Not just one, but three of my friends told me about the opening of the Coffee Gang, the first café in Cologne that offered the style of coffee I liked, which I knew from “slow coffee” shops in Amsterdam. I have to say, my friends certainly didn’t lie.

This café is not only a stylish and cool place but also a really likable one. The coffee gang’s owners, the couple Sina and Micki and their team, are focused on coffee, but I have to correct those who think that their food is just secondary: Micki’s homemade cakes (try her cheesecake, it will make your mouth water!), the variation of grilled sandwiches for lunch or cookies are just as fresh, delicious and high quality as their coffee specialties.

What I like about it is that, in comparison to other cafés, they aren’t too cool to explain their concept to whoever may be interested; using only beans from the most direct form of trade with the highest transparency possible. Some additional information for the coffee nerds amongst us: their home blend is from a small and quite popular roastery Johannes Bayer, the blend for the espresso varies regularly. In the end all the knowledge doesn’t matter though, because you will taste the difference.

If you like your coffee black, definitely try the freshly brewed filter coffee, from which you can choose three different coffees, depending on the way of preparation (such as aeropress, hario v60 filter, syphon).