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Spreewald Journal Issue: July/August 2016

Interview with René Urban: "We also like to simply combine tried and tested flavours in new ways." Since 1972, the Urban family in the Spreewald town of Burg has been offering homemade ice cream specialities with sometimes very original touches - including the flavours "cucumber" and "curd cheese with linseed oil". In Urban's Eis & Kaffee Laden, sustainability is also a top priority. Gourmets René and Jördis Urban are the second generation to run the café, making them true connoisseurs of the trade.

Mr Urban, the in-house ice cream creations characterise the range at Urban's Eis & Kaffee Laden. Which flavours are particularly popular and which variation would you recommend as an "insider tip"? In addition to the classic chocolate ice cream, the quark ice cream with linseed oil and especially the cucumber ice cream, which we only make during the harvest time of the local Spreewald cucumbers, are very popular. Our guests should definitely try seasonal highlights such as rhubarb, woodruff or, somewhat more exclusively, macadamia ice cream. What inspires you in your search for ever new ice-cold taste experiences? On the one hand, we value the feedback from our customers. On the other hand, we always go shopping with open eyes and a certain "ulterior motive". We also like to combine tried and tested flavours in new ways. The result is something like tonka bean coconut ice cream. What is particularly important to you in the production of your ice cream? We make our ice cream ourselves from scratch, without the addition of artificial flavours or semi-finished or finished products, and we source our ingredients regionally as much as possible. For example, our quinces come from Burg, and we pasteurise the organic milk from the local farmer on our premises. All in all, it is important to us to have a sensible cooperation with partners who think very similarly to us. This includes the fully ripe harvest of the fruit as well as natural processing and fair payment. On your website, the idea of sustainability to which you are committed is immediately apparent. How important is it for you that customers perceive this aspect? Very important. And the change in people's thinking is actually taking place, or so we are told. Environmental protection is coming back into focus. Our disposable bio-cups, which are compostable, and the ice cream spoons made of corn starch contribute their own small part to this - and nothing else fits in with our philosophy. How much ice cream do you actually still let melt in your mouth even after all these years? We don't eat ten scoops of ice cream after work now, but the general ice cream appetite is there, of course, and it's remedied by tasting it when we make it every day.