Shakespeare & Sons last graced these pages in June when they opened up a Berlin location, their first shop outside Prague, but they’ve been busy since then. In the intervening months, they’ve begun stocking used books, and last month they opened a miniature café right inside the bookstore.
Just order a drink and sit down in one of the chairs scattered among the shelves. Grab a used book to read (new titles have to be purchased first, due to a couple of unfortunate coffee-spilling incidents), and they’ll bring you your cup o’ joe, complete with a thimble of warm milk and adorable, self-branded sugar cubes. (Trivia: Sugar cubes were invented by a Czech.)
The beans are supplied by Bonanza Coffee Heroes, and homemade pastries and soups are also available. We tried the blueberry muffin, which paired a crunchy cinnamon-sugar top with the usual juicy blueberries and soft cake perfectly. When the muffins, zucchini cake or banana bread run low, owner Laurel Kratochvila simply heads to the kitchen to bake another batch.
The café is the latest in the group’s efforts to make their bookstore feel just like your living room: future plans include movie nights on their new projector.