So, it will come as no great surprise that this is a population kept awake – and alive – by one particular dark sweet medicine. Yes, we’re talking about: coffee.
The main dilemma facing most Peterburgers is where to obtain their daily dose. When I first came to this city twenty years ago, there were pitifully few decent cafes in the city: the Literaturnoe Café on Nevsky which was – and still is - awash with tourists, the Idiot Café on Moika which was – and still is – more of a restaurant and a cute and lovely little nook tucked under the Marionette Theatre opposite Gostiny Dvor called Zhili Buili or Once Upon a Time, now sadly no longer with us!
Then came the first indigenous St. Petersburg chain, Idealnaya Chashka or The Perfect Cup, which served up immaculate, Italian-style Cappuccinos and pioneered something called Active Coffee, which is a shot of espresso laced with concentrated lemon juice, or some other powerful, tangy citric sucker-punch. Though many branches have recently closed, Chashka opened the floodgates for the many identikit Russian outlets such as Chainikoff and Coffee House. And of course, there’s been the inevitable onslaught of Starbucks, which now infest most parts of the city.
However, true Café Society in St. Petersburg – and by that we mean, real, local, bespoke coffee establishments, each offering something unique in terms of cosy, relaxing atmosphere or weird and wonderful brews – is a relatively recent development. And, perhaps as consequence of the financial crisis of 2014, when larger cafes and restaurants went bust, we’ve also seen a veritable explosion in tiny, Coffee-to-go booths, which have sprouted like mushrooms on every square and street (and which we deal with in an accompanying side-bar article.)
So, here is our highly-unscientific and subjective assessment of the best places in the city to self-medicate. It’s time to wake up and smell – or at the very least, sip – the most aromatic and delicious coffee in St. Petersburg.
Welcome Coffee (Nevsky, 48, open 10am-9pm)
Squeezed into a corner of the stairwell in the elite Passage Shopping arcade, the location of this pop-up café is not immediately prepossessing. But the large illuminated Welcome sign and the bright, cheery – pierced and tattooed! – staff set a fun and funky tone.
They offer the familiar staples, all prepared with an excess of love and attention: the flat-white is silky smooth, but still head-rush strong and fizzing with caffeine; the ‘raf’ or ‘rough’ gets a dollop of ice-dream, flavoured with either ginger or basil!
But there is also ‘alternative’ coffee, with a choice of beans ranging from Kenyan to Costa-Rican and employing three entirely different scientific processes: Chemex, which uses souped-up turbo-filters to remove oils and impurities to achieve the purest, cleanest brew imaginable; the latest, high-tech Aeropress metal filters that emphasize strength and richness; and regular Parisian-style cafetière.
If that all seems way too barista-geek for you, the bottom line is it makes the coffee taste *really great.* And on the confectionary front, Welcome has a total surprise up its sleeve: mini-macarons in flavours never even thought possible. There is Parmesan, which has just the tiniest hint of crumbly Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano, and Dor Blu, which delivers a full incendiary blast of mouldy blue cheese, wrapped in the crisp sweet casing of a macaron. There are even blue veins on the glazed surface! The collision of savoury and sweet is weird and unforgettable and worth the trip to Welcome for itself alone.
Double B (Rubenshteina 11 and others, 8am-11pm weekdays, 10am-11pm weekends)
Though technically a chain, with branches throughout Moscow and St. Petersburg, Double B must be forgiven its corporate ambitions because of the sheer knowledge and enthusiasm displayed by its devoted staff.
This is a café for true connoisseurs. As well as the perfectly executed Lattes and Cappuccinos, the menu includes unfamiliar entries such as Lungo, which the server explained to me is specialty brew created by Australian Barista Champion Matt Perger. It uses an espresso machine to make what many now consider to be the perfect Americano. And by adjusting the filter, the level of bitterness can be fine-tuned by keeping or removing the impurities. I chose to keep and the result really was quite spectacular – a tangy, quite bitter brew that was still smooth and full-bodied and overflowing with flavour.
They also offer BonaVita which gets its name from the machine used to prepare it. This time, the servers promised it would taste of peach! But the most remarkable thing about this brew is how weak it is. It washes around the mouth like a light-beer or a delicate white wine. But somehow delivers the full spectrum coffee taste and doesn’t pack the caffeine kick of other coffees.
The few downsides is the lack of confectionary and pastries: just waffle ‘trubichki’ or ‘pipes’ that can be filled with condensed milk or cheesecake. And the twee, pre-fab, designer-doodle décor betrays the corporate roots and absorbs any hint of atmosphere. It’s also a bit pricy, though the really fun stuff is all just 150 roubles.
9Bar (Zagorodny prospekt, 28)
This cute little cafe, a refuge on busy Zagorodny, has all the trappings of the ideal boutique coffee joint. The frayed-book-lined walls have some of the cluttered ambience of writer’s study. There’s a cork-board where visitors can pin messages, impressions, drawings, jokes. And behind the counter, it boasts some serious coffee-making hardware, including something called the Kalita Dripper, known for its purity and lightness. So far, so impressive!
But on closer examination, 9 Bar doesn’t quite come up to the mark, at least not on the evening we visited. Unlike Double B, where staff were buzzing with excited tips and tidbits of coffee trivia, even extracting the most basic information about the coffee here from the distracted server was like getting blood - or espresso, if we are going to stick with coffee analogies - from a stone. I chose smooth over bitter this time, and the barista suggested a Brazilian blend, even going as far as to promise that there would be shades of plum and apple! However, what was served was actually far more bitter than in Double B, almost undrinkably so, and there was a total absence of the anticipated notes of fruit.
The Coconut ‘Raf,’ however, was bright, sweet and bracing while the Affogato - basically a dollop of ice-cream dumped into an espresso - was admittedly utterly delightful. The cakes here are inviting too, including the delectable-looking ‘Krasny Barkhod’ or ‘Red Velvet.’ Overall, not a bad place, if the staff could pay a little more attention to detail.
Kharacter (Fontanka 109, open 10am-9pm)
It’s a little off the beaten track, but this cosy little cafe does exactly what it says on the tin. Kharacter is cram-packed, busting out all over the place with, well, as you might expect: character. Nice touches like angular arty lampshades and dangling spangly stars bring the space alive. Behind the counter there is a wall of apothecary shelves containing various beans and brews, all ready for the coffee alchemy. Shelves are filled with the work of various artist friends of the establishment - postcards, paintings, cartoon stickers.
The coffee menu is quite traditional, but they do offer a few speciality options, ‘with character!’ These include ‘Olive Raf’ which I have to admit didn’t taste much of olives, and ‘Grapefruit Raf’, which was succulently grapefruity. They also do breakfast granola for 150 roubles. Overall verdict: it’s definitely got Kharacter!
Of course, this is just the tip of the frapuccino in a city now bustling with great cafes. You might also like to try: City Coffee on Sadovaya, 54, where the cappuccino is exquisitely smooth and also comes, for the caffeine-shy, in miniature cups; Mad Espresso Team on 27, 2nd Sovietskaya, which calls itself a ‘Coffee Project,’ not a cafe and excels in unusual coffee/confection contrasts; and Espresso Bike on Kazanskaya, 7, which has a unique ‘under the red-bricked arches’ atmosphere and offers a unique ‘Cold Brew’ chilled coffee option.
And the choice is continually growing. So, even if you are not just trying to stay awake, get out there and explore. Every day in sleepy St. Petersburg is a new adventure in coffee.
International Editorial Office
