Rapid café rebirth & spread of the specialty coffee scene after communist rule

Slovakia, another fascinating country in central East Europe that is often overlooked by the West...But, from Bratislava & beyond, the country is actually a hive of activity for fascinating roasters & cafes. We have searched high and low through this land and found four of the finest roasters each with a special coffee that complete a very elite set of coffees from the heart of Eastern Europe!

Triple Five Coffee

(Bratislava, Slovakia)

Martin Beniak founded Triple Five Coffee Roasters in Slovakia in 2017 with his passion for coffee roasting that started from a transformative experience with an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, leading him to work as a barista and apprentice roaster. Martin is very passionate about Japan and shapes how he views coffee roasting as he sees it as a form of art. “There’s just something about Japanese craftsmanship that has this spiritual quality you don’t find in Europe or America... and for me, the coffee I roast I put all my heart and soul into.”

Triple Five is our trusted roaster in Slovakia, always bringing us sophisticated flavours with the nicest attitude. The Finca El Dragón honey cold fermentation is one such a coffee, not only that, it’s a super nano-lot not available anywhere else (and we exclusively purchased this coffee)!

Finca El Dragón (Right Roast Exclusive Coffee)

Caramel, Strawberry & Light Citron

Origin: Costa Rica
Roast Type: Filter
Region: San Francisco, Tarrazu
Process: Honey cold fermentation
Variety: Red & Yellow Catuai
Altitude: 1830m

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Finca el Dragón is run by Enrique Ardón and his wife Maricruz Jiménez and Enrique is a good friend of Triple Five. He is their exclusive farmer and sends all the production that exports outside of Costa Rica just to them, in return Triple Five gives support in Enrique’s new fermentation procedures. The crop is a complete nano-lot exclusive to Triple Five and now we purchased for the Coffee Club exclusively as well.

This coffee has been processed so that the cherries must contain a precisely defined amount of sugar and then they are harvested. After removing the pulp, the coffee beans are moved into plastic containers with the pulp for 3 days in a cool part of the house where the temperature is stable. After removing the pulp, the coffee is dried in the sun for 8 days.

Diamond’s Roastery

(Dunajská Lužná, Slovakia)

Diamond's Roastery, sits in Dunajská Lužná just off Bratislava, has been lovingly run by a husband & wife team Tomáš and Dáša for 10 years. Their journey started in 2014 learning to roast with a plastic popcorn maker. Finding the quality lacking, they sourced better coffee from a British roastery and began learning. After attending a roasting course in Kyiv, they switched to a 3kg gas roaster and officially set up their roastery. They would even become one of the pioneers of specialty coffee roasters in the country.

Their ethos is simple, “Every day we search for you the tastiest coffee delicacies from around the world, which, through professional and careful roasting, we get not only into your mouth, but also into your hearts.” This is the first time we’re featuring Vietnamese coffee in our Coffee Club and it’s thanks to Diamond’s skills highlighting deliciously delicate flavours from Asia!

Langbiang

Orange, Caramel, Honey & Cane Sugar

Origin: Vietnam
Roast Type: Filter
Region: Lac Duong district
Process: Double Washed
Variety: Catimor
Altitude: 1650m

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This coffee was produced by Slovakian Marián Takač living in Vietnam. It was thanks to his wife Lim, that he discovered his passion for coffee. Diamond’s have been following this lot for several years, as Marián has been sending them samples for the last 5 years. This year, the result of his work literally blew them away, and for the first time they decided to purchase his coffee.

Twice-washed processing, sometimes called double fermentation creates an exceptionally clean profile by removing all the pulp from the coffee beans before they are dried. Fermentation takes 36-48 hours depending on climatic conditions, water temperature and PH level. This is clearly the tastiest lot from this year's production, reminds of African washed coffees from Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya.

Red Fawn Coffee Roasters

(Trnava, Slovakia)

Established in 2018 in the historic town of Trnava, Red Fawn is a family-owned roastery passionate about specialty coffee and inspired by Scandinavian roasters. Founded by brothers Peter and Andreas Farkas, Peter manages roasting and quality control, while Andreas oversees the coffee shop, packaging, and logistics. The roastery is named after the red fawn coat of their French Bulldog, the logo symbolises enthusiasm and creativity. They source only specialty coffee from fresh harvests scoring 82+ points, focusing on unique, flavour-complex beans. Their roasting style brings out the character and uniqueness of each coffee.

They are the only discovery roaster in the set this month. It was difficult to choose one as we loved all of their coffees, but the Los Angeles from El Salvador stood out with its special character and sweet notes of apple pie!

Los Angeles

Apple, Kiwi, Plum & Milk chocolate

Origin: El Salvador
Roast Type: Omni
Region: Ahuachapán
Process: Honey
Variety: Pacamara
Altitude: 1890m

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The coffee is selectively harvested and then taken to Beneficio San Rafael. In the harvest a football field becomes a wet mill and filled with drying beds for all the coffees that come from the farms Los Angeles and Noruega. Here the coffee is washed and floated and then taken to the beds where it dries from 8:30-14:30 and then covered from mid-late afternoon. The coffee is moved every hour on the beds and takes around 30 days to dry.

Los Angeles is part of the Los Naranjos group headed by Sigfredo Corado a retired professor of Agronomy from the National School of Agriculture. The farm is part of the Renacer (Reborn) Program which is a technical coffee field school and educational program for producers in the area to learn about better farm management practices.

Goriffee

(Bratislava, Slovakia)

Goriffee, was founded by three dedicated coffee enthusiasts: Erik Šimšík, Matej Hambalko, and Amir Al Jabri. Their journey began in late 2013 with a focus on importing specialty Arabica coffee from Rwanda, drawn by its exceptional quality. Mountain gorillas, the national symbol of Rwanda, inspired their name too, combining the words ‘gorilla’ and ‘coffee’. They soon started offering exquisite microlots from Ethiopia, Kenya, Colombia, and other coffee-growing regions around the globe too and Goriffee, who’s journey we have witnessed from the start, is now marking their 11th year.

We are delighted to be working with the lovely team once more. This time they give us a superb clean, bright and sweet Ethiopian natural coffee called Boku Hambela and is a fruity coffee that’s perfect for summertime brews.

Boku Hambela

Peach, Raspberry & Mango

Origin: Ethiopia
Roast Type: Filter
Region: Idido
Process: Natural
Variety: Heirloom
Altitude: 1900m

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Other years coffees from Ethiopia were rather disappointing, but this year Ethiopia had a great harvest and great coffees are coming.

This naturally processed Boku Hambela coffee is a sensory delight that transports you to a fresh, sun-drenched orchard. Grown in the fertile highlands of Ethiopia, this coffee exemplifies the region's rich coffee heritage and meticulous processing techniques.

After the hand-picking and removal of any over-ripe or unripe cherries, the remaining ones are dry-fermented on raised beds. They are usually turned frequently throughout the day and covered during the central hours of the day and night. They dry for 7-10 days. After a strict sorting, are milled and finally, packed and ready to be sold.