Through events unforseen we ended up stranded in Zagreb, beautiful capital of Croatia. We, that’s a friend of mine from way back and myself, were travelling back home from a fine week of vacation when we had a car accident. Fortunately enough nobody was seriously injured, but unfortunately enough the car was damaged beyond repair. A continuation of the journey as planned was out of the question.

But as the old saying goes, whenever a door closes, somewhere else a window opens. Although our trip home was rudely interrupted, we got to have an exciting and interesting interlude. The municipality closest to the accident site happened to be Zagreb, so that’s where the police brought us after recording our testimonies. I don’t want to go into all the details about the second car accident on that evening, about how my friend nearly went to jail or about how we had to stand in a Croatian court of law. The most important thing is this: after everything was done and over, we finally had time to explore and drink some awesome coffee!

During previous voyages I’ve always brought along my travel-sized coffee grinder as well as my trusty hand filter. This time, due to cabin luggage size restrictions, it was not possible. The closest thing we had resembling coffee was a mixture of sugar, white powder and brown dust that was sold as “instant coffee”. Needless to say my abstinence was very straining and I was very excited for the chance to have some real coffee again.

Croatian coffee culture isn’t so much about coffee itself as it is about meeting friends, having a smoke together and taking a break from daily life. Not a bad way to do coffee to be honest. However, by lowering the importance of the drink itself, the level of its quality is also diminished. A typical Croatian coffee is either very strong and very bitter so it can compete with aforementioned cigarettes, or highly sweetened to contrast with tobacco. Either way, the concept of enjoying coffe on its own and for its own sake is a new one to Croatians. While sight-seeing, whenever I passed a café, every patron was either smoking or in close proximity to smokers.

Finding a suitable place to have a great coffee really wasn’t easy. Not only is specialty coffee actually something special and new in Zagreb, we happened to be there on the Croatian national holiday. Of the half dozen potential cafés I found online, only two were open on that day: Elis Caffe and Cafe u Dvoristu.

You might’ve guessed from the title which one I decided on in the end. But truth be told my first choice was actually Elis Caffe. Rave reviews recommended it since it’s the first roastery in Zagreb, winning several awards and is the first café to ban smoking in doors. But after having made my way there, I found something different. First the personnel was overstressed and unfriendly, I felt not only not welcome, but actively despised. Then the only brewing method available was espresso, which I don’t particularly enjoy. And last but not least payment was in Kuna only, no Euro, no credit cards. Adding all those points up I decided it’s not worth the try, irregardless of what other visitors said.

So even though I’ve been craving and searching coffee for more than two hours, I still walked all the way across the old town to Cafe u Dvoristu. As soon as I arrived at the entrance, a picture of which you can see at the start of the post, I had a good feeling that all the struggle will have been worth it.

“U Dvoristu” translates into “in the backyard” and that’s where you’ll find the café. Surrounded by apartment buildings it’s astonishingly quiet despite being in the center of the city. It is a perfectly secluded oasis where you can take a break from the noises of both Zagreb and life. If you’re familiar with southern German traditions, you might be reminded of similarities with their beer gardens where people congregate to have a relaxed afternoon.

I don’t think I’ve been to a more cozy cafè before. The escape from the chaos of cars, people and shopping streets into complete tranquility was both sudden and surprising, but it immediately made up for almost all of what happened so far. The accidents, the encounters with the Croatian justice system and the long search were all forgotten when I entered the door and smelled, for the first time in a long while, coffee.

And not just freshly brewed coffee, but beans roasting as well. Cafe U Dvoristu is the seat of Cogito Roastery, the second roastey in Zagreb. Established in 2014, they quickly expanded to have three shops in the city itself and two more in Zadar and Dubrovnik. Like most specialty coffee roasters around the world, they want to show people how great coffee doesn’t have to be bitter or burning hot to be enjoyable.

All that and more I discussed with the barista, Domagoj, while he was brewing up my first order: a single-origin Arabica from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The beans hail from the mountains of Lake Kivu, bordering Rwanda and were manually roasted right here, with a drum roaster in the back room. Brewing was done using a Hario V60 hand filter, just like the one I have at home. 270g of 90°C water was slowly poured over 16g of medium ground coffee, resulting in my first cup of real coffee since I left home.

Sitting in the backyard, waiting for my coffee to cool, I had time to thoroughly ponder on the events so far that led to this moment. Everything that happened so that I would be here at this exact time and place. In the end I came to the conclusion that I needed to write everything down in order to terms with it. With these thoughts circling in my mind and vague ideas of a blog, I took my first sip.

And I was not disappointed. The scent was very enticing, promising fruity and floral aromas. The taste itself unfortunately couldn’t completely keep up. There was a mild acidity and sweetness, but it was more a hint than anything substantial. I couldn’t shake off the feeling that too much water was used for the amount of coffee grounds. Nearing the end, when the coffee cooled to around body temperature, it reminded me of dark beer and stouts with a tingling bitterness and aromas of roasted grains. This brew was definitely what I was looking for.

One drink of course wasn’t enough to judge the skill of a whole shop, so after a short break I ordered another one. This time it was their house blend, a mix of Arabica from Ethiopia and Costa Rica.

If you’ve ever bought whole beans in a super market, unless it was stated otherwise, there is a high probability it was a blend. The industry does it for financial reasons. Mixing produces from different regions means less reliance on good harvests of a single plantation. But when a artisanal roaster blends, it is of course to combine the best flavours of multiple strains of coffee. Doing blends right is quite a challenge. Roasting each individual variety is complicated enough, mixing them to the right ratio so they compliment each other instead of competing borders the impossible.

Cogito’s house blend was very similar to the single-origined one. Again I had the feeling that it was slightly diluted from too much water and the smells made me expect more taste than there actually was. I might be a spoiled child in this regard, but the quality of coffee I’m used to and willing to pay for is simply and matter of factly higher.

Despite my harsh critique my overall experience was quite excellent. I finally had a decent coffee again and afterwards Domagoj gave me a behind the scene look into their construction site in the back room. They plan to expand the shop and invest in a bigger, more sophisticated drum roaster. His words has shown me their dedication and love for coffee and I’m convinced that they will be successful in their future. If I ever have the chance to return to Zagreb, I firmly plan to re-visit Cafe U Dvoristu to check out the progress and developments they’ve made. The same goes for you, dear reader. If you ever, planned or otherwise, arrive at Zagreb, please do give them a visit, there is no better coffee you can get in the whole town.

Thanks for reading and I hope you delighted in this story of unexpected pleasantness. You’re very welcome to share any thoughts you have and to leave a comment below. Be ready for a new blog post in two weeks time when I’ll be explaining different brewing methods and why I prefer one to another.