Wednesday 17 June 2015

Cafe Review 3 - EMA and Cafe Lounge.

Introduction
As you know this blog has always been a place for me to experiment and explore my writing talents. I've written ghost stories, gangster stories crime, and crime noir as well as my normal rompy stories.  Something I have never tried is to write creative non-fiction, until now. This week, to celebrate the launch of my new blog - Czech Hipster Coffee - I am publishing my cafe reviews here. 
Over the last few months I have been exploring the hipster coffee hangouts in Prague and I thought I would write a short blog reflecting on my experiences by writing non-reviews. Non-reviews don't focus on the wares on offer but try to describe the atmosphere and ambiance of the place. For the background to these reviews click herePlease let me know your thoughts on the new blog via the usual channels. Thank you.

Today we look at two very different places but with the same owners. 

Ema
Nestled next to the down at heel scruffy Masarykovo Railway Station, is the rather more fashionably scruffy EMA Espresso Bar. This less is more type place certainly seems to encourage the discerning hipster coffee drinker to hurry his or her way through their drinks and out of the door so their place can be taken by another thirsty hipster. The furniture is a higgledy-piggledy mixture of things that look like they were acquired at a primary school closing down sale. The furniture doesn't cater for groups or lovers but for the loan coffee drinker; the hipster and his/her Mac.
The first thing that strikes you about the place is just how small it is and how much use they make out of the space available. A fair proportion of the cafe is given over to the bar where the massed ranks of bearded baristas are ready to serve you as you walk in. Maybe 5,6,7 staff buzz behind the bar looking super important. They are a study of perpetual motion, always filtering coffee or pressing the aeropress. They almost give the impression that you are there for them rather than the other way around; that you are servicing their addiction, their need to grind, filter and press. 
The second thing I thought when I walked in was what is the collective noun for MacBooks? Because there was certainly a pretention of Macbooks on display in here; every other table was apple laden, with either a mac, a pad or a phone. 
The third thing is just how trendy the clientele are, this place puts the HIP in hipster, you get the feeling that if you don’t have the beard you don’t get the brew, although I’ve always been served no problem and I don’t have the necessary gauntlet tattoo and hirsute face. 
The coffee in EMA is always immaculately served, the little tray and jug look like a modern art instillation ready to win next year's Turner Prize. So if you are in the mood for a aesthetically pleasing brew and want to help out some poor, filteraholic baristas, then dodge the drunks at the station and head to EMA. 
For the website of the cafe visit here


Cafe Lounge
Strawberry Cheesecake
Drip Coffee
There is something different about Cafe Lounge that I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe because it is on the other side of the river it has a different atmosphere, maybe it feels like it doesn't have to compete with the gaggle of cafes around Vinohradska. Whatever it is, the place certainly feels slightly less smug than some of the others including its sister bar, Ema.
This place is known as the Café Lounge but in one way that really is a misnomer, it is much more café and much less lounge. Lounge brings to mind comfortable sofas, maybe a newspaper or two and a drinks cabinet but none of that is in evidence here. But the way Café Lounge does live up to its name is in the fact they do allow you to lounge around. Unlike sister Ema there's no rush, no hurry just a nice sedate pace. Thrice now I have ordered one coffee and been allowed to occupy a table for as long as I wanted without feeling unwelcome. There is a carafe of water on the table and you can stay as long as that has water in it, sometimes they'll even bring you a second jug. The staff actually look like they want you there, that they are pleased to welcome you as guests, that you are not getting in their way or taking up places that could be occupied by their friends. They are probably the smiliest staff of all the cafes I've non-reviewed. 
Of all the cafés I’ve reviewed I feel that here the coffee is the least important thing. Yes they have a bewildering array of options including the space age vacuum pot, but whereas in other places coffee is the raison d’ētre here it is just another thing on the menu along side fashionable food, cool cakes and wholesome wines. Maybe for that reason the clientele is more diverse than other cafes; I only spotted one Macbook and one beard, there were even people over 35 dotted around. Café Lounge is the hipster café for the non-hipster. 
For the website of the cafe visit here



If you enjoyed these reviews, and you would like a story to go with your coffee, please check out my short story blog here and my story inspired by hipster coffee here.

Return to the main menu hereIf you visit this cafe on my recommendation, please tell them why you came and if you enjoyed this blog please share it with your friends. 

1 comment:

  1. Petra Goláňová19 June 2015 at 21:17

    I like these lines:
    They almost give the impression that you are there for them rather than the other way around; that you are servicing their addiction, their need to grind, filter and press.
    ..this place puts the HIP in hipster, you get the feeling that if you don’t have the beard you don’t get the brew..


    ReplyDelete