Café review: I Need Coffee

I Need Coffee! is the type of place that grabs your attention.  It is situated on the corner of Na Morani and Dittrichova, down the road from Café Amandine. There is something magnetic about its bold black sign, large windows, and painted black ledges with menu items scribbled in white.

Opening its doors in 2012, I Need Coffee! is a great little spot for a caffeine pick-me-up, a tipple, a sweet and a soup.  Its simple menu offers patrons a choice of six styles of coffee brewed from La Boheme beans (espresso, macchiato, Americano, cappuccino, piccolo and latte), hot or cold tea, wine, and aperitifs such as the Provencal Pastis, Italian Aperol Spritz and Campari + Soda or non-alcoholic, Crodino. 

On this particular visit to I Need Coffee!, my friends and I had just finished lunch so we opted for a coffee, tea and four of their homemade cookies before returning to work. We sampled a piccolo, an Australian coffee invention, which is a 1:1 coffee:milk drink, an espresso and a green tea. I have never tried a piccolo before but it is comparable to a smaller version of a latte.  With no expectations of this particular beverage, I found the espresso a tad on bitter side, but the piccolo seemed to mask some of the bitterness with its smoothly blended milk. The espresso was served in a small white porcelain cup and it tasted strong, potent, nutty, bitter and a bit too long for my liking but overall the flavour grew on me. Of all the espressos I have consumed in the city, I would rate I Need Coffee’s a solid 3.5 or 4 out of 5. 

One thing I noticed that was missing and would have amplified my espresso drinking experience was the little glass of water, sometimes served on the side of an espresso. Ongoing debate aside as to whether the water-on-the-side is to be consumed pre-espresso to coat your stomach or post-espresso to bring out the taste, it was missing and felt it should have been there.  Small details, such as water, can take a cafe experience from ordinary to “I really care how my customers consume their beverage at my establishment.”   Speaking of details, however, I did appreciate the slice of lemon on the side of my green tea, but again- why was my tea in a tea bag instead of loose leaf?  There is no shortage of loose leaf tea in Prague.

On to the sweeter side of this review; Homemade cookies!  There were two types of desserts on offer at I Need Coffee! when we stopped in: Cookies and those larger looking cream filled cannoli or kremrole’s. We sampled a muesli, chocolate ginger, Milano (with white chocolate) and peanut cookie. The cookies were fresh, flavourful and firm. The favourite, by consensus, was the chocolate ginger cookie and the Milano cookie with white chocolate and cranberries.

On a whole, I loved the design and vibe of I Need Coffee!. The décor could be described as Nordic-chic meets industrial-vintage with its light wood counters and stools, concrete floor, exposed vaulted ceiling, chalkboard wall, curated fluorescent art and minimal light fixtures.  Natural light is in abundance as two out of four walls of have windows.  If you want to sip coffee while listening to a cool mix of iPod tunes, catch up on reading, meet a friend for a quick coffee or people watch from a space that is not too boisterous and somewhat serene, I Need Coffee! is the place to be.

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