LOKAL | COPENHAGEN
MEMOIRES OF A GEISHA
Barely a year old, this specialty coffee shop combined with a ceramic/art store, sit's on a favourable angle along Sønder Boulevard. The coffee shop is mostly designed as a grab-and-go, but there are seating options along both windows. A collection of coffees line the shelves, which rotate occasionally and at the time of visiting were from the new roaster Poma.
They are worth more of a deep dive into, so if you're interested you can read about them here.
Their house espresso and regular pour-over is from nearby Prolog, a stallwart in the Danish third-wave industry. Their coffees are solid and well suited.
George, who was in charge of preparations, suggested the Geisha from Poma as a decision worth taking on a slightly chilly Saturday, and I whole-heartedly approved. The coffee was prepared in a surprisingly large dose, yielding over 300ml. To keep the coffee crisp, sweet and delicate, George explained they had a length process of dialing in the grind size, until they were happy with the way the Geisha tasted as it cooled through different temperatures.
The cup was bright and heavily accented by stone-fruits. Peach, if I were to be specific. Lots of yellow acidity, tart and fresh, something that turned a tiny bit sour when it cooled. A vibrant and lovely cup of coffee that didn't suffer from a lot of the repercussions of processing.
* Bonus points for delivering the coffee in a server, as it annoys the heck out of me when cafes pour the entire contents into a cup and fling it on your table.
In a crowded market -literally within a radius of 500 meters you have Prolog, Orsa, Enghave Kaffe, Darcy's- Lokal have differentiated themselves by not going for a similar crowd. This seems to be more a place someone would pop by after a visit to a nearby gallery, and spend a bit of time consciously enjoying a well-prepared cup.
Sure you'll always have the customers grabbing a flat white to-go, but every penny counts when you try something different, and as an art shop and cafe, they'll need to navigate how to adapt over time.
Lokal is a promising addition to the Copenhagen specialty coffee market, and if they keep choosing exciting roasters to showcase, they'll encourage return customers to keep investigating.
