Java Espresso & Coffee Bar

Java opened in 1997, which in Norwegian specialty terms is close to the beginning, and it still runs as a classic Italian style espresso bar rather than a Nordic tasting room: a red La Marzocco on the counter, a short menu, standing room, and a queue of regulars who have been coming for two decades. The coffee is from Kaffa, its sister roastery, and the emphasis has always been on getting an ordinary daily espresso genuinely right rather than on rotating guest lots.

It sits a few streets from St. Hanshaugen park, and the connection runs deeper than it looks: Robert Thoresen, who won the first World Barista Championship in 2000, is behind both Java and Kaffa.