Home Deliveries and #SupportYourlocal Businesses in Berlin
Coffee Roasters, food and grocery home deliveries, and other #supportlocal initiatives
Last Updated: March 27, 2020
Since restaurants and most cafes have shut down in Berlin due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I’ve made a list for food-related deliveries and ways you can support local businesses. This is a working list and right now the sections include:
- Coffee roasters (that should still be doing home deliveries)
- Food orders & #Supportyourlocal initiatives
- Grocery home deliveries
- Community fundraising
What if I don’t make coffee at home?
To get started with making your own coffee at home, all you need is:
- A grinder
- A coffee maker: French Press, V60 filter or Kalifa Filter, or Aeropress
For the most part, you cannot go too wrong with high quality beans as long as you boil the water and let it cool off for a minute or so. Fiddle with the grind coarseness to get your preferred coffee strength. Fiddle with the temperature to figure out how to bring out different flavours. I do not recommend making the single origin coffee beans with one of the Bialetti Moka espresso makers (for those, please order espresso-specific roasts).
The Coffee Roasters
The list of roasters below are mostly from this Berlin Coffee Festival map. If you have a local roaster that you’d like to add, feel free to contact me on Twitter. The list comprises businesses that are:
- Mostly local Berlin (or at most 1–2 locations in other cities)
- Roasters that can probably still deliver
My personal favourites are Fjord Coffee Roasters, Coffee Circle, and 19 Grams. I’ve tried most of the roasters on this list, though not every single one. Some roasters offer free shipping or discount with a minimum order.
Asian Food Places
One feel-good initiative is delicious political consumption. In case you haven’t heard, Covid-19 has been the scapegoat for a rash of worldwide East Asian racism. Berlin and Germany are no exceptions.
While you’re at home, here’s a delicious way to show solidarity for the Asians who are still working hard to feed you and their teams. Order takeout from favourite local restaurants and food companies like Chungking Noodles, Fraeuleinkimchi, Mama Shabz, Khaotaan Berlin, and The Panda Noodle. If you have more to add to the list, please let me know!
Food orders & #Supportyourlocal initiatives
I never do food orders because of the packaging waste and carbon emissions (and, I’m cheap!).
However, my understanding is that Lieferando.de the Europe delivery app is still taking orders and doing contactless deliveries. The app has English and to my knowledge is similar to global services like Deliveroo.
Also check out apps like MySpäti and Helfen Berlin to see if there are local businesses you can support.
Below is a directory for restaurants where you may be able to get vouchers or takeouts:
In addition, you can try out the Germany-wide #SupportYourLocal campaign, where restaurants can sign up to create a voucher store.
You can also support the local business Easy Cook Asia, which delivers ingredients for you to make at home with your family.
In addition, the app Too Good to Go is still working. Of course, it’s mostly bakeries, so you could also just go to the bakeries during the day!
In addition to cafes, there are many other creators who need support in Berlin at this time. Below is a project that was submitted to the #WirVsVirus Hackathon called Wein und Brot — supporting restaurants by buying their wine.
You can browse the 100+ #WirVsVirus solutions for supporting local businesses by going to the Devpost page:
- Click Submissions
- Check the 16-Lokale Unternehmen box (it means Local businesses)
- Use DeepL.com to translate into English
Example projects include Support Your Locals Map, Laden Hueter, Shoutout, Cofund.de, Livelyhood.de, and Lokale Helden.
Grocery Home Deliveries
I’m not sure that all of these are still delivering, but I believe etepete still is. Brodowin and Groovyveg have English service. In addition, I’ve tried Lion Superfoods samples and quite like how natural they are — though the texture may not be what people are used to because of the natural dry processing.
Also, SoulJar has a waitlist. I’m not sure when it’ll launch.
Community fundraising
If you can’t wait for the app solutions above, below I have included a crowdfunding site to support local businesses and creators. Though StartNext is in German, you can easily copy and paste text into a service called DeepL.com, which also has a desktop app. It translates beautifully and does not feel like Google translate. It also comes with explanations and word conjugations for German.
Look out for re-openings
In addition, I have added a map of cafes in Berlin created by someone else. Perhaps you can find a cafe close to your neighbourhood to walk to or order from.
That’s it for now. Visit again and there will probably be more entries. Until we weather this, stay strong!
If you found this post useful, please consider supporting the Berlin ecosystem. The coffee that you buy me will go directly back to local coffee roasters and restaurants. Thanks!
