The last World Of Coffee exhibition took place in Denmark’s capital Copenhagen, often rated as one of the world’s most livable places and home to one of the happiest people on the planet. Though relatively small by size and population, Denmark punches above its weight on many fronts. From Danish furniture design, to its Hygge lifestyle and world class restaurants like Noma, the Danes know how to live and make things that others want. When it comes to specialty coffee, it’s much the same story. It can count the most World Barista Champions out of all countries (4) and gave birth to many top notch roasters including Coffee Collective, La Cabra and April.
The latter was founded by Patrick Rolf who moved to Copenhagen after working in Berlin where he acquired much of his knowledge about roasting and serving coffee. At first, April was purely a wholesale roaster but it has since added two showrooms in Copenhagen as well as one shortlived outlet in Seoul that is slated to reopen with a new concept in early 2025.
Serial competitor and innovator
Patrick is a serial competitor who has won numerous national Barista championships and reached the finals of many more. When it comes to his approach to coffee, he can be described as a visionary who isn’t afraid of trying something new. He was an early adopter of putting his coffees in Nespresso compatible capsules and drip bags, offers various ranges of beans including more basic lots that pay farmers a living wage and he even has his own utility clothing line that can be viewed at April’s showrooms.
Funnily enough, when I was in Copenhagen, I ended up staying in a hotel on the same street as one of April’s showrooms and I had arranged to meet a friend there for coffee. Despite the huge coffee crowds that were in the city for the WOC, I managed to arrive at a relatively quite time to catch up with my friend who was visiting from Berlin. The showroom can only be described as stylishly Scandinavian with refreshing splashes of colour and a welcomingly decluttered counter that invites conversations with the baristas.
Stylish interiors and smart branding
We sat opposite the bar from where we had a great vantage point to observe the toing and froing inside the shop, including overhearing a few conversations that customers had with the baristas as they picked out various coffee boxes from the shelves. When it was my turn to order, I asked the Barista for some advice on which coffee I should try and he recommended a Geisha from El Socorro in Guatemala, incidentally the same coffee we have in our GEMS release for December.
As is always the case with handpoured coffees, it took a minute to arrive but its presentation was beautiful inside Aprils’ own line of cups made by Serax. My friend had ordered a different microlot and we ended up sharing our coffees with each other.
When it comes to branding and design, April really sets the bar high. There’s even an escutcheon outside featuring the April logo, something usually more associated with consulates and embassies but in a way, many specialty coffee places like this see themselves as ambassadors of coffee producers to the world.
You pay for exclusivity as well as experience
I think my only gripe about this experience were the fact that there was no pricelist for those specials on display that could have warned me of the whopping €24 per cup price that I ended up having to pay for my coffee. This really took me aback quite a bit and was by far the most expensive cup of coffee I have ever drunk anywhere.
And, I would have quite liked to see some kind of information card to go with each coffee. Instead, I was told to pick up a box from the shelf to read more about the farmer and the coffee. This made the experience feel somewhat less special. But there is no doubt that Patrick and his team have a very loyal following that is going to be prepared to pay whatever just for the gratification of having been to April.
