Oslo is a coffee town. You didn’t know? According to the hipster Oslo bible, “A poor man’s Connoisseur Guide to happy living in one of the most expensive cities in the world,” Norwegians consume more coffee per cap than anyone, anywhere, and Oslo now has “espresso bars on every corner.”
But no Starbucks – yet. With the iconic green and white circle lacking in the downtown coffee landscape, smaller boutique chains and independent baristas have been making their mark during the past decade, and drawing international attention. The capital city’s transition from filter to fame was complete when Oslo got its own coffee celeb, the notoriously meticulous Tim Wendelboe, a former World Barista Champion who operates his micro roastery, “coffee training centre,” and espresso bar in the heart of hippest Oslo. Wendelboe’s ambition is to be one of the best roasteries and espresso bars in the world, no less, and judging by his consistently superlative reviews, he may in fact have made it to the top.
Wendelboe is a regular on international coffee blogs and web sites, and is a favorite of the New York Times cofficionado Oliver Strand. In a recent article in Dagens Næringsliv, the largest Norwegian business daily, the unlikely phenomenon of Oslo coffee tourism is examined, in large part due to those making pilgrimage to sample Wendelboe’s art, many declaring it indeed the best coffee in the world. But if you come, be prepared to stay a while – at least as long as it takes to drink a cup. Wendelboe doesn’t sell take-away espresso, arguing that if you can stand in line while it’s being painstakingly hand-brewed, you can stick around to enjoy it. A perfectly good excuse to set aside time to savor the perfect cup of coffee.
For more on Wendelboe and his Oslo coffee colleagues, check out Strand’s article on the NYT Magazine page: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/ristretto-coffee-in-oslo/
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