Playground Coffee & Roastery

Playground Coffee lives up to its name — a literal playground for its founder, photographer Veljko Tatalovic, who launched the roastery around the idea that coffee should be as creative as it is precise. The St. Pauli café, a few steps from the Reeperbahn, is a small green-filled room where there's barely a line between the bar and the bench seating, and orders get called over the counter. The coffee is the real draw: two espresso blends led by the signature Skywalker, plus three to five seasonal filter roasts that stay firmly on the fruity side of the wheel, brewed on the Kalita Wave and pulled on a La Marzocco. Sourcing leans toward small farms and importers, bought in small lots so new coffees rotate often. The collage-style packaging — equal parts Monty Python and tasting-note in-joke — has made Playground's bags a favourite Hamburg souvenir. Come to play.