Technically, I do not like big cafés. Basically, I always associated them with too much anonymity. As soon as instead of two baristas there is a whole bunch of coffee artists behind the counter and the guests change at minute intervals, that principally means that the place comes with an atmosphere, which is far from comfortable.
Technically, basically, and principally, since then a few weeks ago, the coffee place Elbgold in Hamburg came between me and my principles and threw them overboard!
The first time I visited this light-flooded coffee place in the trendy district Schanze was with Rike (a friend of mine, who has a blog of her own here). The Elbgold with its roasting area, its differentiated seating possibilities, and the huge selection of delicacies is her absolute favorite coffee place in Hamburg. This fact was probably also the reason, which motivated her to try and convince me to go here for a coffee one day. On a November day, Rike got what she wanted: Because of my meanwhile wide spread curiosity, I gave the big café a chance.
The fact that the coffee from Elbgold (,which is at the same time one of Hamburg’s best-known roasters,) was good, was something I was already familiar with before said visit for had he ran through the mill at my own house already several times.
Still, my first time in the large-scale café brought a few surprises.
As I was looking at the blackboard, I was amazed: I had not seen such a large selection of baked goods for a long time. The note that everything came from the in-house bakery flattered me as well. So I went on to order a bagel with tomatoes and mozzarella, another one with jam, and two flat whites and asked (as almost always) for a particularly beautiful coffee with latte art to photograph it.
As I was about to go back to my table, the barista shouted, “Stop, wait!” Yuri (so his name, as I learned shortly thereafter) took out an old receipt and a pen and wrote something down for me. “Mark me, if you post anything,” he said and gave me his note.”#thebaristayuri – @iiamyurii” stood on the back of the receipt. A barista with its own hashtag – something I had never experienced before. I had to laugh.
Elbgold
Lagerstraße 34c
20357 Hamburg
