Yellow Bird Coffee

Baronessen roasts a few times a week by Amager Strand

The roaster at Yellow Bird has a name. Baronessen is a Giesen W15A and it runs several times a week in the same operation as the café, a few steps from Amager beach, which means the espresso in your cup was almost certainly roasted within walking distance of where you are drinking it. The green coffee is bought directly from farmers, with traceable single origins and farm-specific flavour profiles, and the same business then handles the roasting, the training, the subscriptions and the wholesale.

Light microlots on one side, chocolate and nuts on the other

The range splits in two. On one side sit light-roasted microlots that turn over several times a year and run floral, fruity, tropical and acidic. On the other, darker roasts built around chocolate, nuts and sweetness. Names that have come through include Diofenor Ruiz, Aquiares H1 Thermic, La Divisa Java, Nilza, Meguda, Paubrasil, Kapsasur AA, Handege, Turrialba and Gesha Queen, with Colombia, Costa Rica, Brazil, Ethiopia and Kenya all represented.

At the bar those coffees come as espresso, batch brew or pour over. The pour over is where the microlots make the most sense, since it gives the acidity and the floral end room to show. Batch brew is the everyday choice, and espresso or cappuccino covers the rest. All three are poured from Yellow Bird's own beans, which is the whole point of running the roastery and the bar as one operation.

Banana bread, lemon cake and a bench by the water

The food is short and to the point. Banana bread is the standing pairing, lemon cake appears when it appears, and both are there to sit beside a cup rather than to compete with it. That suits the way people use the café: a coffee, something small, a seat inside or out with the beach a few metres away.

The best order depends on the weather and the ambition. Start with a pour over from whatever microlot is current if you want to understand the roasting. Take a cappuccino and a slice of banana bread if you want the Amager Strand version of the visit. Beans are sold for home, and there are courses for anyone who wants to go further than the counter.