Croatia, now a coveted European travel destination, has always been rather wintery on the coffee scene. For decades it drank coffee like a classic Eastern European countryโvery, very hot. But, since joining the European Union and inviting in tourists from all over the globe, the sea-loving country has embraced their own new wave of coffee culture. One of the pioneers in the space is Cogito Coffeeโโto thinkโ works perfectly in both Croatian and in English.
โSeven years ago my wife, Hannah Powlison Belkoviฤ, and I opened a coffee shop in downtown Zagreb called โCafe u Dvoristuโ (a cafe in the courtyard),โ says Matija Belkoviฤ, co-owner of Cogito. โAt the time this was one of two coffee shops in Zagreb that insisted on serving quality coffee.โ Soon after they opened their doors, and showed the Croats how the rest of the world was experiencing specialty coffee, Matija Hrkaฤ, one of Croatiaโs best-known baristas, began hanging around regularly. It didnโt take long for the three to join forces and create Cogito.
โSix months later we opened a small coffee shop under that brand in downtown Zagreb,โ Belkoviฤ says. โRight now we have a growing network of wholesale clients as well as five of our own Cogito Coffee shops. Three of them are in Zagreb, and the other two are on the Croatian coastโin the cities of Zadar and, the latest, in Dubrovnik.โ
The city of Dubrovnik, known for its fortressed walls and as a โGame of Thronesโ location, is having a happy revitalization. โWe felt that the coffee scene on the Croatian coast does not match the other gastronomical standards in the region,โ Belkoviฤ says. โWhile you can have great seafood and wine, finding a decent cup of coffee on the Croatian coast was next to impossible.โ Of course, this is the perfect setting for a story of coffee triumphโdragons, or no dragons.
โOne of the biggest challenges for us is that we are in many ways alone on the scene,โ Belkoviฤ says. โBut so whatever we do on the scene makes a real impact, and we feel that our company is becoming competent in helping to shape the future of the local coffee scene. It is exciting to have the power and responsibility of introducing people to speciality coffee.โ
And so they have attracted a fascinating medley of charactersโa hip crowd of coffee cognoscenti, plus the neighborhoodโs darlings and dappers. โThe demographic is diverse, which tells us that the coffee and service takes precedence over lifestyle,โ Belkoviฤ says. For Croats, specialty coffee isnโt anywhere close to the status quo, and so a narrative driven by Cogito in a sustainable and authentic way is the real paragon here. โIn a weird sort of way it is equally exciting to get the two totally different responses: โthis is the best coffee I ever hadโ or โthis is the worst thing I ever tastedโโwe rarely encounter anything in between,โ Belkoviฤ smiles.
โWhile we are not really into the models of Italian and Austrian coffee cultures, one thing we really want to preserveโwhich we got from those neighboring countriesโis the fact that coffee is consumed on the premises and is primarily a social experience,โ Belkoviฤ says. โCroatians rarely drink coffee on the go, instead taking our time to enjoy it, often with friends.โ Which is partly why Cogitoโs locations are opened in unique spacesโlike a back alley, or a courtyard, or even a very quiet street. For Cogito, itโs about creating a โdestinationโ for customers.
โWe serve two coffees that are season dependent, from our supplier Nordic Approach: our house blend (Tesla blend) and a single estate coffee that we rotate daily. We also brew filter coffees in Chemex and V60,โ Belkoviฤ says. โFor roasting we use a Diedrich IR7, though we are in a process of upgrading to a different and bigger roaster (Probat UG22), as we feel that this type of roaster will be better suited to our preferred roasting style.โ
And this fits in perfectly with their next season, expanding their wholesale footprint throughout the country. โOne specific goal within the next two years is to invest into the farm-end of the production chainโto be constantly in touch with our coffee producers (especially in East Africa), develop long-lasting commitments and relationships with specific producers,โ Belkoviฤ says. This is good news not just for Cogito, but for Croatian coffee more broadlyโas Cogito goes, so does the rest of the country.
Daniel Scheffler is a Sprudge staff writer at large. His work has appeared in T Magazine, Travel And Leisure, Monocle, Playboy, New York Magazine, The New York Times, and Butt. Read more Daniel Scheffler on Sprudge.