You could have painted over the turquoise blue in the passageway to the toilets, or at least removed the “San Francisco Coffee Company” lettering from the built-in cupboard. But the brothers Rinol and Rajmond Lela want to make visible the history of their café, which began more than 20 years ago.
In 1999, the San Francisco Coffee Company (SFCC) moved into the corner building at the intersection of Liebigstrasse and Triftstrasse. It was the first Munich branch of the coffee shop chain and at the same time their first branch ever. Yes, it was not Starbucks that brought the American coffee dream to Munich – their first café only opened five years later on Leopoldstrasse – but the local company SFCC, which was later to have seven other locations in Munich alone.
But in the summer of 2020, the SFCC will file for bankruptcy after the original shareholders had already sold to franchisees. Rinol and Rajmond Lela were such franchisees. Insolvency and Corona put them to a hard test, the brothers invested more than 120,000 euros in the takeover, says Rajmond Lela. Their perseverance was rewarded in February last year when they opened the independently run “Café Lehel – Coffee & Juices”.
Even if the guest room is no longer reminiscent of the SFCC days, it still has the character of a coffee shop. Puristic furniture, including as many stools as chairs, hardly any color apart from the historic turquoise, bright light and large shop windows, a queue at the order counter. In the morning, the café benefits from regular guests from the neighborhood, in the afternoon from its proximity to the Isar and the city center.
In 1999, the San Francisco Coffee Company moved into the corner building at the intersection of Liebigstrasse and Triftstrasse.
(Photo: Alessandra Schellnegger)
Apart from the historic turquoise, there is hardly any color in the guest room. However, the colorful juices provide splashes of color.
(Photo: Alessandra Schellnegger)
The sandwiches are self-made.
(Photo: Alessandra Schellnegger)
Most only stay for a quick caffeine or vitamin kick, after all the café has coffee and fresh juices in its name. There are smoothies from spinach green to berry red (depending on size around 6 euros), the freshly squeezed juice from apple, orange, carrot and ginger (5.60 euros) tastes pleasantly hot.
Those who want to stay longer or even set up their home office here are also welcome, says operator Rajmond Lela. Self-made sandwiches and paninis, for example chicken avocado (6.50 euros) or tomato mozzarella (4.40 euros), are available at any time of the day. With no kitchen available, they were the only savory items in the range until the founder of a Munich catering company happened to drop by the café. Since then, she has been supplying the brothers with fresh bowls, such as the vegan bowl with chickpeas and roasted cauliflower (9.90 euros). Unfortunately, it is served in a single-use packaging from the refrigerated section, but the vegetables and Kerndl have remained crisp.
Sweets are also supplied externally, including muffins (2.80 euros), donuts (2.50 euros) and various cakes (from 2.50 euros). With its juicy dough and crunchy chocolate icing, the marble cake could just as well be homemade. The strong coffee from the new portafilter machine goes particularly well with it, either as a classic espresso (2 euros), americano (2.80 euros) and cappuccino (3.40 euros), or in the many iced variations as an iced latte (about 6 euros) and frappé (between 6 and 7 euros). So you can let hot and rainy days pass by, well looked after, while tram 16 passes in front of the large windows.
Cafe LehelLiebigstraße 10a, 80538 Munich, opening hours: Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, Sunday and public holidays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.