Coffee Collective Jægersborggade

Hand brewing is the thing to ask for at Jægersborggade. This is the original Coffee Collective cafe, the one that opened before the company had a second address, and the filter bar is what the branch is known for within a group that could easily roast for a much larger operation.

The first shop, and what it started

Coffee Collective began in 2007, roasting in a warehouse near the airport and selling to a small number of Danish venues, then opened its own shop on Jægersborggade on 15 February 2008. In May 2017 it moved along the same street, from number 10 to number 57, gaining a much larger room without leaving the neighbourhood that shaped it. The company builds its work around direct relationships with the farms it buys from, transparency about what is paid, and the idea that a guest should be able to trace a cup back to the person who grew it. That approach is a large part of why Danish light roasting became a recognisable style at all.

Relaxed, nerdy, and worth sitting down in

The branch runs very relaxed and devotedly nerdy, which is the right frame for a visit built around tasting and brewing rather than a quick takeaway. The 2017 room is much bigger than the first shop and decorated closer to a designer Copenhagen apartment than a cafe: enough space to sit, enough quiet to notice what is in the cup. Jægersborggade itself is part of the story. The street has changed considerably since 2008, and the company still writes about it as a second home, which is the kind of claim a business can only make after nearly two decades on the same block.

Order a hand brew, then the espresso soft serve

Start with a hand-brewed coffee, the branch specialty and the clearest expression of what the roastery does with beans it has bought directly. Ask what is on, since the list is curated across taste profiles rather than fixed. In warmer months add the espresso soft serve, which usually returns around May and stays through September when the weather allows: espresso and milk flavoured, with coffee grounds dusted over the top, and the rare cafe dessert that actually tastes of the coffee programme it came from. Chocolate croissants are the reliable pastry order. Take a bag of whatever tasted best on the way out, because the retail shelf carries the same coffees as the bar.