19grams began in 2002 in Friedrichshain under the name Tres Cabezas, when founder Sascha opened the original café, which has cult status. Specialty coffee was not a subject in Berlin then, so it set out to learn about growing, harvest and processing, travelled to farms and planted and harvested on a farm of its own. The name changed to 19grams after the 19 grams of coffee its Australian colleagues dose for a double espresso. It now buys directly from farmers in Costa Rica, Colombia, Panama, Brazil, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi, Indonesia and China, several of its partners and core team sit as Cup of Excellence jurors, and Hacienda Sonora in Costa Rica has supplied it for almost twenty years.

The roasting happens at 19grams Alex by Alexanderplatz, a glass-fronted roastery, café and lab where roasting runs on Mondays and Wednesdays and can be watched from the room. The company roasts arabica only, on a Probat UG22 in batches of no more than 20 kg, and aims for rich, clear coffee that holds the sweetness of the coffee cherry; espresso roasts get slightly more heat and time, filter roasts less. Garreth, a Q grader who started as a barista in Sydney in 2011, has been head of coffee and roasting since 2023. Alex also serves an Australian-style brunch at weekends, runs barista, latte-art, filter and roasting courses, and holds a public cupping each month, with cuppings also held at the three other cafés.

Boxi in Friedrichshain, Chaussee by the Natural History Museum in Mitte and Schlesi in Kreuzberg serve the same coffee with cakes and sandwiches. All four cafés take cards only, welcome laptops on weekdays and keep weekends screen-free, and only Alex takes reservations. The retail range covers filter and espresso roasts, a Classics line for fully automatic machines, decafs under its own GROWND label and seasonal editions. The current retail range is listed below with the roaster’s own tasting notes.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: 19grams