Good Life Coffee

Good Life Coffee is the kind of place where you'd expect to bump into competition baristas, and you'd be right. Founded in Kallio by Lauri Pipinen and Aleksi Kuusijärvi — both former Finnish Brewers Cup champions — the project has won the national 'Roastery of the Year' award twice and supplies beans to a long list of specialty cafés across Helsinki, including Kahvila Sävy down the street.

The roasting line leans light: Ethiopian, Colombian and Kenyan single origins, plus rotating micro-lots from producers Lauri and Aleksi have visited personally. The bar dials in tight espresso and runs careful pour-overs on demand, with retail bags stacked by the till.

The Kallio shop itself is small and unfussy — pale wood, soft music, a few stools at the window. It's the second-wave anchor of Helsinki's specialty scene after Kaffa, and on a Saturday morning it has the easy regularity of a neighbourhood institution. If you're crawling through Kallio, this is the stop.