Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/491368
58 STiR tea & coffee industry international A year later, the Barn opened its doors to the Berlin coffee scene. Initially, Rüller partnered with a London roaster for his beans, but in 2011 he decided to roast his own coffee locally. "When we built the roastery, we add- ed a large display brew bar facing the win- dow so everybody could see what's going on," said Rüller. "Germans are curious, and they would buy into a higher quality if they could see how it's made." In order to appeal to the German clientele, Rüller also encourages the use of the German language by all the baristas. In fact, he of- fers a weekly German lesson to all of his baristas. In 2013, Silo opened its doors to the Berlin clientele. "At the start it was a little bit challenging to get people to understand what we were all about," said Morgan Love. "We kept our drink sizes small and our coffee amounts high and we continued to use lightly roasted coffee. Similar to An- dreen, Love was committed to offering a quality filtered coffee and so presented his coffee with little milk or sugar, despite the fact that the German palate is accustomed to a sweetened brew. The roasts at Silo follow the Nordic roasting style, which Love describes as very lightly roasted with high levels of acidity, very fruity. "What we're trying to do is have the natural flavors of the coffee shine through," said Love. The most common order at Silo is a flat white which Love serves with 30 ml to 38 ml of espresso "depending on what coffee we're using. Then we add about 160 to 170 ml of milk. The most impor- tant part of a flat white is that the microfoam has to be very good," said Love. "Berlin has quite a big start-up scene here, so we have a few of those types of people in, which is great," said Love. "As well as a lot of expats who are sort of looking for a taste of back home." Andreen said that in Berlin today it is becoming common for people to seek fil- tered coffee. At Café CK filtered coffee now makes up half of their overall sales. Part of the reason for this shift in consumer interest is increased access to the good taste of filtered coffee, said Andreen, "there are new specialty coffee shops opening in Berlin every month." New rituals for a quality cup of coffee One of the biggest challenges in offering specialty coffee was shifting the perception of the German consumer. The typical German was used to either grocery store brands or milk-based espresso, so the filtered coffee that Andreen serves was quite different. To change their routine Andreen decided to no longer serve coffee with milk and sugar in a traditonal ceramic cup. He came up with something completely different. At Café CK, the filtered coffee is served in a small glass decanter with a whiskey tumbler. "We tend to just pour out the first sip for the customer because it kind of changes the context of the entire experience," said Andreen. Most Germans are ac- customed to coffee in a ceramic cup with lots of milk and sugar. By serving it in a glass decanter, Andreen hoped to establish a new ritual for a quality cup of coffee. "A whiskey tumbler is something that you're more accustomed to just taking a sip out of," said Andreen. "It has some unexpected side benefits as well. You know, people can determine how hot they want to drink the coffee, if they want to pour all of it in at once for a steaming hot cup or just pour it out sip by sip. And yeah, it's been Silo Coffee features pour over. Coffee served in a whisky decanter, Café CK The Barn's rustic, wooden decor reflects Ralf Rüller's vision of a simpler lifestyle. Ralf Rüller, owner of The Barn Cafe and Roastery in Berlin offers fresh local roast.