© FREYA Architects / Photography: Ilya Ivanov

Originally founded little over a decade ago in Moscow by a group of free-spirited coffee aficionados, the ideas of chernyi cooperative coffee roasters were eventually taken overseas where new outposts opened. First in Tblisi, and now, also in Belgrade. We’re talking chernyi cooperative coffee roasters‘ new coffee parlour in the Serbian capital’s historic Stari Grad district where it occupies a 140 sqm. (1,507 sq.ft.) unit on the ground floor of a rather grand residential building erected in 1921. The interior design, created by local practice FREYA Architects, takes ample cues from Brutalist architecture, a style which is abundantly present in the city. As such, architecture, shapes, and materials became the main tools in the creation of the chernyi cooperative coffee roasters café. By redrawing the buildings’ shapes, reducing scale, and also, transforming the shapes into interior items, a minimalist aesthetic and somewhat raw aesthetic was achieved.

Unsurprisingly, construction materials have been applied—chimney blocks in the base of benches, paving slabs serve as a frame of the buns counter and coffee areas, old bricks have been repurposed to create the cash register area, and the same goes for perforated trays for electrics work which now serve as lamps. Interestingly, in order to boost social interaction and improve chernyi cooperative coffee roasters‘ interaction with the city, an inviting bench weaves through premises, connecting different areas and tables. The windows have been restored and also extended, making them floor-high to allow in floods of daylight. As chernyi cooperative coffee roasters maintain direct contact and form long-term sustainable relationships with farmers from Ethiopia, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Guatemala, its menu lists various coffee concoctions made from beans from these countries, all roasted in-house, and also brewed through alternative methods, such as a funnel or an AeroPress coffee maker. © superfuture.com

chernyi cooperative coffee roasters
ulica Cara Uroša 28 (Stari Grad)
11158 Belgrade
Tue-Sun 8am-6pm

© FREYA Architects / Photography: Ilya Ivanov