The Copenhagen Coffee Scene Is Serious and This Is Why

Copenhagen is one of the serious coffee cities. This is not a recent development — the specialty coffee movement here goes back to the early 2000s and The Coffee Collective, which opened in 2008, was among the first European roasters to do direct trade at scale. The result is a city where good coffee is available in most neighbourhoods rather than confined to specific districts.

The Coffee Collective (coffeecollective.dk) has multiple locations. The Jægersborggade one is the most atmospheric. The Torvehallerne kiosk is the most convenient if you are in the centre. The beans are roasted in-house and the filter coffee in particular is worth ordering if you are used to espresso-only coffee culture.

Democratic Coffee (democraticcoffee.dk — Krystalgade 15, Indre By) is in the central library and is the place I go when I want to work for several hours without feeling like I should leave. Large, well-lit, good coffee, and the library means it is full of people who are there to do something rather than to be seen doing something.

The comparison to Sweden: Malmö has good coffee too — Koppi is excellent. But Copenhagen has more density at the top end and the general level in ordinary cafes is higher. This is one of the areas where Denmark wins the comparison clearly, which I say as someone who did not want to admit it.