If you’re only interested in drinking espresso coffee, then stop reading. If your coffee taste buds are more adventurous like ours, then you MUST visit Crooked Nose & Other Coffee Stories when you visit Vilnius. We arrived 20 minutes before closing on a warm Saturday afternoon and boy, were we glad that we made it. The owner, Emanuelis, happily welcomed us in and talked to us in depth of his cafe’s brewing methods.
Crooked Nose is a micro-roastery; the only place we’ve come across (to date) that grinds its coffee beans by hand. It’s slow coffee. Don’t come to Crooked Nose for a soy latte with an extra shot to go. Come here to sit and sip your coffee away from the mainstream cafes.
The menu offers Aeropress, Chemex, Siphon, Nerodrip, Cascara, Cold Drip and its own invention, Bro. Familiar with Aeropress and Chemex, it was Nerodrip that caught our eye. Emanuelis explained to us that it’s a Japanese brewing method. This technique has existed in coffee houses in Japan for around 100 years. It’s the type of coffee that should be drunk slowly like a whisky, while you smoke a cigarette and read the newspaper. We selected the Guatemala beans for our Nerodrip to share and we thoroughly enjoyed the flavour and the experience.
Crooked Nose offers a small minimalist space with simple wooden furniture surrounded by green potted plants and small succulents. Coffee table tomes including Kinfolk, Gourmand and Delayed Gratification hang on the wall for sale. We’re sorry that we didn’t have more time to sample coffee from Crooked Nose’s Bro coffee maker. A true pioneer of specialty coffee, we hope that Emanuelis will receive much success from his invention.
Upon our departure, we were offered local restaurant recommendations and well wishes for our remaining time in Lithuania. We left Crooked Nose not only buzzing from the caffeine but from a genuine connection with a local over a mutual passion. This is one coffee and travel experience that we will fondly remember.
