Espresso Embassy

As a result of the voting 'Which cozy places would you like us to visit and tell more about it?' the winner was the Espresso Embassy. As your wish is an order for us our next destination to discover was this amazing coffee house. 

This euphonic named coffee house lays in the downtown near St. Stephan Basilica. Just 5 minutes walking from Arany János metro station in the direction of the Danube and somewhere in the half way you can find yourself in front of this cozy coffee place.

As you step into the coffee house you are received by smiling friendly baristas, which always cheers you up and already transforms the place's atmosphere to a better one. Especially after a busy day a smiley face and a helpful service is more than welcomed. The interior of the place also creates a clean and calm feeling, which lures you inside and makes you stay. Our eyes were caught by the little coffee accessories next to the bar and of course by the delicious and fresh pastries.

After hesitating which of these yummy cookies to choose (as we always do with Petra :) ) we decided to order two different ones to be able to taste from each other's plate and at least in this way we could try out two freshly made cakes. I opted for a classic cappuccino and this time Petra went for a green tea. 

While having our coffee moment and being amazed by the perfect match of cakes we have chosen, the owner of the coffee house honored us by his presence and sat down between us to tell us the story of his place. 

We are always so happy and appreciate so much this warm welcoming of the owners, especially when they even took their time and sit down to have a moment with us. During this conversation we discovered a few interesting things about the place and its speciality. 

The owner of the place is a lawyer, but he always thought that opening a cute, little coffee house is a good idea and there is a social need for it. On the internet he got familiar with the new wave of the coffee culture and soon after he enrolled for a barista course, where he got passionate about coffee and learned about the importance of quality-oriented coffee. Then one day he said 'why not?' and decided to open the so called Printa coffee place first in 2010, which was followed by the Espresso Embassy in December of 2012. When we asked him what is the secret for a good coffee he said:  'everything'. Beginning from the good raw material, roasting of the coffee till the service everything makes part of a good coffee experience. The coffee served in the Espresso Embassy comes straight from an English roaster and they have dropcoffe from Sweden. He emphasized that is really important to have fresh coffee, therefore they try to use all of their coffee within one month and serve us solely fresh made coffee. Again he pointed out that everything lies in the details, that is why they pay attention to every little detail in the coffee house and try to strive for perfection. He added that it is not enough to have just a good coffee machine and that's it, a precise measurement of the pressure, temperature and quantity is highly important. 

What makes it different from other coffee houses is the attitude towards the quality. For him is really important as well the continues teaching of the staff about what is a good coffee. The only way of how a barista can serve you a good coffee is if he/she knows and tasted what a good-quality coffee means.

The interior of the place was also designed by a coffee fan who happens to be also an architect, so the nice and pertinent interior goes without explanation. :) I was curious and asked about the name of the place as well, why embassy? Does they want to refer to something grandiose with it? But the simple answer for it was because right upstairs in the building there is the Embassy of Montenegro and the addition of the word 'espresso' next to it was simply important to be easy to associate with the nature of the place. 

An interesting and funny thing was that at the end of the conversation the barista from another coffee house 'Fekete', which we had visited before, stepped in and recognized us as well. It was so strange for us why a barista from a competitor coffee house would grab a coffee here at the Embassy Espresso...But then the owner explained for us that for them is really important the common collaboration with the similar profiled coffee houses and they want to create a support chain between each other as exist in London.

After this detailed and friendly conversation with the owner we finished our delicious cakes and coffee. These sweet cakes are made by a small bakery called Dynamo, whom speciality are the perfect matching coffee and tea cookies. Both of us asked for a similar cake, just the flavor was different. Petra's choice was a lemon soaked cake with mint leafs and mine was filled with poppy seeds. I need to confess that it has been a long time since I have eaten such a tasty cake which matched so perfectly with my cappuccino. Talking about the coffee, it was simply as it was described before by the owner. The high-quality and the soft taste of the coffee could be felt with every sip and made me want more and more.... It was just perfect....

This place is definitely a must for every coffee lovers! Being a coffee addict, I think there is no better thing than having your favorite coffee made with great attention and being accompanied by your fresh and perfectly matching cake.... I can assure that all of these, you will find at Espresso Embassy. 

Spinoza cafe-restaurant

Spinoza Café is a beautiful, cozy café-restaurant, scrumptious, tasty, spicy, traditional Hungarian dishes and excellent Hungarian wines and Mediterranean specialties in the heart of the Jewish quarter in Budapest, 2 minutes walk from the Great Synagoge. It is located right next to the Gozdu udvar and Lutz Memorial. It might be one of the most interesting little side streets in Budapest.

The atmosphere in the restaurant reminds me of a small restaurant or cafe in Paris except the mood inside and the kindness of stuff and the owner that are very friendly and speak English very well that makes it difficult to leave this place.

Spinoza seems to be a popular spot for locals. We saw several parties that looked to be multigenerational family and friends outings, and the vibe was very warm and welcoming.

First evening we went it was fully booked, so we reserved a table for the next evening. The waiter who greeted me was lovely and very efficient. I was surprised when one of the waiters approached me and asked if I need a bigger table simply because he noticed that i brought my laptop with me and a bigger table will make our presence more comfortable. This simple fact added value to me to visit it again.
 
There is a pianist playing, which is really nice and it makes this place really busy. People are constantly walking in and sent away. I guess that's good for the restaurant, but don't expect to have a quiet meal or enjoying your coffee here as tables are quite closely positioned.

In my opinion, one of the great draws and what make that place unique is enjoying our meal or coffee at Spinoza in the evening and delight the live piano music which floats over the heads of the diners from the piano in the front room, and gives the tiny little dining room a special touch and a pleasant atmosphere. Their piano player is famous and has been part of this restaurant's claim to fame. The pianist will entertain you while dining each evening from 7pm to 11pm; on Tuesdays and Fridays the music is available at lunchtime. Moreover, for those who love performance and are interested to spend a great time every Friday night at 7pm, there is a Klezmer concert for 2,000 Ft or combined with dinner for 5,000 Ft.

The great piano player and an absolute charming entertainer knows 5,000 songs by hart. My friend and classmate Bernhard, definitely enjoyed the music as he was singing the song of the melodies, and not concentrating on the assignment we had. And that was reasonable, who else could pay attention to other things with such a nice atmosphere and the guy on the piano that added to the ambiance of the place.

I cannot mention that the owner approached us, as I asked for the permission to take some pictures of the place. While I was making the pictures, Bernhard and the owner had a quite long conversation between each other. That was really nice and unusual as well, not many people have the honor to meet the person of the place and share some interests with them.


The restaurant offers a wide selection of coffees and teas as well as freshly-squeezed juices. Speaking of coffee it is 100% Arabica, straight from Israel, and based on Italian recipe. That the milk foam is not by chance that creamy, frothy and delicious as homemade with fresh cow's milk without any additives.

A card was provided to us after me paid. That is the card has to be stamped 9 times and on the 10th time a free regular cappuccino, espresso with be available. That was a great surprise as I thought that this card only work for coffee chains.

As I mentioned before, the piano and the music is the thing that makes the place unique and amazing. In my opinion the coffee was great but the place is not that much about it….simply visit the place and may be you will understand what I mean.

Tamp & Pull

This small, atmospheric coffee shop is just around the corner of Corvinus University of Budapest, at the crossing of Közraktár and Czuczor Street. In the heart of town, yet in a strangely quiet spot it’s a perfect place to relax a few minutes with a good coffee in a rushing day at the Capital. The interior is narrow (but cozy), and therefore it’s sometimes hard to find an empty table. But luckily the place owns a nice little terrace, which is even more remarkable in the summertime.

The decoration of the shop is creative and simple. There are lot of gadgets and various staff everywhere, but it’s placed in a very elegant way. There are patterns on the wall and many pictures, all of them merging well to the classy design of the shop. The pictures are taken and prepared by the owner of the place, Attila Molnár. One wall is covered with the billboard of the goods and their prices. The best decoration are the two coffee machines: one is disassembled to components and hanged on the wall, the other is the actual classic coffee making machine on the counter – this one’s cover plates are replaced with Plexiglas so you can see actually the engine while working.

The name (tamp & pull) is originated from the coffee roasting industry, this is how the workers call the key movement of the roasting process. Attila Molnár himself is responsible for the name and the image of the shop. He is one of the biggest names in Hungary in the coffee business. He is 4 times Hungarian Barista (coffee maker) Champion and he clinched a 6th position on the World Cup in Wien in 2011. He opened this shop one year ago and now he’s opening a new, much larger coffee bar (120 square meters) on the Váci Út – thus making a franchise of the Tamp & Pull brand. He dreamed and implemented the shop, he personally chose all his employees and trained them himself (therefore pretty much everybody was nice in the staff and knew its way with coffee). The competition in the area is quite high, but the prices of the shop are reasonable, the mood is nice and coffee is quite astonishing.

All of the coffees in the shop are from “Gurund” type coffee beans (this is a Greek bean) and roasted in a small business in England, though there are occasional special types of coffees for occasions (they even have special tools for these coffees). Some demanding coffeeshops in Budapest (e.g. MBZ) are using the same beans and are buying them from Tamp & Pull. The permanent menu is divided to black (e.g. espresso), latte (with milk), long (big, strong coffees), wow (flavoured and special coffees) coffees, where they make the flavouring syrups for themselves in the shop and a category called “yamm” – this is basically food: salads, yogurts, sandwiches and more. They use fresh, protein rich milk for the coffees – but we know why this is important from the previous posts. By the way: the categories are based on the Barista competition’s challenges.

We all ordered a latte at the place.  The serving and the decoration of the table was quite minimal, not much effort has been put in it. Practically there was no decoration on the table, and we didn’t get any additional sugar, no napkins, neither water nor sweets. But the coffee itself was very nice, one of the best we’ve ever had, both in quantity and quality. Great taste from great coffee, it was creamy, sweet and kind of similar to dark chocolate. The price of the coffe was also very reasonable (550 HUF), especially with the buy-one-get-one-for-free promotion in the shop. We tried one of the sandwiches, too, which also tasted very good.

Overall it was one of our best experiences so far, we can only recommend this place to anybody who wants a good coffee at a nice place at Budapest.

by Laci

This small, atmospheric coffee shop is just around the corner of Corvinus University of Budapest, at the crossing of Közraktár and Czuczor Street. In the heart of town, yet in a strangely quiet spot it’s a perfect place to relax a few minutes with a good coffee in a rushing day at the Capital. The interior is narrow (but cozy), and therefore it’s sometimes hard to find an empty table. But luckily the place owns a nice little terrace, which is even more remarkable in the summertime.
  

The decoration of the shop is creative and simple. There are lot of gadgets and various staff everywhere, but it’s placed in a very elegant way. There are patterns on the wall and many pictures, all of them merging well to the classy design of the shop. The pictures are taken and prepared by the owner of the place, Attila Molnár. One wall is covered with the billboard of the goods and their prices. The best decoration are the two coffee machines: one is disassembled to components and hanged on the wall, the other is the actual classic coffee making machine on the counter – this one’s cover plates are replaced with Plexiglas so you can see actually the engine while working.

The name (tamp & pull) is originated from the coffee roasting industry, this is how the workers call the key movement of the roasting process. Attila Molnár himself is responsible for the name and the image of the shop. He is one of the biggest names in Hungary in the coffee business. He is 4 times Hungarian Barista (coffee maker) Champion and he clinched a 6^th position on the World Cup in Wien in 2011. He opened this shop one year ago and now he’s opening a new, much larger coffee bar (120 square meters) on the Váci Út – thus making a franchise of the Tamp & Pull brand. He dreamed and implemented the shop, he personally chose all his employees and trained them himself (therefore pretty much everybody was nice in the staff and knew its way with coffee). The competition in the area is quite high, but the prices of the shop are reasonable, the mood is nice and coffee is quite astonishing.

All of the coffees in the shop are from “Gurund” type coffee beans (this is a Greek bean) and roasted in a small business in England, though there are occasional special types of coffees for occasions (they even have special tools for these coffees). Some demanding coffeeshops in Budapest (e.g. MBZ) are using the same beans and are buying them from Tamp & Pull. The permanent menu is divided to black (e.g. espresso), latte (with milk), long (big, strong coffees), wow (flavoured and special coffees) coffees, where they make the flavouring syrups for themselves in the shop and a category called “yamm” – this is basically food: salads, yogurts, sandwiches and more. They use fresh, protein rich milk for the coffees – but we know why this is important from the previous posts. By the way: the categories are based on the Barista competition’s challenges.

We all ordered a latte at the place.  The serving and the decoration of the table was quite minimal, not much effort has been put in it. Practically there was no decoration on the table, and we didn’t get any additional sugar, no napkins, neither water nor sweets. But the coffee itself was very nice, one of the best we’ve ever had, both in quantity and quality. Great taste from great coffee, it was creamy, sweet and kind of similar to dark chocolate. The price of the coffe was also very reasonable (550 HUF), especially with the buy-one-get-one-for-free promotion in the shop. We tried one of the sandwiches, too, which also tasted very good.

Overall it was one of our best experiences so far, we can only recommend this place to anybody who wants a good coffee at a nice place at Budapest.

by Laci

Bambi Eszpreszzó

Bambi Eszpresszó

Geeezz. Seriously. Who came up with that name? They must have sent out a whole troop of creative writers for a three week trip to the Irish coast to foster inspiration.

Bambi is located halfway between the Chainbridge and the Margret Bridge, just a block off the Danube shore drive on Buda side. Thanks to the good weather these days there are plenty of folks walking, biking, skating up and down the river walk. So with my longboard this is a slalom ride kind of thing today. 

This is the first time I came to Bambi, but I heard of it before and also I read about it quite some time ago. It has been described unanimously as being truly “Szocpol”. Kickin`in socialist style. You know, coffee shots in these small hexagonal shaped glasses, cappuccino comes in this grandma-ish looking cups with dots on the side. Red synthetic leather covered chairs at these small high gloss tables. The waitress is very friendly but as old as the place and hence comes back to ask again what you ordered…5 minutes ago.

To get to point: really interesting place to visit if you don’t fancy fancy. And for all socialist retro lovers, this is the big catch.

coffee pictures with descriptions will follow soon!

Lumen Gallery and Café

The lumen is the derived unit of luminous flux, a measure of the total 'amount' of visible light emitted by a source. Luminous flux differs from power (radiant flux) in that luminous flux measurements reflect the varying sensitivity of the human eye to different wavelengths of light, while radiant flux measurements indicate the total power of all light emitted, independent of the eye's ability to perceive it. A lux is one lumen per square meter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumen_%28unit%29

…Understanding the meaning of the name, our next question was "But what does light has to do with coffee?" The owner gave us a convincing answer. His brother is very much interested in photography and himself was in opening a coffee place. These two desires were combined and embodied in Lumen Gallery and Café five years ago at Mikszáth square, a charming little place in the center of the city, 10 minutes walking from Kálvin.

 

Before the idea of opening a coffee place, Lumen Photography Foundation was established with the aim to promote the development of visual culture by supporting the extensive presentment of artists utilizing photography and videography as a tool for their work. Lumen Gallery and Café is currently hosting the activities of the Foundation. It promotes the work of young artists and serves high quality coffee for those who would like to get closer to contemporary art. This concept of combining the two desires seems to be successful. The coffee place covers the operations of the gallery and ensures the location for photography exhibitions and events, while allowing coffee lovers to get in touch with contemporary art in a unique atmosphere being less formal compared to the classical gallery environment. Currently, Lumen is moving to the neighboring place, and for short time the Gallery will be closed. 

Moving to wider space allowed extending the menu. Besides the classic coffees and different teas, milkshakes, juices, szörp (mix of fresh fruit syrup and soda), lemonade, alcoholic drinks, pastries, sandwiches, and hot dishes are also being served. The most special is the handicraft beer that is bought from small manufacturers and the wines are also purchased from local producers.

This time, we had a latte and lemonade. The high quality coffee could be perfectly felt and its bitterish flavor gently  felt through the creamy milk.  However, the serving of the latte did not outrun the ones we had before. It was in a simple glass with a funny spoon having a weird shape hanged on side. No glass of water, neither a tiny cookie, nor a nice salvette. Yet, the lemonade was absolutely perfect, just as refreshing as we wanted!
 
 

Lumen also roasts its own coffee in the garret. The beans are a fine combination of selected arabica that are treated with special care while being prepared for their final use. These beans are imported from various countries far away. Sachets of the freshly roasted coffee can also be bought in the coffee place. 

 

The interior of Lumen is very simple but unique. There is not much furniture, neither decorating elements that characterize the coffee places we’ve visited before. We were not sure, whether we miss some gadgets or pictures on the wall that would give a homey touch to the place, however, this clean design is what makes this place different from the others. The tables and chairs is the idea of the owner’s brother and were also fabricated by him. Each of them seem very different, but also identical that follows the same tone of colors and shape. The purplish shade well match the white walls and all together evokes a relaxing feeling.

The terrace of the coffee place is even more worth to mention! The view to Mikszáth square, the fountain, the trees and flowers, and all the other busy coffee places create a wonderful atmosphere to enjoy the sunny day and have a nice cup of coffee.