Original Coffee Illum Rooftop

Coffee, cake and rye bread above Strøget

Specialty coffee with an organic pastry, a slice of cake, or a rye bread sandwich if the stop needs to be a meal: the order at roof level is deliberately simple. The bakes come from the company's own organic bakery, which is why the pastry side holds up better than it usually does above a department store, even though no individual bake is singled out.

Coffee is the reason the counter exists. Original Coffee roasts and runs a wider coffee business behind this branch, so the cup is the constant across a menu that otherwise reads light. The rooftop service extends to beer, wine and cocktails, which turns the same terrace into an all-day stop rather than a coffee-only one.

A rooftop counter inside Illum

This is the roof-level branch of Original Coffee, on top of Illum in the middle of Copenhagen, and the view is the point: Strøget below, the Stork Fountain in sight, and the roofline of the city centre around it. The rooftop holds several restaurants, cafes and takeaway counters, and this is the coffee one.

There is a neat symmetry in the address. The company opened its very first coffee bar in a small corner of the same department store, so the rooftop branch is a return to the building where the business started. Seating is casual and open to the roof rather than upholstered, and the visit fits between shops and streets rather than replacing a meal.

Take the rye bread sandwich if you are hungry

If it is a pause between errands, take a coffee and an organic pastry and find a seat facing the street below. If it needs to be more than that, the rye bread sandwich is the substantial order and the most Danish thing on the counter: dense rye, a proper topping, and no ceremony about it.

Cake is the middle option, the thing to have with a second cup while the view does the work. The coffee itself is the part to take seriously, backed by the company's own roasting, and the beans and brewing kit sold across the brand are there for anyone who wants to repeat it at home. What the branch offers is compact and honest: specialty coffee, organic pastry, cake, rye bread sandwiches and a roof above one of the busiest shopping streets in Copenhagen.