I am struggling to find a real coffee hit in Switzerland so far, both in terms of freshly ground coffee and coffee shops with any flair or desire to produce something tasty. I am from New Zealand, so anyone who understands NZ coffee culture might be able to help, or complain alongside me.
So, are there any Cafes or coffee shops in Zurich or Luzern that use a decent coffee bean, and/or anywhere that takes any care in producing the milk for a cappuccino or cafe latte?
Also, are there any firms anywhere in this land that roast beans and sell them fresh, or freshly ground? (Vacuum sealed tends to mean not fresh by the way)
It may be that starbucks is the pinnacle here - yes starbucks _is_ coffee, but I see them as only trying to match the local culture in each country they sell in, not blow the competition away.
La Stanza made us a couple of excellent cappuccinos so that's a definite keeper. (maybe i will have to dress up more next time we go back however).
Tchibo near to La Stanza was boarded up or being renovated so we will try them another time/place.
Schwarzenbach looks like a cool store and we got some delicious smelling coffee ground for us which has so far turned out to be good, but I need to give it another go later.
If someone would go for a very good coffe, please don't hesitate to write me, I would love to combine travelling to Luzern or any other places, good companions and a cup.
For fresh beans, try Rösterei Rast in Ebikon ( http://www.rast-kaffee.ch/ ). They roast all of their beans daily, and their Milano and Barista blends are perfect for both thick, syrupy espressi and for milk drinks.
While you can get a decent espresso in a lot of places, for the type of shots you're used to from NZ your best bet is make it yourself.
Oh, whoops, I certainly should have seen that thread. Some more good links there.
Meanwhile schwarzenbach have produced good coffee, but for some reason their grinder gave us half a bag of really coarse coffee, and half finely ground as we expected.
Need to fine tune my german coffee related terms before going back there I guess.
This thread is really old now but I thought it might be useful to say that Cafe New Zealand has just opened up in Zürich on Langstrasse and they make an awesome flat white!! As a kiwi myself it was great to finally have a decent coffee in CH. I'd highly recommend!