Nano Kaffee: Berlin’s iconic coffee room is now a roastery

September 23, 2024

Nano Kaffee: Berlin’s iconic coffee room is now a roastery

September 23, 2024

After closing the doors to its famed Kreuzberg café, Nano Kaffee has reinvented itself as a future-forward wholesale roaster

There was a time when I was in Berlin a lot. Back in the days when I loved to spend nights in its famed night clubs, I always used my time in the German capital to visit my many friends who were running roasteries or cafés across the city. This helped me build strong relationships with the people building the local specialty coffee scene and find new roasters for The Coffeevine boxes.

One place I always loved to stop by at was Nano Kaffee. This famed coffee shop in Kreuzberg was one of the most consistent and approachable places where you could go and enjoy the best German specialty coffee, stock up on brewing accessories and for a time, you could even by Coffeevine boxes there, though this was really at the beginning of my own journey.

Ramin Massah, its founder, built a local cult following that was akin to the coffee shops you see in sitcoms. Nano Kaffee was like a neighbourhood hangout where people of all walks of life would congregate, gossip, exchange recipes and much more besides. As you can imagine, I was deeply saddened when I learned that Nano Kaffee closed its doors earlier this year but Ramin was quick to explain that this was part of a complete pivot away from serving coffee and towards roasting coffee.

Consequently, I suddenly had Nano Kaffee on my radar as a possible partner for The Coffeevine, which I found really exciting. Admittedly, it did take a while for Ramin and co to get set up with their new Loring roasting machine and find their rhythm as a wholesale roaster. After overcoming some initial struggles that most new roasters deal with I assume, Nano Kaffee was finally ready to take the plunge and send us some coffees to be considered for our October Coffeevine box.

Ramin sent us a few coffees to consider but it was ultimately the natural processed Rwandan coffee from Dukunde Kawa Musasa Cooperative that ticked all the boxes for us. It’s a lovely coffee with layers of sweetness and the tartness of rhubarb that develops and improves over time. Given that we don’t often feature natural processed Rwandan coffees, this coffee artfully showcases the range of flavours that are possible with high quality Red Bourbons from this origin.