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Coffee nerds often have a tough time in Charlottenburg. Historically, the district is shaped by Berlin’s coffeehouse culture, and truly special specialty coffee is hard to come by. Heller Kaffees wants to change that, artfully bridging the gap between genuinely good coffee and warm hospitality.
Set on a quiet residential street, its window front catches the eye: a continuous strip of graffiti runs along the bottom of the glass, with sleek metal chairs out front. The interior only reinforces the bold first impression with bare, unplastered walls, yellow chairs, and an artful unfinishedness. It’s quite literally a surface with room left to write on, as Andreas, who has run the café since early 2025, confirms.
He has been a fixture of Berlin’s hospitality scene since the 1980s and has watched firsthand as the city moved from cappuccinos with a squirt of whipped cream on top to today’s specialty coffee. Particularly formative was Double Eye in Schöneberg, where the texture of a coffee impressed him for the first time. So much so that he went on to open two cafés of his own and worked with Passenger Coffee, among other places.
Heller Kaffees reflects his own ideas and nobody else’s. That means closing the gap between classic Berlin coffeehouse culture and modern specialty coffee: high-quality coffee with real hospitality. To that end, he’s created an open space where encounters can happen, and from which the monthly jazz night “Mostly Jazz” and art exhibitions have emerged.
He selects roasteries according to taste, craftsmanship and consistency. Right now, Andreas works with Rozali Coffee, but he is steadily expanding the range. There are always at least four different beans to choose from, ranging from a dark but lively house coffee to funky, fruity, light roasts. You can ask for advice, what’s exciting right now, or what the personal favorite is! It’s a place worth the detour into Charlottenburg’s quiet neighborhood, and one you’d love to have as part of your own.
Text: Marie Berkmann / Photos: Robyn Steffen
Heller Kaffees, Sybelstr.19, 10629 Berlin-Charlottenburg; map
@hellerkaffees
Long before anyone had heard the term “skin scent”, the story of Geza Schoen began. In 2006, he broke with everything perfumery had stood for until then and created a fragrance from a single molecule: Iso E Super. No floral bouquet, no fruit cocktail, no ten ingredients vying for attention. Just one woody, velvety substance that bonds with the skin and, as a result, smells different on everyone.
At the time, many thought it was mad. Today, Molecule 01 has a devoted following that includes Kate Moss and Beyoncé, as well as my Kreuzberg friends. With Escentric Molecules, Geza has become what you might call an artist’s artist: a master of his craft, a darling of the scene, one of the most successful niche perfumers, and yet approachable, unpretentious, cool. Anyone wearing Molecule 01 today can be sure of being stopped on the street and asked about it.
It’s not an overbearing, generic, off-the-shelf scent, but one that continuously unfolds on you. Schoen himself once said that Molecule 01 works almost like a drug: you smell it and immediately want more. And now, twenty years on, there finally is more: Schoen and his team have opened the brand’s first permanent store on Auguststraße: Escentric Molecules.
The store was designed by creative director Paul White and architect Sophie Berianidze, co-founder of Valesque, my new favorite bag label, and Schoen’s partner. The result is not a classic retail space but a cross between gallery and stage. Anodized aluminium plinths on which the flacons are moved in choreographed sequences, with drawers above that open to reveal entire fragrance families.
Video screens show patterns of molecular movement, accompanied by pared-back techno. At night, the products almost disappear from view, and the space becomes a glowing installation, with large-scale projections onto the street offering a rotating program of art and film. What began in 2006 as a radical reduction to a single molecule is carried through the space itself: a distillation to what matters. Only this time it’s cast not just in flacons but in aluminium, light and sound.
Text: Laura Storfner / Photos: Courtesy of Escentric Molecules
Escentric Molecules, Auguststr.62, 10117 Berlin–Mitte; map
@escentric_molecules
Whenever we want to escape the city for a few hours, our current favorite route takes us into the Müggelberge and through the Köpenicker Forst. It’s for anyone who wants to feel far from it all without a long journey. The trails are visually interesting: boggy wetlands, dense forest, and quiet waterways all in one walk.
Our route starts on the newly built Müggelberge Teufelssee nature trail. Where a summer retreat once drew day-trippers out of the city, a nature reserve now provides a habitat for a wide range of species. The narrow path winds through sun-dappled forest and skirts the edge of the Teufelsmoor bog. Eventually, a long flight of steps branches off to the right, climbing up to the Müggelturm — the hike’s first real highlight. On a clear day, the viewing platform rewards you with a spectacular panorama over the countryside surrounding Berlin.
After the descent, the flight of steps continues down to the Dahme, where the water glimmers in the distance, drawing you towards the shore. Benches here, with a view across to Bammelecke in Grünau (a popular swimming spot), make the perfect place for a short break and a first taste of whatever you’ve packed. The lakeside path stretches on for many kilometers, opening up one lovely swimming cove after another all the way to the F21 ferry landing at Krampenburg–Schmöckwitz. This stretch in particular is easy to extend as far as you like. Look closely, and you’ll spot gnaw marks left by the local beavers — a good sign of healthy water quality.
We, however, turn off earlier onto a side path to the left, heading back into the forest and up towards the Großer Müggelberg. The terrain gets noticeably hillier here, and the paths start to test your legs. Eventually, following the well-known downhill trails, we reach the summit. At 115 meters above sea level, we stand on the city’s highest natural point. The summit cross gives a genuine sense of mountaineering, right in the middle of a metropolis.
From there, the path winds back down past shelters and the outdoor learning stations of the Teufelssee forest school, returning to the bog. A wooden boardwalk carries you across the marshland and the lake, opening up views of water lilies swaying gently in the wind and dragonflies humming past. Among the reeds, birches and mud, one bench offers a last chance to sit, listen to the birdsong, and take in the surroundings with full attention. From there, the route leads directly back to where we started.
A few meters of elevation, a handful of forest paths, and the reassurance that Berlin’s next adventure is often only a few stops away. The Müggelberge proves that you don’t need monumental peaks to earn a proper break from everyday life. Tip: The free Wald-Zeit-Reise app offers quizzes, historical images, and information about the plants and animals of the Müggelberge hills.
Text: Julia Spindelmann & Flavia Lamprecht Photos: Walking on the Wild Side
Julia and Flavia are close friends from Berlin who share a passion for being outdoors and exploring. On their adventures around Berlin and Brandenburg, they kept discovering hidden gems and places off the beaten path. That’s how their guide “Walking on the Wild Side – Streifzüge durch Berlin und Brandenburg” came to life. Inside, you’ll find more than 70 sustainable routes for walks, little adventures, and weekend escapes. You can find the book at independent bookstores and selected local shops.
Rübezahl bus stop (bus 169), Rübezahl hiking car park, 12559 Berlin–Köpenick; map
@walkingonthewildsideofberlin
Bring 180 musicians together and let them collaborate for a week. No PR, no industry pressure – just jamming and cooking up ideas. Then let them perform whatever emerges to a public audience over two days. That’s the ethos of Peoplefestival, a combined residency and weekender at Funkhaus Berlin on 10 & 11.10.2026.
The event is a revival of what was originally Michelberger Music, which originated in 2016 when Nadine and Tom Michelberger of the Michelberger Hotel brought together a circle of musicians for a spontaneous mini festival. Ten years on, People has grown to a weekend of 200 or so shows across eleven studios and stages. There is no official program; you won’t know who is playing until the concert begins. But frankly the caliber of the line-up is such that you aren’t likely to be disappointed.
Adrian Utley (Portishead), composer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, singer-songwriter Ben Howard, Erlend Øye (Kings of Convenience), Bowie bassist Gail Ann Dorsey, Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire), Bryce and Aaron Dessner (The National) are just some of the names invited. None of it is programmed, and none of the artists is paid to appear. Tickets cover the cost of production only. Will you get to see a concert by an impromptu ten-piece supergroup? Or a gig featuring the voices of your youth? Who knows! But something tells us it’s going to be special.
Text: Benji Haughton / Photos: People Festival
Funkhaus Berlin, Nalepastr.18, 12459 Berlin–Oberschöneweide; map
People Festival 10 & 11.10.2026. Tickets are available on the website.
@peoplefestivalberlin
The Bienal de São Paulo is one of the oldest and most influential biennials in the world. This year, it’s also taking place in Berlin, at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW). Under the title Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice, humanity is understood as a verb — as something that must be practiced anew, again and again.
Much like Oscar Niemeyer’s pavilion in Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo, where the Biennial was held in 2025, HKW forms a permeable threshold between architecture and landscape. Both venues align with the exhibition’s central questions. How can we encounter other people, landscapes, animals, plants and memories without imposing our own path on them? How do we create a coexistence of care?
As ever, there is a lot going on inside HKW. Between delicate floral curtains and a clattering soundscape, there’s plenty to discover. More than thirty international artists, including Akinbode Akinbiyi, Aline Baiana, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Emeka Ogboh, Forensic Architecture, Laila Hida, Julianknxx, Ming Smith and Wolfgang Tillmans, explore themes such as memory, belonging and living together. They also address the colonial legacies of modernity and forms of resistance against dehumanization and the plundering of nature. (read more)
The Biennial presents beauty as a political force to be found in the everyday. Fragmented and polyphonic, but no less powerful. The exhibition invites you to stray from the prescribed path and open yourself to other perspectives and unexpected connections. The Berlin edition was curated by Alya Sebti and can be seen at HKW until 06.12.2026. If you’d like to go deeper, regular tours offer a chance to explore the exhibition together. Time to set off on a journey beyond the well-trodden path.
Text: Inga Krumme / Photos: Hanna Wiedemann, Mathias Völzke
Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin–Tiergarten; map
36th Bienal de São Paulo until 06.12.2026.
@hkw_berlin
ANMELDUNG