Java & Mocca

Java and Mocca are two neighbourhood coffee bars in Oslo, and both pour coffee from KAFFA. They began with Robert William Thoresen, who studied architecture in the early 1990s and worked for a time in San Francisco. There he became set on opening a coffee bar in his home town of Oslo. He wanted a beautiful neighbourhood place, open from early morning, with very good coffee, and above all a meeting place for the people who lived nearby. JAVA Espressobar & Kaffeforretning opened in St. Hanshaugen in 1997.

By its own account, Java was the first in Norway to serve cold coffee drinks, cortado, latte art and pour-over. In 2000 Robert became the first World Barista Champion, in Monte Carlo, and the same year he opened Mocca Kaffebar & Brenneri in Briskeby, a second neighbourhood bar with a small roastery of its own. Their first roastmaster, Trish Rothgeb, gave the gentle roasting style the team was developing a name that went round the specialty world: the third wave.

The team travelled to meet the farmers it bought from, and when the roastery outgrew its corner of the Briskeby bar it became KAFFA, founded in 2005. Many of the farmers KAFFA bought from then still supply it today.

Photograph: Java & Mocca