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Today, they have five locations across Copenhagen and are whipping up some of the most delicious sweet and savory porridges imaginable: from Asian-style congee with organic chicken, spring onions and sesame, to sweet blueberry chia porridge topped with plum compote, Skyr (Icelandic-style yogurt) and roasted nuts. Copenhagen is the center of New Nordic cuisine, a food movement pioneered by Rene Redzepi and Claus Meyer of Noma (named the best restaurant in the world four times). This local company, with multiple Copenhagen locations, works with coffee farmers all over the world and is committed to direct trade for a superior, intelligently sourced product. This airplane hanger, on an island facing the Copenhagen waterfront, is home to dozens of food stalls and bars, peddling everything from fish tank-sized mojitos to Malaysian street food.

For all my actors out there, it’s a fairly familiar scene: you spend hours prepping the material, taking those secret, delicious breaks thinking about what it’d be like to book the job (Career would be changed! Then, you commute to the audition in a torrential downpour (which you’re not prepared for), the casting director starts the tape before you’re ready, and it’s all over in a 2 minute blur of confusion and self-doubt. If it’s a nice day I’ll detour through the park instead of taking the subway home, listening to an album or playlist I love. It’s a privilege to be driven by that creative energy, to lock into someone’s words and experience that level of connection with another person.

So, when I got an invitation to tour the Raaka Chocolate Factory in Brooklyn, I practically fainted. First step first: Raaka receives all their cacao beans in huge sacks (similar looking to what I imagine coffee beans are shipped in en masse). They’re big on collaboration, so sometimes they’ll partner with different companies to create custom bars (when I visited they were about to launch a bar with La Colombe, using their coffee beans). I love a lot of things about Raaka Chocolate (it’s ethically sourced, it’s local, they care about the product and their consumers), but as with any chocolate, it’s the TASTE I love the most.

Luckily, my boyfriend moved to Clinton Hill earlier this year – an area chockfull of the best cafes and coffee shops in the city. This farm-to-table cafe and coffee shop offers the best of the best: a seasonal, locally-sourced menu (think toasts, grain bowls, salads and soups), Counter-Culture coffee, a whole array of dreamy baked goods (made in house daily), and…wait, did I mention it’s the cutest place ever? ? ? The cafe section has your standard tables and bar seating, but it’s also attached to Stonefruit Botanicals, a plant store and event space. This extra spacious room, surrounded floor-to-ceiling with GORGEOUS greenery, has a long work table, swings (you heard me) and extra chair seating.