Drop Coffee

Drop Coffee is one of Stockholm's best-known speciality coffee roasters. The company roasts its own coffee in small batches, on a Diedrich roaster it has used since 2013, and it has represented Sweden four times at the World Coffee Roasting Championship, where it holds a silver medal. Its café on Wollmar Yxkullsgatan, just off Mariatorget on Södermalm, is the place to taste the coffee at its best, and it is a regular stop for coffee enthusiasts visiting the city.

The roast profile is light to medium, designed to bring out the character of each coffee, and the café rotates through its range every day on both espresso and filter. That means the beans you drink on one visit may be different from the next, so ask the baristas what is on and how it tastes. Drop publishes the prices it pays for its green coffee, and all the coffees it buys score at least 86 points on the Specialty Coffee Association's cupping scale.

Food is simple and carefully chosen. Pastries and sandwiches come from Svedjan Bageri, sweets are made in house, and the drinks list includes kombucha, organic tonic, drinking chocolate from Svenska Kakaobolaget and Japanese teas. The kitchen is around 70 per cent organic. Even the cups are a detail: they were created by the ceramicist Erika Petersdotter. You can also buy whole beans from the roastery, brewing equipment and accessories to take home.

Drop Coffee suits coffee lovers, remote workers looking for a good cup in the morning and anyone who wants to understand what Nordic light roasting tastes like. It is open from 08:00 to 18:00 on weekdays and from 10:00 to 17:00 on Saturdays and Sundays. The café is small and popular, so weekend afternoons can be busy; mornings on weekdays are calmer. If you are new to light-roasted coffee, try a filter alongside an espresso to compare.

The café is a minute from Mariatorget metro station on the red line, and the square itself is a pleasant place to sit with a takeaway cup. From here it is a short walk uphill to Monteliusvägen for views over the water, or along Hornsgatan to the galleries and shops of Södermalm.