Madal opened its first café in Újlipótváros in May 2013, one of the first specialty coffee shops in Budapest. Its founders had planned it in 2012 around the new-wave cafés they had seen in the United States and Western Europe rather than the Italian coffee tradition. The name comes from the peace philosopher Sri Chinmoy, whose childhood nickname was Madal. There are now four Madal cafés: in Újlipótváros, in Lipótváros, on Ferenciek tere in the Belváros and in Erzsébetváros.

In its first years Madal poured coffee from Square Mile in London. Since 2014 it has roasted its own every week at a micro-roastery in Csömör, just outside Budapest, in small batches of ten to twelve minutes on a German Probat. The house coffee is Beyond Within, sold alongside the Beanlight and Bird of Light ranges through Madal’s roasting company, The Coffee Hub, which groups its coffees as Classic, Discovery and Unique, from chocolatey cups to the most fruity and floral. Fresh roasts reach the cafés every week, in 200 g bags that the baristas grind on request.

The bars run on La Marzocco machines, and Madal takes no table bookings. In 2016 it opened Barista Campus, a training room in the Újlipótváros building, with one-day home barista courses, four-day intensive courses and latte art classes.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Madal Cafe