You can learn more about Elbgold here (I hope your German is better than mine!).