Cafe Review 5 - Dos Mundos and Double B

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 here. Please let me know your thoughts on the new blog via the usual channels. Thank you.

Today we're back to Vinohradska in Prague.

Dos Mundos

Not a space age contraption,
a vacuum pot. 

I think this place is simultaneously my favourite and least favourite of the cafes I am not reviewing on this site.  I think it is its own worst enemy, hoisted by the petard of its size. It is neither a purely take away place nor a sit down and enjoy your coffee place, it is more a sit down and feel slightly uncomfortable and kind of wish you’d ordered take away type of place. There are only two tables - one long and thin that sits 6 people and one that doesn’t look like a table perched precariously in the middle of the café. There are a further 3 seats along a ledge on the wall and 2 at the bar. This means that if it is busy there is no room and 

Less space-age coffee.

you feel kind of awkward, squeezed in and you think that you should get out quick to make way for other caffeine deprived hipsters. But on the other hand, the baristas put so much love and effort into preparing the coffee that you feel you should take your time to enjoy the hint of blackberry and woodchip, but the surroundings are so Spartan, the café is so often deserted, that you don’t feel you can kick back and relax and get the most out of their efforts; it is not a lounge around type of place. 

Talking of the baristas, the staff here are friendly and informative. They are enthusiastic about their trade and want to share their knowledge rather than mock those who don’t have it. This means it is the perfect place to try an Indonesian or Burundi coffee or maybe experiment with the vacuum pot, as long as you don’t mind being the only one sitting there drinking it.

For the website of the cafe visit here. 

Double B

Vast and Empty

Coffee making has lots of trade fairs, barista competitions and awards but if there was an award for the most hipster baristas, then Double B (a relatively new hipster café near Namesti Miru) would certainly be World Champions. The leather style aprons give their staff a slightly sinister look but the knee length shorts, the striped t-shirts, braces, keds and perfect beards make them look like they just stepped out of a Mumford and Sons video. Don't worry about the quality of coffee here we have the top of the range hipster barista. About a year ago I watched a documentary about how to become British Airways cabin crew. The training was almost military, with strict uniform inspections every morning; one hair out of place or an unpolished button could see you kicked off the team. Double B contains a barista school at the back, I wonder if the lessons include how to wear braces, how to trim your beard and how to wax your mo.  I can imagine it being like the BA training, the barista cadets standing in line of a morning while a sergeant-major-type figure inspects the troops to make sure the moustaches don’t droop. 

Double B Coffee

It’s funny that these types of cafés fall into two distinct categories; there are the homely, higgledy-piggledy style or the clean, functional style, and Double B falls in to the latter category. It is quite a vast place, very bright, very clean and very empty. The feeling of emptiness is not helped by the fact that there is not quite enough furniture to fill the place and there is a large outside seating area which attracts the customers on a hot Friday afternoon. Despite the paucity of customers there were still the requisite ratio of MacBooks, beards, tattoos and students doing their homework to ensure it qualifies for inclusion as a fully-fledged hipster café. Maybe I will re-non-review this café when it is more established, when there are more customers and more atmosphere. 

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 here. If 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.