by Darren Oliver
In one of our previous articles, we wrote about “plujka” coffee, a popular brewing method that was the only brewing method available in Poland during the socialist era, when access to high-quality beans was much more difficult. So how, in just 30 years since the political change in Poland, has it come to a situation where specialty coffee is available almost universally, in every major supermarket, and Polish baristas are very successful internationally? Today we would like to present some arguments for why every coffee lover should pay attention to Eastern Europe when looking at the world map.
Numbers Don’t Lie – The Coffee Scene in Poland Is Unlike Any Other
To analyze the situation well, we should take a look at what the Polish coffee market looks like today. Today, Poland is the largest importer of green beans in Eastern Europe, while its residents rank as high as 11th in the world in terms of annual per capita coffee consumption! It is also worth noting that Poland is importing more and more green beans directly from producer countries every year. Year after year, newer and newer specialty coffee cafes and roasters are also opening in Poland, promoting the highest quality coffee – in 2020 there were almost 200 of them in operation in Poland. Due to the lack of accurate statistics, it is difficult to assess exactly how quantitatively the change and development of specialty coffee in Poland is taking place. However, we believe that several qualitative factors clearly show that specialty coffee counts in Poland even for ordinary consumers.
One of the symptomatic signs of the development of the third wave of coffee was the introduction of specialty beans at an affordable price by… one of the largest Polish gas station chains in 2017! In just 7 years since the opening of the first specialty coffee shop in Poland, Polish coffee lovers had the opportunity to purchase brightly roasted beans from Ethiopia without visiting a specialty roaster or coffee shop. This move clearly demonstrates that Poland is a market that values quality coffees.
More brands followed suit, and beans from Polish roasters, with a clearly listed country of origin, processing and roasting method, and even roasting date, can now be found on supermarket shelves alongside coffees from brands known for years.
It’s safe to say that specialty coffee has become easily accessible to Polish consumers today. Although it is still difficult to determine exactly how many people drink this type of bean on a daily basis (estimates put it at around 2%), Polish industry experts are positive, and most of their statements indicate that the specialty coffee market in Poland will only grow.
Polish Coffee Shops – The Vanguard of Change
Specialty coffee in Poland would not exist, however, if it weren’t for the coffee shops, whose involvement allowed for a consciousness shift among customers previously accustomed to the dominant instant coffee, which was synonymous with luxury (no wonder, after all, until the 1990s it was impossible to get coffee in Poland that was better than low-quality robusta).
In 2007, Filtry Café was established in Warsaw, the first specialty café in Poland, which was the vanguard of the third wave in Poland. Today, almost 200 such places are open.
However, it is worth noting that when creating new cafes, owners want to surprise their guests by creating unobvious combinations. As a result, in Poland today one can come across places combining specialty coffee with a florist, barbershop, or high-quality cocktail bar.
Attempts are also being made to reclaim the complicated history of Polish coffee, for example by creating coffee blends alluding to the brewing methods of the People’s Republic of Poland – in a modern edition (you can read more about this in this article).
Polish Baristas – Top of the Top
Specialty coffee, however, does not exist without baristas. And Polish baristas are undoubtedly among the best in the world. What is the evidence of this?
Let’s start with alternative methods: Polish Aeropress Championships are extremely popular, and the number of participants can already be counted in the hundreds. It’s also safe to hazard a guess that Poland is where one of the best Aeropress coffee brewing methods was created. In 2016 Filip Kucharczyk created a recipe that won the World Aeropress Championship… and not only that year! His method was so dominant, that its variations won the competition for the next 4 years, forcing a rule change in the competition itself!
However, the most important Polish barista who has changed the face of coffee in the world is Agnieszka “Rojes” Rojewska, winner of last year’s Coffee in Good Spirits world championship. The list of her national and international achievements is a topic for a separate article. However, her greatest success came in 2018, as she became the first Pole, and the first woman in history, to win the World Barista Championship title, inspiring and showing that anything is possible.
Poland – Coffee Lovers Heaven
The Polish coffee scene is constantly evolving – specialty coffee has arrived on store shelves in Poland and is widely available, and unconventional and bold conceptual coffee shops are developing in Poland. Polish baristas show every year that there are no limits in the world of specialty coffee, and we are limited only by our imagination. As early as next year, Poland will once again host the massive World of Coffee festival – so if you’re a coffee lover, pay attention to this small country in the center of Europe, because this is where the fourth wave of coffee is gaining momentum…