Kaffetur 14 / Coffee Tour #14: Drop Coffee, Stockholm

On the very top of my must-see/must-do list for Stockholm is Drop Coffee. 

If you like coffee, start your day here. 

Would it be to cliche to say you must Drop by? Yeah, I thought so.

Drop is a fairly NKOTB. 

That's new kid on the block for those of you who didn't have the privilege of growing up in the 80's. 

It's been around since 2009. But don't let its age fool you. It is legit.

The space is clean and simple. The food is art. And the baristas really know what they're doing.

And the coffee? Excellent.

On my most recent trip, I ordered a pour-over from Ethiopia. Anna tried their São Judas from Brazil. Both were delicious. 

Scandinavia knows their coffee, and Stockholm has some great offerings. In my opinion, Drop is right on top of the list for this fantastic city.

While it is not in the heart of the most touristy part of the city, its location in Södermalm is well worth the visit. 

And Södermalm is a pretty cool area anyway!

http://www.dropcoffee.com

A 36 hour Stockholm tour

Anna and I had a little more time in Stockholm than we did in Oslo (see One Day in Oslo). I have been to Sweden's capital twice before, but each visit was with a local. Navigating the trip myself proved a challenge, but we managed to see a lot.

We had about 48 hours in Sweden's capital. We opted for the 72 hour transit pass. They offer a 24 hour pass as well. The 72 hour pass is double the price of the 24, and covers the majority of Stockholm's public transport. It does not include the Arlanda express train. But if you aren't in a significant hurry, you can use your pass to get to the city center. Simply buy the passes at the visitor center just before exiting there airport, take the red 583 bus from Arlanda to the Märsta station (a commuter train station). Then take a commuter train to Stockholm Central.

Once we dropped out bags off, our first stop was Gamla Stan, the old town. The winding streets and colorful architecture are quite charming.

A couple of streets are especially geared towards tourists, so it's easy to find a souvenir or a bite to eat. We enjoyed a meal at Burrito Bar.

We also walked down the river and over to the city hall. There are beautiful views to be seen from there!

After travel and a lot of walking, we were tired. So we headed in for the evening.

We didn't have perfect weather on our full day in Stockholm, but it was definitely bearable.

Our first stop was, of course, for coffee! We started out at Drop Coffee, my favorite in Stockholm.

Then we made our way to the Wasa museum. If you have time and money for only one museum, this should be the one. (read more here)

We spent a good bit of time exploring the Wasa. Then we headed back into the main part of the city for lunch at Kungshallen. I love this place because it's kind of like a food court, so everyone can pick what they want to eat. And I love that they have great Indian food (yeah, I might have a bit of an addiction to all things curry...)

After lunch, it was back to Gamla Stan. We found the narrowest street (photo op!),

 went in the German Church,

 and walked to the palace.

Then we headed for my other favorite coffee spot, Johan och Nyström.

At that point, the rain arrived. We had seen most of things we wanted to see, so it wasn't the worst timing. But one thing we had not done was explore the underground stations.

Stockholm is known for having interesting stations, very random and artistic. So we made several stops before heading home for the night.

The Graduate: a European Tour

Two weeks came and went, and before I knew it, I was driving my niece back to the airport.  

Anna made her way back to the states on Wednesday. Based on my own experience and the occasional iMessages we exchanged, it was one of those days that seemed it would never end.

But now that she is back home, I want to take a little time to show a bit of what we were up to.

Her grandparents were gracious enough to help out with plane tickets and passport to get her here, and we really appreciate it. 

And once here, we found some low-cost airfare so we could show her a few of our favorite places.

For the first week, we spent time in our city, as well as Tønsberg and Oslo. After that, she and I had another day in Oslo, before flying to Stockholm for a couple of days, and then to London for the weekend. 

It was a great trip, and I look forward to sharing a bit more about it in the coming days.

Kaffetur 4/ Coffee Tour #4: Johan och Nyström Coffee, Stockholm

There is a word in Swedish that I so wish we would adopt in Norwegian:

fika [FEE-kah]

As I've come to understand it, fika is a pause/break involving coffee (though sometimes people replace that for another beverage, particularly for children), and generally would also include sandwiches or pastries.

We've heard fika used as both a noun and a verb. A brilliant word, a brilliant concept. Maybe it should go beyond Norwegian adaptation. Perhaps every language should adopt fika!

Last summer while visiting our supervisors in Stockholm, we checked out two cafès that seem to be prime spots for fika - or maybe to fika! I'm highlighting one of those spots today for the kaffetur.

Johan och Nyström's Concept Store is located in Södermalm, one of our favorite areas of Stockholm. Not far from a train station, J&N sits prominently on a corner, just begging for you to stop in.

And once inside, if you're anything like me, you will certainly fall in love with the look and feel of the cafe. It's not that large, although there is additional seating outside and in the loft. But it boasts beautiful colors, and is incredibly organized, clean, modern, and just an overall delightful place.

As we typically do, Zack and I each picked a different coffee. It gives us a chance to try more than one. We tried the Picknick blend, as well as their selection from Nicaragua. Both were prepared as a pourer, and they were quite good.

If you look closely here, you can see both
AeroPress and pour-over

I love shops that really take their time with coffee. It is so much more than beans and brewing. It truly is an art.

And so it is with J&N. They offered pour-over and AeroPress. Processes that take time, but processes that are certainly worth the wait.

I highly recommend a visit to this shop if you're ever in Stockholm. While we did have coffee at one other place in Stockholm that I found to be slightly better, you just can't beat the combination of quality coffee and ambiance.

A perfect spot for fika! (In fact, they actually offer a Fika blend: http://johanochnystrom.se/en/products/fika-en/)