During a recent visit to Zürich, I was curious to discover what Switzerland’s biggest city has to offer in terms of specialty coffee. There are, of course, a few roasters and cafés whose reputation preceedes them such as MAME but as it turned out, Zürich has a lot more going for it.

One place that really stood out to me was Bean Bank, a Greek-owned multi-roaster café concept with two locations at the time of writing. The bigger space is in Zürich’s upmarket business neighbourhood just south of the main train station while the smaller espresso bar is close to the historic banking district. That is also where I met Nikos Chalimourdas who owns Bean Bank together with his brother.

Originally from Athens where Nikos gained a lot of experience working in coffee, he ended up moving to Zürich a few years ago with the idea to set up a classy specialty coffee business that would serve the best coffees form renowned European roasters. Each location has its own style and serves a different community.

The espresso bar is very compact indeed and only offers limited seating inside and outside but it is fully equipped with the latest gear to allow Nikos to prepare the most delicious coffees. He brewed me a delicious Kenyan filter coffee from La Cabra while hinting at the fact that he might soon start his own roasting operation.

One important link with his homeland remains, however, and that is the house espresso coming from pioneering Greek roasters Taf. The other coffees on the menu rotate on a regular basis and come from the likes of DAK, Friedhats, MOK. His brother is in charge of baking cakes and pastries, which include a delicious banana bread and chocolate chip cookie.

This location, I must add, closes relatively early so it’s not suitable for a late afternoon coffee but if you’re exploring the area and you want to top up your caffeine levels in style, then Bean Bank is your place to go.

One of the first things I got up to after having lunch with one of my friends who now lives there was to head down towards the Josefwiese neighbourhood where a very famous coffee shop has one of its two outlets. MAME. You might know MAME because its co-founder Emi Fukahori is a world-renowned barista champion who is a former World Brewers Cup Champion, repeat national Barista Champion and finalist in the World Barista Championships.

When you walk into the café, you are invited to survey the many trophies that decorate the shelves and are testament to this business’ unparalleled winning streak. Prior to my arrival, I had been chatting with Emi via Instagram and though she was away that day, she told me that Daniele Ricci would take good care of me in her absence. THE Daniele Ricci who was the runner-up at this year’s World Barista Championships in Athens. In fact, it was only a few weeks before that I sat in the gallery and watched his performance and now I was suddenly coming face to face with this talented man.

The truth is, we had never met in person but we had certainly heard of each other. As I approached the bar, Daniele looked at me and we both said ‘I know you’ before laughing and embracing like old friends. Thankfully, it was a quiet Thursday morning and Daniele had plenty of time to chat, unlike during my second visit on the following Sunday when the place was packed and a total of three baristas were churning out one drink after the other.

That morning, however, I had the time to enjoy my experience drinking a variety of world-class coffees that Dani was brewing for me using the Goat Story Gina brewer. Though MAME also offers classics like cappuchinos and the like, you really should try to spend some time tasting some of the outstanding microlots on the menu. On the Sunday, when I took two of my friends to MAME, each one of us ordered a coffee flight with a different coffee. This includes an espresso, a macchiato and a filter. My choice that day was a stunning natural processed Ethiopia from Garse while my friends enjoyed the Auromar from Panama and the Pearl from Brazil.

Personally, I was not a huge fan of the somewhat dated looking interior design of this MAME location but I was happily able to look past it to focus entirly on the coffee experience. Anyone who happens to be in Zürich or who lives in the city and has a love for specialty coffee should make time to visit this place, especially when either Emi or Dani are there to take you on a journey. It was quite something!