Walter's Coffee Roastery, Doha, Qatar
Marina Twin Towers, Lusail, Doha
Walter's Coffee Roastery is a Breaking-Bad inspired inspired coffee shop located in the Marina Twin Towers of the Lusail District. Lusail is an area of Doha that's still being built-up, just north of the Doha City Center. The shop itself is in the bottom floor of the towers in a very businessy part of town, but not necessarily the easiest to access in terms of parking. We ended up parking up in the towers.
It's hard to miss the theme of this shop, unless you're one of the few people of the world who have never seen Breaking Bad, AKA me. I thought the shop owners just really liked the color yellow and science :D Fortunately, I have friends who are more tuned into pop-culture than myself and explained the shops connection to Breaking Bad. At the side of the store are a few featured yellow HazMat suits and jackets, which is inspired from Breaking Bad's high school chemistry teacher who concocts meth in his basement in a HazMat suit.
The shop is notably designed around a scientific theme as well; the menu is a periodic table with nomenclature such as Sl for Spanish Latte, Ca for Cappuccino and A for Americano. Coffee is served in a range of laboratory beakers. In fact, a friend of mine who ordered an iced Americano got a breaker with ice water and two small separate beakers with an espresso shot in each. It begged for photos and was the perfect opportunity for a fabulous boomerang when we combined the two. It also gave us flashbacks to middle school chemistry class.
Walter's Coffee was originally started in Istanbul, Turkey. Everyone's question: did Breaking Bad inspire the shop? The obvious answer: yes.
Deniz Kosan decided upon this coffee shop theme after watching an episode where Walt's assistant Gale brews a Sumatran coffee through a scientific siphon contraption before a long day's work. Deniz initiated a crowdfunding campaign which gave him the windfall he needed for the successful opening of Walter's sometime later.
According to Walter's website:
"Walter's Coffee Roastery is the first coffee laboratory, specializing in daily roasted coffee. We respect coffee and its chemistry. From extraction and brew temperatures to espresso machine pressure and grinder configuration, we have coffee down to a science."
There are now four locations of Walter's (Istanbul, New York, Dubai and now - Qatar); however, all roasting of the coffee is done in Turkey. The location in Doha is equipped with a theme-matching yellow roaster but it's only for looks, at least for now.
The menu provides a big range of options -- to include a range of pour-over options for the single-origin roasts: siphon, V60, Chemex and Aeropress. What's always neat about traveling to new shop, and to new countries for that matter, are the more unique drink options. Some that stuck out to me where: Spanish Latte (made with condensed milk), Iced Tiramusi, Iced Flat White and Lemon Brew.
I ordered a Chemex with their Ethiopian single origin. It came in the coolest Chemex-inspired beaker glass. By the time I got it, it reached the perfect sipping temperature where it's still hot, but warm enough where you can actually taste the coffee. I drank it quickly and happily! A couple friends ordered the Flat White and became immediate fans themselves. This coffee was excellently brewed!
Similar to the other Walter's location was this iconic 'Yo!' sign.
Which is a greeting used often from Aaron Samuel in Breaking Bad (normally mixed with an explicative I'll omit from this write-up).
I couldn't resist ordering one of their signature drinks before leaving -- the Iced Tiramisu. It was absolutely loaded with sugar, so I needed some help from my friends to finish it. It tasted like cake in cold, liquid form.
Iced Tiramisu
Cake in iced, liquid form.
Walter's coffee isn't the only thing that is meticulously curated. Every inch of this shop was meticulously curated to mirror Breaking Bad, all the way down to the straws. This was a neat, memorable experience that I'd recommend to anyone. It was true to theme, without being kitschy. AND they brewed excellent coffee. This is worth getting outside the city and battling the small parking garage to visit!
