Specialty Coffee Retailer is a publication for owners, managers and employees of retail outlets that sell specialty coffee. Its scope includes best sales practices, supplies, business trends and anything else to assist the small coffee retailer.
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MUNICIPAL HOUSE CAFÉ Prague, Czech Republic A showpiece room in a stunning building in a gorgeous city, serving lousy coff ee—and still it’s a winning business combination. Customers would come if the Municipal House (Obecni Dom) Café served instant coff ee in Styrofoam cups. Since the Prague tourist season is now practically year round, and well-to-do Russians have swelled the ranks of Americans, Germans, and everyone else from Western Europe, business is booming. Viennese/Hapsburg infl uences, updated for current tastes, are strong in the coff ee drinks. Even the espresso comes with a small pitcher of milk. Th e “coff ee specialties” lead off with iced cappuccino and off er a choice of rum, Cointreau, or shaved chocolate in the cup, the last concoction called Mexican coff ee. “Algeria coff ee” is laced with eggnog. Whipped cream, always a Viennese favorite, is available for all coff ee in Prague. Prague and Vienna, 285 kilometers (171 miles) apart, were intimately linked until the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I. Prague shone in art, architecture, and literature under the Empire’s rickety structure. But the city’s fi nest coff eehouses, carefully preserved and restored since those days, tended toward extravagant displays of glass, wood, and statuary that Vienna’s more staid venues avoided. Th e espresso I had at the Municipal House was potable but LOCATION Namesti Republiki 5, Stare Metro, Prague, Czech Republic WEB www.obecni-dum.cz 32 | August 2011 • www.specialty-coffee.com BY ROBERT W. THURSTON thin and lacking in character, tempting me to reach for the milk. Th e waiters are professional, restrained, and busy, so my eff orts to fi nd out where the coff ee was roasted, what machine was used to make it, and so forth, elicited only shrugs and “It’s Italian, sir,” from my server. Price of a small espresso or regular fi ltered coff ee, with the inevitable pitcher of milk: 2.30 euros, or about $3.34. Cappuccino, 2.90 euros. Th e tea, of which my wife tried the Assam, is a better bet at the Municipal House. Th e menu specifi es that brewing will last no more than three minutes, and we felt that the staff hit that mark. Earl Grey, Green Chinese Blatt (leaf), English Blend, and Darjeeling comprise the basic off erings, at 2.30 euros. For the more adventurous, there is Rooibos Vanilla. A basic continental breakfast with rolls, butter, jam, coff ee or tea is 3.60 euros. Beyond morning fare and alcohol, the menu is limited to sandwiches, soup and cold salads. A baguette with smoked salmon and a hard-boiled egg cost me 7.30 euros; tasty indeed, although the bread was not up to French standards. Desserts, however, are beautifully prepared and served. I would estimate the number of customers each day in the 500 to 600 range. During the lunch I had there and on several passes by the Café at various times in the aſt ernoon and evening, the tables were full. Close to a metro stop and several tram lines, the Municipal House is almost diffi cult to avoid on a visit to Prague. Th e setting and decor are absolutely local and virtually unique, although Prague’s Café Paris approaches the Municipal House in elegance. Aff ection for the city and its visual delights outweigh the weakness of the coff ee in both stores. Th e Municipal House Café is located at Namesti Republiki (Republic Square) 5, Stare Mesto (Th e Old Square area), Prague 110 00, Czech Republic. Phone: 011-420-222-002-111. Website: http://www.obecni-dum.cz/ (in Czech), where you can click on a British fl ag symbol for the English version. SCR