Social Brew

An 82-point floor on every bean

Every cup starts from the same rule: single-origin beans scoring at least 82 SCA points, hand-roasted in Denmark and brewed on serious kit. That is a more specific promise than most cafes make about themselves, and it is the thing to judge the place on. The house calls itself a specialty coffee cafe and an independent roaster, keeps the buying to single origins rather than a house blend, and makes a point of its competition record by describing itself as home to a Danish Barista Champion. Coffee is the reason the room exists; the rest of the menu is built around it.

Coffee, brunch and a working kitchen

The concept runs wider than an espresso bar. Brunch and lunch come out of a proper kitchen rather than a pastry case, so the counter can carry a full plate as easily as a flat white, and one of the two Copenhagen rooms pours beer and wine as well. That makes it useful for the meal as well as the cup, and it explains the format: order, sit, stay a while. It is a central city cafe rather than a neighbourhood one-off, and it runs at that pace.

Order the single origin, then eat

Take the coffee first, because the single-origin cup is the thing the house has staked a standard on and the fastest way to see whether the roasting lives up to it. Ask what origin is open rather than ordering by name; the buying rotates and the point of the 82-point floor is that the bar changes beans without dropping below it. Then let brunch do the rest of the work. If you are choosing between the two rooms, the one with beer and wine is the one that will stretch past a coffee break into a longer sit.