
Kottbusser Tor – yes, Berlin’s most hyped crime hotspot – is now gaining an improbable rep as a coffee hub. Just in the past several months, two shiny new cafés have opened in courtyards off the scuzzy main drag of Adalbertstraße. First, a second branch of decade-old Penzlauer Berg caffeine scene staple Bonanza. It’s a bigger, grander location: less neighbourhood hang, more coffee temple. Here, refurbished vintage roasters lightly toast the (ethically sourced) beans for both cafés (and all the other businesses around town that sell Bonanza coffee), giving them that acidic, fruity flavour profile we’ve come to expect, like in the €5 bottomless drip. But Bonanza looks positively antiquated next to The Visit (photo), a newbie roaster down the street opened by Berliner Cihan Kocak (also of Mitte coffee shop The Refinery) and Polish Bonanza alumnus Damian Durda. Picture an Apple store dedicated to coffee: polished, white, filled with futuristic gizmos that gauge the colour of each roast and help conduct water through grounds in a million different ways. The speciality here is “nitro coffee”: cold-brew coffee treated with nitrogen and served out of a tap. The result is a Guinness-like concoction, refreshing and creamy whether served black or white. At €3.50 it isn’t exactly cheap, but then again, caffeine’s still the least expensive drug sold in the area.
Bonanza Kreuzberg Adalbertstr. 70, Kreuzberg, Mon-Fri 9-17, Sat-Sun 10-17 The Visit Adalbertstr. 9, Kreuzberg, Mon-Sun 8-20