KAFFA has roasted coffee in Oslo since 2005. It began in a small space on Filipstadkaia and moved to Ryen a few years later, where it still roasts. Its story starts with Robert W. Thoresen, who came to Norway after working as an architect in San Francisco and opened a small coffee bar in St. Hanshaugen in 1997. He then opened Mocca, a bar and micro-roastery in Briskeby, and there he and Trish Rothgeb laid the foundations of what became KAFFA’s roasting style and flavour profile.

KAFFA works directly with producers and roasts for restaurants, offices, bakeries, coffee bars and hotels, as well as selling online and by subscription to home brewers. It sits within the Arabica group. Thoresen also started Collaborative Coffee Source, which buys and distributes green coffee to roasteries around the world, and the sister company Typica imports and distributes Hario, Fellow and Chemex brewing equipment. A design collaboration with Renate Thor gives KAFFA’s bags, merchandise and a Fellow Carter Slide their artwork. At Ryen, KAFFA has a showroom beside the roastery.

KAFFA’s roaster Trude won the 2026 Norwegian Coffee Roasting Championship, a competition that tested her on grading green coffee and on roasting both single origins and blends.

Partner cafés

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: KAFFA