Haute Cup

Haute Cup began as an idea in 2012 for Andrei Duda and Alexandru Wagner, two 29-year-olds who'd been working corporate jobs, and took about a year and a half to turn into a real café — they eventually put in roughly 100,000 euros of their own money to open in Constanța. Unlike most Romanian coffee shops of the period, which bought roasted beans from someone else, Haute Cup set itself up as a direct importer of green coffee, sourcing origins such as Kenya, Ethiopia and El Salvador itself rather than through a middleman roaster. Roasting runs on a Probat P12 — a German-built machine regarded as among the best roasters made — turning 100% Arabica green stock into the single origins and house blends ('The Barista's Choice,' 'Roaster Choice Blend') sold both across the counter and online. That original investment has grown into four cafés around the city (Tomis, Lahovari, Mamaia and Ion Gheorghe Duca), all supplied from the same in-house roasting operation, with beans and brewing gear shipped nationwide close to the roast date so home customers get coffee at a similar freshness to what's served in the cafés themselves.