How much does a single coffee cost?

BarcelonaAt Cafés Roure on Comte Borrell street in Barcelona, ​​in the heart of Sant Antoni, coffee is a way of life. Always has been. Unpretentious, unfazed by trends, without boasting about that now-fashionable label of "specialty coffee" or "the coffee experience." Today, everything is about "experiences." Daniel Marín, the current owner, downplays the hype and champions the essence—literally—of good coffee.

Know the word barista He's always known the term, but admits he's never heard it used as much as now. Barista, the person who prepares coffee. "Now they offer courses and even master's degrees. Before, you learned by doing, through experience and practice." Roure is a well-established and beloved business in the neighborhood. Daniel, a neighbor, customer, and lifelong friend, has been running it since 2019, when Joan Roure, the third and final generation of the family business, told him he was retiring. He knew immediately: he had to take the reins and carry on. And so he did.

The establishment has two parts – a shop and a café – and several types of customers. The café serves breakfasts – both sweet and savory – and afternoon snacks – only sweet – and caters mainly to the neighborhood. In the mornings, it's mostly older people and commuters, and in the afternoons, families and residents. Among them are many young foreigners who live in the neighborhood. The shop, with its good selection of coffees and sweets, welcomes customers from all over the city. The neighborhood, Sant Antoni, is quite trendy for newcomers like this one. brunchwhich they don't work in at Roure. "The restaurants in the neighborhood, especially on weekends, are very focused on catering to Barcelonans from the rest of the city, but they lack openness towards the neighborhood itself," Daniel reflects. The famous vermouth culture, so seductive and so pervasive.

They have about sixty varieties of coffee. Both for bulk sale and for tasting. They have coffees from almost every producing country in the world: Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, Brazil, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Indonesia, India, Vietnam... They're only missing three: the. We can't say they have coffee of every variety because that would be almost impossible: in Ethiopia alone, it's estimated that there are about 1,300 different ones.

The coffee machine is always set to Colombian coffee by default, but they can serve any of the varieties they have available. And there's a great selection of perfect coffee accompaniments. Jam is the star, but they also have chocolate and cookies. "Wow, it's so hard to find those 'nun's farts' pastries!" someone told them the other day. The iconic round cookie is always available. And carquiñoles, of course. They try to source all these accompaniments from Catalonia. With a few exceptions, like the inevitable and delicious British jams.

"Now there are a lot of people interested in coffee culture," Daniel points out. People eager to try new things, to know how this or that variety is roasted. To go beyond simply "making a coffee." To know that there's supermarket coffee, single-origin coffee, and estate coffee. And what exactly is the latter? We'll understand with a couple of examples. Coffee from Colombia, from the Huila region and the Barcelona farm. Yes, there's a coffee farm called Barcelona in Huila. Or coffee from Puerto Rico, from the Jayuya region and the San Pedro farm. Daniel is skeptical of these new establishments that are popping up and serving ordinary coffee at specialty prices. "And with plastic cups!" he exclaims. "Our coffee only costs €1.50, but if you want a €5 coffee, we'll serve you a fantastic one here. And with a little cup!"

A diverse business

Cafés Roure was founded in the 1920s on Hospital Street as a shop and coffee roaster by the first Joan Roure. This generation also created the famous Rovi coffee shop. In the 1930s, they opened their first shop on Borrell Street, and in the 1960s, they moved to their current location. Of the founder's three sons, the eldest kept Roure, the second kept Rovi, and the third kept Roure Tectosa, a brand of coffee-making machinery. It wasn't until the 1990s that the third Joan Roure decided to open the café. The roasting in situ It was no longer possible due to noise problems.

Cafés Roure, everything you want to know about coffee, with a neighborhood atmosphere, lingering embers, and few romances.