Barcelona famously has a lot of great coffee roasters, excellent cafés and enviable weather almost all year round. If I didn’t live in Amsterdam, I would be living there. There’s something about the city that just makes me feel very much at home. Shamefully, my last visit was almost one year ago now and the reason I am posting this review of Öss Kaffe only now is because I was going through my pictures and noticed that I had some nice shots from when I was there.
Öss Kaffe is a cute multi-roaster café in El Raval close to Plaça Universitat. It was originally started in the garage of Argenitinean architect Fernando Iglesias Molli who opened up a coffee shop in his neighbourhood in Buenos Aires to share coffee with the local community. Though I’ve not been there myself, it was apparently a hit and inspired the opening of more locations in cities like Madrid and Barcelona and more recently as well in Montevideo and Punta del Este in Uruguay.
Every time I’m in Barcelona I make a point of visiting new cafés. This one though was recommended to me by someone who I work with called Alberto Fraticelli who is an Argentinean business man living in Barcelona. His company, Taurus Pack, supplies many coffee roasters with their retail bags and makes the foil for my brand Freshdrip. He’s also involved in Öss Kaffe and every time I’m in town, we try to catch up for a coffee there.
Öss Kaffe is a multiroaster coffee shop that serves the likes of local heroes Nomad and Harmony but also coffee from further afield roasters like The Barn. The interior is a bit unusual in the sense that it has a square shape with seating along the wall but no tables. There’s also no terrace as the street it’s on is commercial.
Baristas prepare all manner of drinks including excellent pourovers. When I am not in a rush, I always love to order a filter coffee because it also allows me to relax more. For me, a flat white is always the drink of choice when I’m just popping in somewhere. In addition, Öss Kaffe also offers a small selection of pastries but thanks to its unique location in a relatively uncontested area, it also has a very loyal and healthy fan base of customers.