Coffee with a meal

From Norrängen the road goes up, up, up. To the right: steep, foliage-clad mountain slopes. To the left: lush fruit trees and a clear blue Lake Vättern. You turn left onto a small road that is easy to miss. After a couple of minutes on winding roads, you arrive at Gårdsrosteriet Vista, the only micro coffee roaster in the Jönköping area.

It is a large red building that looks a little like a box. Along the wall there is a small platform with a couple of chairs and a table. A large sign on the road bears the roaster’s logo, which indicates that I have found the right place. Behind the box various fruit trees extend for hundreds of metres. On the other side of the road, meadows run down towards Lake Vättern. The forest opens up a bit so that you can get a glimpse of the blue water and the coast on the other side of the narrow lake.

As soon as you step into the combination fruit and coffee shop, you are struck by the familiar scent of coffee. It is a dark, somewhat burnt smell that blends with the sweet aromas emanating from the apples alongside. Maybe the best scent there is. Outside Ingo’s daughters can be heard running around in the broiling sun.

It was in December 2011 that Ingo Deters opened the small coffee roaster up by Visa Kulle. Behind the shop by the Vista fruit orchard, he roasts about 130 kilos of coffee a day himself. When he was only 19, he opened his first café in Düsseldorf, and he has continued his involvement in the coffee industry ever since. Among other things, he opened Wayne’s Coffee, which is located by the harbour canal. In addition, Ingo previously had a café on Smedjegatan, but when his interest in roasting took over, he had to change premises. Roasting down in the city wasn’t feasible.

Where does your interest in coffee come from?

“There is a cosiness about coffee. Coffee is happiness. I like people who are pleasant and enjoy chatting. It’s more difficult to chat with people at a tavern,” Ingo says. Ingo relates that except for a couple of Christmas blends in December, all of his coffee is “single state”. The coffee you drink comes from one country, one farm, one type of bean. He continues to talk passionately about the different beans. He describes the difference between the mild South American beans, the Asian beans that have a stronger flavour and the fruity African beans.

The roasting itself is what is important. According to Ingo, every bean has its own distinct character, and it takes a certain kind of roasting to bring it out. Some beans are roasted at a temperature of 220 degrees C. for a quarter hour; some at 400 degrees for only four-five minutes. Just 30 seconds of too little roasting and the character will not emerge or 30 seconds too much and it will disappear. This is truly a science. When the roasting is finished, Ingo packages and ships the coffee to where it is supposed to go. He is the only one in Sweden operating as a micro roaster. From the time the beans arrive from the wholesaler, very little time elapses before the customer can enjoy a really good cup of java.

Who is it that comes up here? “Oh, it’s the same customers that I had down in the city! The customers are so different. There are people that are curious about us, coffee nerds and people who just want to enjoy a good cup of coffee in front of a fantastic view,” Ingo answers enthusiastically. The café sells not only coffee, but also cakes and pastries that come from Kaffebönan on Borgmästargränd. If you are a frequent coffee patron, you surely have seen that many cafés sell Ingo’s coffee under the Vista label.

The car trip up to Ingo and his roaster is well worth the effort. In addition to really good coffee and a fantastic view, you are certain to have a pleasant little chat with Ingo himself because he likes talking about his coffee.