My own latest coffee tour in Barcelona had the best possible starting point: Nomad Coffee! Started and run by Jordi Mester, they have three spots in Barcelona and on top of that plenty of places also serve their coffee. But I was lucky enough that my hotel was just two blocks from the location where they in fact roast coffee: Roasters Home. So there I enjoyed a double espresso from Colombia while I watched them roast a new batch. This coffee was grown by Juan Pablo Penagos at Finca Santa Helena (1670 masl), a washed coffee varietal Castillo Naranjal. It has a good body, fruity sweetness, a hint of almonds in the aftertaste. I do appreciate acidity in my espresso, but i think it was a bit too acid. Talking to the barista, she agreed that the batch from which I was drinking was roasted a bit too light.
I then head to the downtown to buy one of my favorite cookies: alfajores. These are not traditional from Barcelona, but the best known brand (Havanna) from Argentina does have stores in Barcelona. Unfortunately as good as the cookies are at Havana, the espresso is not as remarkable. It was bitter and had almost no crema.
My next stop is Cometa: a cozy lunchroom and coffee place south from the downtown. Funny enough, I was not aware that they serve Nomad’s coffee. So well, instead of asking for an espresso to taste the coffee I had a cortado, my favourite coffee drink, and some cake. The menu said it was the same Santa Helena coffee that I had in the morning, but this time I didn’t feel the acidity nor the fruity sweetness. So, to clear up any doubt I ordered an espresso and I confirmed with the waiter that it was indeed the Santa Helena. But different barista, different taste: I think the espresso machine here is set to a too high temperature or the barista is just overextracting the coffee because it was not the same as directly from Nomad.
One more place in my list was Satan’s Coffee at Gran Via. I heard about Satan’s as being one of the first specialty coffee bars in Barcelona set up by Marcos Bartolomé. They serve coffee roasted by Right side coffee. Satan’s Coffee is located inside the design hotel Casa Bonay. The space is nice, open and light and it reminds me of places in Australia, actually. The day I was there they were serving Colombian coffee from La Victoria in the Huila region. Grown at 1900 masl this Caturra was grown and washed by Yisela Piso and roasted one week ago. The espresso blew me away! It was very nicely balanced; it had acidity as from cider, a herbal flavour in the mouth and an aftertaste like pears and caramel.
Pretty high on caffeine by now I moved on to another legendary coffee place in Barcelona: Cafes El Magnifico in the Gothic neighborhood of downtown Barcelona. When I entered this coffee temple I ran into Salvador Sans, the current owner. He is the third generation now in charge of this place that was founded in 1919. The baristas were busy with a short queue and so there was not much time to chat. I ordered first an espresso: the coffee served that day was Red Bourbon from Montecristo, Nicaragua. This coffee is grown by Jaime Jose Molina Fiallos, at 1300 to 1450 masl and the process is honey. It was strong and had a full body but a bit on the bitter side for my taste. As the small sitting area emptied I take my chance to taste something else so I ordered an Aeropress with coffee from the farms Himalaya and Divisadero from El Salvador. Their coffee menu is extensive. After a few minutes I decided to taste this coffee grown by Mauricio Salaverria at 1500 masl. The varietals are Red Caturra and Pacamara and the process is honey. I followed the barista next door, literally, to enjoy the ritual that you can see in the video.
Served in a wine glass, I enjoyed the chocolate and praline fragrance. In the mouth it has a medium body and low acidity. The first taste was silky followed by sweet with hints of candied fruit, caramel and a spicy finish. While drinking I have the opportunity to chat with Mr. Sans, a coffee connaisseur.
Every time I come to Barcelona I discover new places, or traditional places with new coffee offers. Time always come short, see you soon Barcelona!