BeBerry Summer

No, I’m not paddling in the waves, riding a bicycle to the lake, posting Instagram selfies from some Greek island, or walking barefoot in the grass. I’m even not spending a long weekend in Normandie, as it used to be a tradition for many years, when I still wasn’t living in Paris. Those days I’m only reading about how normal people are spending summers — in social networks, on Substack, in books: fiction and nonfiction. Thinking I should write a post about the right of everyone for holidays. For a break. For silence. Which before seemed to me a very French thing.

In Prague, where I’m spending the days that will probably go down in history as my summer 2025 vacation, the weather has been tricky. Just in few days it changed from November-ish (don’t ask!) to September-ish (with cool mornings of 9-12 degrees and very warm days — 26-29 those last ones) and is now back to normal heavy hot August.

August has always struck me as the saddest summer month. The days grow shorter, mornings cooler, leaves begin to fall, and autumn is imminent, as the French say. For many, it’s still peak holiday time — a last, long-awaited escape before the “new year” begins. But with the atmosphere of summer’s ending in the air, it feels tinged with melancholy.

Prague, however, is celebrating summer in full. Thanks to the digital age, tourists now wander into unexpected corners of the city — even lower Žižkov. Famous JZP (Jiřího z Poděbrad Square), forever under construction, is now frequented by California-style “beach bums” (never mind the lack of proximity of an actual beach), playing music through portable speakers and sunbathing on the farmers’ market tables when they’re not in use. The market itself — traditionally a place for local produce — has even added a vinyl record kiosk. Quite original idea for the place.

But my personal highlight is the city’s new obsession: BeBerry. A coffee roaster from Beroun, BeBerry seems to have launched a clever campaign — suddenly, many of the best coffee spots in Prague are brewing it. And it’s excellent: bright, berry-infused, high-quality coffee — the closest thing I’ve tasted to summer captured in a cup.

Our sad coffee tastings this summer with my Prague Coffee Expert friend have eventually resulted with discovering a few places where filter coffee is quite pleasant and even - really good!

We first discovered it in relatively recently opened Solo Bakery. A barista from Kiosek Dejvice, another coffee trend setter in Prague, left his Kiosek and started to brew coffee in a bakery: we knew it should mean that coffee there just must be good. When we asked what they were serving, we rediscovered BeBerry — once sold in minimalist, dot-patterned packaging reminiscent of La Cabra, now rebranded in juicy, colourful, summer-berry designs. Okay, we said in Solo Bakery, — interesting! We didn’t yet realise that this was only the beginning of our “BeBerry Summer.”

BeBerry has a showroom in Vršovice, where you can even do tastings. Though — to my big regret — it’s out of the way: a place you need to make a deliberate trip to, dodging pavement repairs, construction sites, and other hallmarks of city summers. We never managed to coordinate a visit. But then my friend messaged: Spižírna 1902, just around the corner from me, was now brewing BeBerry. The next morning I went there for breakfast; that same day, my friend found it at Kiosek Dejvice, near her home. We had an unplanned “coffee date” without meeting — both of us ordering the pink pack roast, both delighted with its light, fruity flavour.

I soon realised other favourites were serving it too: a coffee bar that looks like an underground club but hides an excellent filter, and even Cafe Hrnek in Holešovice, where I dropped in today and found BeBerry in the batch brew.

Yes, it’s probably a paid marketing push. But part of me is just happy for the brand — they’re that good — and part of me hopes it’s also a sign that Prague’s cafés are ready for something fresh after years of good-but-old (attention, not good-old!) Candycane and Father’s Coffee.

Meanwhile, I’ve stopped reading about how other people are “properly” spending summer. Instead, I’m doing my own city tour before I leave Prague for good: breakfasts at favourite cafés, the best ice cream in town (vegan salted caramel is back, and after a BeBerry coffee, a berry-nettle sorbet is essential), and quiet hours in my favourite bookshop.

Summers can take many shapes.

How’s yours?

— Be well,

Havana