Coffee capsules with a specialty eye. What does it mean?
When we opened our first specialty coffee shop in 2016, Steamhouse Cafe quickly grew to become one of Budapest's leading coffee hubs. In 2017 we won the Hungarian Barista and Filter Championships, with specialty coffees from around the world. We are constantly training ourselves, attending workshops, and our life really revolves around quality coffee.
In 2020, when the pandemic forced us to close our cafés, we started to think about how to move forward. Then came the idea: if the guests can't reach us, let's reach the guests. So why not have a specialty coffee shop in the kitchen?
We've tasted a lot of capsules and realised that the problem with them is that almost all manufacturers see the coffee capsule as a convenient, home solution to make some kind of coffee at the touch of a button, but they are focused on serving the masses. We don't look at coffee pods the way the big guys do, but the way coffee should be.
For us, it's the end result that counts - the cup, the first sip, the taste of the coffee, the finish.
In the specialty coffee industry, we believe that the highest quality is the most important thing, from roasting to storage and coffee making. So if we produce our coffee pods with the same strict criteria in mind, we can put a smile on many people's faces every morning with that first sip.
The team
Marton LONKAI
In 2016, he opened his first specialty café, coming from outside the hospitality industry. He has always been a fan of coffee, and this commitment led him to venture into unknown territory and open a specialty cafe in Budapest, the success of which is characterized by the fact that the Steamhouse Cafe on Batthyány Square quickly became one of the favorite places of the coffee industry and guests. His professional commitment is clearly demonstrated by the fact that a year later he won the SCA Brewers Championship and was able to represent the Hungarian coffee industry at the World Championship. The cafe's professional work is characterized by the fact that in the same year, its barista won the SCA Barista Championship. In 2020, during the Covid closures, he started experimenting with coffee capsules. Thanks to this, the cafe survived the closure, keeping all the people. There was such a demand for the coffee capsules, which were still produced on a contract basis, that in 2021 the company's own capsule filling machine arrived. From then on, the kind of exactingness and attention that has always been characteristic of him is also true for the capsules, since everything from the procurement of green coffee to the roasting and the making of the coffee capsules is in one hand. In 2024, Marci obtained her professional diploma in coffee at the Coffee Excellence Center of the University of Zurich.
Balint JUHASZ
Bálint also came to the world of coffee as an outsider. At first, he began to work more and more deeply with coffee as a hobby, then after many years of tasting and continuous self-education, making his old dream come true, he opened his small specialty cafe in Dunakesz. The basic mission of Pöti Kávé is to show guests the depth and variety hidden in coffee - all in an informal and direct way. The success of the cafe proves that it has succeeded in fulfilling this mission. Bálint and Marci met back in 2017 at a Steamhouse Café coffee tasting. Shortly after the launch of the coffee capsule product line, Bálin also helped in production and development - this "help" has now become a full-fledged commitment. And although he replaced the portafilter with a capsule, his attitude has not changed in the meantime: high-quality ingredients, continuous learning and development, honesty and openness. This is the secret of success.
Imre CSOHANY
Mechatronics engineer, master coffee roaster, SCA instructor. In 2008, he tried his luck abroad, assembling robots in Ireland and servicing coffee machines, thanks to which he became more and more immersed in the world of coffee. From 2010, he also worked as a master roaster. In 2013, another turning point occurred in his life, due to family reasons he had to leave the small company where he worked and moved to Dublin, where he was employed in the second largest roasting plant in Ireland as a maintenance engineer and master roaster. The following year, he obtained a master's certificate and continued to deepen his knowledge while roasting 2.5 tons of coffee per day. In the colors of the coffee company, they entered prestigious gastronomic competitions year after year, in which they always finished at the forefront. In 2018, he moved back to Hungary with his family, where he founded his own business. This year, he obtained the Specialty Coffee instructor title. In addition to roasting, he is also constantly involved in the development of capsules and coffees.