Norway: Coffee creations in the Oslo Kaffebar

Felleshus is Norwegian for 'community house.' This imposing structure near Berlin's Tiergarten park, designed by architects Berger and Parkkinen, features a sweeping turquoise copper facade and serves as the pan-Nordic embassy to the countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. The building hosts a range of events, exhibitions, and a canteen featuring a lively lunch menu – and guests are always welcome. The Felleshus is also home to the Oslo Kaffebar run by Norwegian proprietor Kristian Moldskret.

The bright bar designed by the Felleshus architects and the pastel barstools contributed by designer Sigurd Larsen perfectly complement the aesthetic concept of the building, with its raw concrete walls and light maple wood. Following its debut as a popup store in 2014, Moldskred's Kaffebar has since become a permanent feature.

According to Kristian Moldskret, good coffee is the product of many factors, one of which is the quality of the water. "You can never make the same coffee in two different places. Norwegian spring water is totally different from the tap water in Berlin. After all, a filter coffee is 98 percent water," he says. But the star ingredient is the coffee beans, which Kristian Moldskred purchases from sustainable coffee farms in Africa.

Third wave pioneer

He uses one kind for filter coffee and another for espresso. Moldskred and his team roast the green beans themselves, transforming them into delicious coffee specialties. Kristian Moldskred, who comes from a small village on Norway's west coast, first visited Berlin in 2000. Before moving to the German capital in 2009, he had taken up residence in Bergen, Oslo, Barcelona, Brussels, and attended entrepreneurial school in Boston. In 2010, he got his break with his first independent business, a café in Prenzlauer Berg.

"That venture was one of the first 'third-wave coffee shops' in Berlin," explains Kristian Moldskred – a café that distinguishes itself from the major 'second wave' coffee franchises through careful preparation and high-quality ingredients. Two years later, he opened the main branch of the Oslo Kaffebar near Nordbahnhof in Berlin Mitte with his business partners Steve Morris and Benjamin Mosse – and it was that concept that won the heart of the Nordic Embassies