Blikle desert shops - part 1

Desert comes first, then coffee

These fancy looking, welcoming and chocolaty smelling Blikle desert shops have been tempting me for a while. Usually lacking time I would just pass those with a thought that I must pop in one of those later. Love that wood in décor. Gives you a feel of quality and traditions going far into the old times. The rest also looks rich.
Really hard to ignore deserts in such a nice shop. Yet, I did this time, cuz I just wanted to try their coffee. And I know well that little cup of espresso and desert don't really go together. Desert requires a cappuccino or at least americano. Agree?

The place was empty with just me sitting and sipping espresso. I noticed a sweet modern machine these guys make espresso with. Can't tell you the brand, I tried not to be too intrusive or paparazzi to the barista/shop assistant lady. She was busy tiding the place, taking away the free cake samples (shoot, I was just a minute late for free stuff!).
Was coffee great? Rather ok, than something extraordinary. Crema wasn't that thick, and body was kinda too watery. However, it was good enough, generally speaking. I'm not sure on how much attention coffee gets in desert shops and Blikle in particular.
Cakes occupy the podium here. There is also wine being sold. My guess coffee is not number#1 drink. Yet, if you are craving for desert and would like to accompany it with a big coffee, you are very welcome. It is decent enough.

'Tea and Coffee shop' coffee boutiques - part 1

More tea than coffee boutique

While various crazy ideas keep coming to my mind, this particular one made me chew on it for a bit. How about visiting big malls and checking out what coffee options they have? I've got a series of posts on grocery stores, but this is different. We face a different level here. While supermarkets do have quite a choice of coffee brands, these small boutiques are specialised in selling only coffee and tea. I guess their goal is to offer premium coffee and sophisticated service for those who are looking for more or longing for some new taste, top level quality and so on.

MODO mall has a gazillion of boutiques with clothes. It is enormous! If you care about fashion, there is a place for you here. One can easily spend a whole day here shopping and still cover maybe only half.

As for me, my heart is sold to coffee, and of course this tiny cute coffee shop caught my attention. I couldn't ignore it, so I walked in. Lady at the desk was nice to ask me whether I wanted anything in particular. I asked for lighter roast (for those who don't own an espresso machine at home) and rather acidic than bitter. Here you could smell the coffee, which I surely did. Coffee samples are stored in special glass containers, yet I could hardly tell the aroma at all. So I went for the one that had a light but pleasant one. Columbia Supremo La Ceibe. How do you like these small pretty red packs? Remind you of tea ones, don't they? As you can see, only 50 grams to start with and see if it is worth coming back for more.

The prices vary from 10 zł (2.5$) to about 30zł (7.5$) per 100 gr of coffee. Definitely higher than supermarket options, even the Tchibo premium stuff, yet still cheaper than for e.g. Krakow's Coffee Proficiency or German Bonanza Roasters. 3 out of 4 on my coffee price scale where 4 is the highest and hits your wallet hard every time.

Nothing else to wait for, let's try it. So i did two turns. Both pour over, with temperature first 90C, and then second 85C. My expectations were not met, I must say. On grinding the coffee smelled nice, but when brewed - not that much. The roast was meant to be light, yet turned out still darker than acceptable for filter coffee or home coffee equipment.

If I had to add cream the first time, the second go was much better. After cooling down a little, I could even feel some pleasant sourness. I'm pretty sure Columbia has more there than this dark roast actually releases. I envy you guys who have espresso machines. Looks like you got more options with coffee out there. To sum it up, Tea and Coffee Shop coffee should be brewed on the lower temperature edge of 80-85C. Otherwise one ought to add milk, cream or sugar. In case you like coffee with milk, then welcome to this shop. Their coffee goes well with milk.

P.S. They got some really good yellow tea there. Maybe it is more of a tea than coffee boutique?