Coffee Without the Schnauzer

Berlin-based New Zealand author Sarah Quigley pays a visit to Antipodes coffee shop in the German capital’s area of Prenzlauer Berg where NZEdge web editor Jane Nye and partner Paul Milne, both originally from Wellington, are serving coffee, which “actually tastes like coffee.” “The ubiquitous Milchkaffee — for years the only milk coffee widely available in Berlin — isn’t even on the menu,” Quigley writes. “Berlin is a tough city in which to start a business, especially with the language barrier … adaptability is important. Antipodes has a home away from home feel to it: it’s unmistakably New Zealand, but has acquired an international atmosphere.” Quigley’s latest novel, The Conductor, tells the story of the writing of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony and its historic performance in besieged Leningrad in 1942.