Specialty coffee in Düsseldorf.

Düsseldorf's coffee started, as in a lot of the Rhineland, with an espresso bar: Cafe Bazzar on Schlüterstraße in 1996, which later became Dritan Alsela's roastery and barista school. Tamas Fejer started drum roasting in Oberkassel in 2007, Olga Sabristova opened Die Kaffee in Pempelfort in 2011 with a V60 and a Chemex on the counter, and then, in 2014 and 2015, the scene turned: Rösterei Vier roasting in a gas drum inside its Altstadt café with its own washing station in Malawi, and Schvarz roasting in an old paint works in Flingern.

The newer roasters like an old building. Carl Ferdinand roasts in a former car workshop on Düsselthaler Straße, Schvarz in the Alte Farbwerke, Das Cøffe moved its machine from the Carlsplatz to a warehouse in Heerdt, and Lightroast roasts at weekends on Hoffeldstraße and pours the results at Jaenner next to guest coffees from Copenhagen and Eindhoven. A cupping club moves between them.

It is a city without a coffee festival, as of this autumn, and a city where the flat white and a chocolatey blend still sell most of the cups; but the fermented lots with names like Apricot Bonanza sell out fast, and the packaging arguments are as serious as the coffee ones.

Rösterei Vier roasts on Wallstraße in the Altstadt and funds washing stations and a school in Ntchisi, Malawi, through its own association; its shelf runs from a chocolatey Blend Series to yeast-fermented Colombians and a single-origin Indian Robusta. Schvarz roasts filter and espresso lines in the old paint factory, with blends called VRN and FLR and private-label coffee for the city's cafés. Das Cøffe roasts Nordic-light in Heerdt with a licensed Q grader choosing the lots and pours at the Carlsplatz.

Lightroast roasts at weekends and sells co-ferments called Apricot Bonanza and Watermelon Candy through Jaenner. Carl Ferdinand roasts in the garage, packs in single-material plastic and delivers by bicycle. Die Kaffee keeps a wide single-origin list in Pempelfort. Kaffeeschmiede roasts in Heerdt for its Oberkassel café. Dritan Alsela roasts and trains baristas on Schlüterstraße. Higher sells omni-roasts online. Fjaka roasts for its café, and Café Nikan keeps a long list. BREW in Bilk lets you refill your own jar.

Martin Schäfer built Rösterei Vier and its Malawi programme. Arthur Fuchs and Erkan Karakaya founded Schvarz. Max and Paul roast Lightroast and run Jaenner. Sven Becker traded a bank for a garage at Carl Ferdinand. Olga Sabristova opened Die Kaffee and won the guild's gold. Tamas Fejer started drum roasting in Oberkassel in 2007. Dritan Alsela trains baristas from around the world on Schlüterstraße. Tianran grades the green coffee at Das Cøffe. And Mateusz runs the roasting and the public forums at Rösterei Vier.

Düsseldorf's cafés sit in the walking centre and the residential quarters; the roasting has moved to Flingern's factories and Heerdt's warehouses.

Flat whites and cappuccinos sell the most cups, oat milk often at no surcharge, and batch brew has become the easy way to try a light roast without waiting. On the shelf, Colombia, India and Peru lead Düsseldorf's listed origins, washed leads the processes with natural behind it.

Two roast tracks share the city: chocolate-and-hazelnut blends from Schvarz and Rösterei Vier for the Rhineland palate, Nordic-light single origins from Lightroast and Das Cøffe for the enthusiasts. Yeast-inoculated, lactic and fruit co-fermented lots and varieties like Pink Bourbon, Tabi and Gesha sell out as limited releases. Decaf is single-origin and sugarcane-process at Carl Ferdinand and Lightroast. The live count stands at 12 decaf and 29 filter-friendly listings.

Düsseldorf's ladder runs from the house blends to co-fermented micro-lots in smaller bags. These numbers come from every Düsseldorf coffee currently listed with a price, not a sample we chose. The going rate today is €32 per kilogram, about €8 for a standard bag.

The ladder reads like this: espresso blends and washed Latin Americans around €31 per kilogram, washed East Africans and the first fermented lots from about €44 per kilogram, and the most expensive listing right now at €63 per kilogram. 92 coffees carry a price today. Most roasters sell online, and Carl Ferdinand delivers within the city by bike.