Slow Coffee comes to Switzerland

Slow Coffee is a concrete application of the Slow Food philosophy in the coffee sector. Slow Coffee promotes awareness of coffee, appreciation for the effort of cultivation, and the diversity of flavors. Through brewing methods specifically tailored to individual coffees—such as pour-over, AeroPress, Chemex, or cold drip—the character of individual origins can be showcased. Through Slow Coffee, coffee emerges from everyday "incidental consumption" and is recognized and appreciated as a specialty, much like wine. Away from convenience and coffee in paper cups. Slow Coffee deliberately focuses on direct trade and single-origin coffees. The typically light roasts, in the spirit of the Third Wave movement, allow the distinctive flavors of a growing region to shine. Fruit, subtle acids, and sweetness complement roasting aromas and bitterness.

The term Slow Coffee is inspired by the Slow Food movement. "Slow Food is an international non-profit association founded in 1986 as a response to the rapid spread of fast food and the resulting loss of food culture and flavor diversity." The Slow Food movement aims to protect biological products, promotes regional consumption, addresses sustainability and biodiversity, and advocates for food as a cultural and social value. A central theme is also the craftsmanship and recognition of food production.

The preparation of high-quality coffees using simple yet precise brewing tools has so far been a niche pursuit of enthusiasts and specialists. However, the transparency of production, the relatively easy accessibility of brewing equipment for home users, and a zeitgeist in which organic, transparency, and quality play an increasingly important role, create fertile ground for Slow Coffee to gain significance. After a coffee avant-garde has successfully implemented Slow Coffee café concepts in the English-speaking world and Scandinavian countries for several years, cafés in German-speaking major cities such as Vienna, Berlin, Hamburg, or Frankfurt have followed in the past two years. Slow Coffee, the AeroPress, the siphon, the Chemex, and the pour-over have cult potential. Not just for coffee freaks! Hardly any major publishing house in Germany has missed the topic of "the comeback of filter coffee" in recent years (see below).

Switzerland also already has several cafés that implement individual "alternative brewing methods" (Café Henrici in Zurich, Pfifferling in Basel, ccino in Aarau). And now, with Café frühling in Basel, the first café is opening that consciously focuses on Slow Coffee!

We are delighted! Because frühling is located right next door to our coffee academy and will henceforth form the new coffee center of Basel together with the Kaffeemacher. Together we will develop new content in the Slow Coffee sector.

A perfect brew is the synergy between coffee in particle form (ground), water quality, temperature, turbulence (swirling), pressure, and contact time (between water and coffee). When the synergy succeeds, the brewer unlocks all the potential of the coffee that the coffee producer and roaster have developed together in the growing region."
See also: AeroPress on Tour in the SBB

Press reports on the topic of Slow Coffee and "comeback of filter coffee" in recent years: