Our roastery is named after a town. Kołobrzeg sits on the Polish Baltic coast, in Western Pomerania, at the mouth of the river Parsęta. For most of its recorded history it was written Colberg, and later Kolberg, which is the form many visitors from Germany still know. This page is the long version of where that name comes from.

Salt came first

Kołobrzeg is one of the oldest towns in Pomerania. Its history goes back to the 8th century, when a settlement here lived off salt drawn from brine springs. Settlement probably began even earlier: in the 7th century there was already a community on Wyspa Solna, Salt Island, on the Baltic shore, where people knew how to extract salt. That salt was the source of local wealth for centuries, long before the port handled anything else.

The stronghold on the Parsęta and trade with the Vikings

In the 9th century a stronghold was built on the Parsęta, about 4 km from the coast. Its traces lie in what is now the village of Budzistowo. A settlement grew around it, exporting salt to Wielkopolska and Silesia. Local craftsmen specialised in working iron, antler and amber, and traded with the Vikings.

Word of the stronghold’s wealth reached the Piast court at Ostrów Lednicki. The warriors of Mieszko I arrived on the Parsęta, took the stronghold and garrisoned it. It became one of the stronger seats of Piast power in Western Pomerania.

A bishopric in the year 1000

At the Congress of Gniezno in the year 1000, Bolesław I the Brave and Emperor Otto III founded the archbishopric of Gniezno. The bishoprics of Kraków and Wrocław were placed under it, and a new bishopric was created in Kołobrzeg. Its first bishop was Reinbern, and the diocese was called Salsae Cholobergiensis aecclesiae episcopus, the church of the Kołobrzeg salt.

For a short while the town ranked alongside Kraków, Wrocław and Poznań. It did not last. Reinbern destroyed local temples and idols, the inhabitants resisted, and a return to the old pagan religion forced him to flee. Kołobrzeg lost the bishop’s seat to Kamień Pomorski.

Piast rule and the sieges of 1103 to 1108

Slavic Cholberg regained its independence and kept it until the reign of Bolesław III Wrymouth. A Piast attack in 1103 broke on the town’s defences. Only in 1107 or 1108 did it surrender to Polish forces, and Middle Pomerania returned to the Piast state. The chronicler Gallus Anonymus, writing at the time, called Kołobrzeg a famous city.

1255: a new town under Lübeck law

In the 1130s Kołobrzeg came under the overlordship of the German emperors. From 1187 to 1227 Pomerania, Kołobrzeg included, was held by the Danes, after which the dukes of Western Pomerania took it back.

On 23 May 1255 Duke Warcisław III and Hermann von Gleichen, bishop of Kamień, chartered a new town under Lübeck law. It came with privileges: five years free of charges, 100 łans of arable land (a medieval land measure), the right to fish the sea between the mouths of the Rega and the Parsęta, and a forest of its own. That date is generally treated as the founding of today’s town.

The new town was built closer to the coast. The old stronghold site began to be called Altstat, the old town. Remains of medieval churches and monasteries still lie there, including Bishop Reinbern’s cathedral and the chapel of St Peter. The church of St John the Baptist, from 1222, survives from the same period.

A Hanseatic port

Through the Middle Ages settlers arrived from Germany, mainly from Lübeck and Greifswald. Around the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries Kołobrzeg became a strong Hanseatic town, ringed with walls and a moat, growing quickly on trade and on its port. Its Slavic character faded over the same period. In the 16th century the town authorities barred Polish craftsmen from the guilds.

War, fortress and plague in the 17th century

In the 17th century Pomerania became a battleground for the European powers. During the Thirty Years’ War, from 1618 to 1648, Kołobrzeg was taken by Swedish troops. They left only in 1653, handing the town to Brandenburg. Shortly before that an epidemic had killed more than 3,500 people.

In the second half of the 17th century the town was surrounded by heavy earthworks. Even the lighthouses were fortified. Kołobrzeg became one of the strongest fortresses in the region.

Prussia, and the invention of the spa

In 1701 Colberg passed to Prussia, and later to Germany, and stayed under their rule until 1945. The salt trade that had carried the local economy for centuries went into decline. Then, in 1830, the first brine bath house opened. The water turned out to contain bromine, iodine, sodium and magnesium, and patients began arriving from across Europe. The town reinvented itself as a spa.

By the end of the 19th century Kolberg had a theatre, a new town hall, a stone pier, gas lighting and rail connections to Szczecin, Gdańsk and Poznań. It had become a popular resort.

The coffee tradition we are picking up

One more trade belongs on this list, and it is the reason we are here. Salt went out through the port for centuries. Green coffee, the story goes, came in: over the years beans were brought into German Colberg from the far ends of the world, and they were roasted, sold and drunk in the town. It is a forgotten part of the life of a port town, and it is the tradition we are picking up.

We should be straight about what that is. The salt, the amber, the ironwork and the Hanseatic trade are part of the documented history of Kołobrzeg. The coffee is the part we carry ourselves. We have told it since our first blend, the Kołobrzeg Blend, and it is why a roastery on this coast ended up with the town’s old name on the bag.

Colberg, Kolberg, Kołobrzeg: one name, several spellings

The name changed many times, and each form belongs to a period of the region’s history.

• The oldest records date from the year 1000, when the chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg used the Latin form Salsa Cholbergiensis for the bishopric founded by Bolesław the Brave.
• Later medieval documents give Colberg, the form used in German sources from the 12th to the 15th century.
• With the growing German influence in Pomerania and the weight of the Hanseatic League, the spelling Kolberg settled in, and it stayed in use for centuries, particularly under Prussian rule.
• During the Second World War the town was known as Festung Kolberg, Fortress Kolberg.
• In 1945, when Pomerania became part of Poland, the Slavic name Kołobrzeg was restored. It is the official name today.

The older form never disappeared entirely. Colberg still turns up in local initiatives, brands and projects that refer back to the town’s long history. Ours is one of them.

1945: the battle and the rebuilding

In the Second World War the town was declared a fortress, Festung Kolberg, and defended by German forces to the last days. The battle for Kołobrzeg, from 4 to 18 March 1945, was among the heaviest fighting in Pomerania. Polish and Soviet troops took the town building by building, and the decisive moment was the Katyusha rocket bombardment. Kołobrzeg fell on 18 March. The same day saw the symbolic ceremony known as Poland’s Wedding to the Sea, when Corporal Franciszek Niewidziajło ran into the Baltic with a white and red flag.

Between 90% and 95% of the buildings were left in ruins. Rebuilding took years and shaped the town you see now. The old fabric was not reconstructed. Instead came modernist architecture, sanatoria and wide avenues. Under the post-war Polish People’s Republic, Kołobrzeg became a well-known spa town, and from 1967 it was also known for its Soldiers’ Song Festival. The present street layout, the resort character and the town’s standing as a major Baltic destination all follow from those decisions.

Kołobrzeg today

Kołobrzeg is now one of the main resorts on the Baltic, drawing both visitors and investors. It is a spa town, a port and a place with modern infrastructure, and the history is visible on every street: medieval walls and the Gothic collegiate church stand next to Prussian fortifications, post-war blocks and new apartment buildings.

The food and coffee scene has grown with it. Specialty cafés have opened, ours among them, bringing a different way of drinking coffee to the town. Alongside them are newer restaurants such as Syrenka, Nawigacja, Lavoo, Neo Bistro Mariacka and Jaremko Soli, and long-standing places that built the local tradition, such as Pod Winogronami, Domek Kata and Pergola. Between the beaches, the marina, the cycle paths and the events calendar, the town is one of the most visited places in Poland.

Why the roastery is called Colbergcoffee

We chose the name the town carried in writing for most of a thousand years, and the one a good number of our German customers grew up hearing. Reading it, you know where the coffee is roasted without us having to explain.

What we do with it is ordinary work: small batches, chosen farms, blends built for cafés, hotels and people who care what is in the bag. If you are in Kołobrzeg, our café is in the old town. If you are not, the coffee travels. More about the roasting itself is on Our roastery.

Frequently asked questions

Where does the name Colberg come from?

The town’s name changed over the centuries. The oldest form is the Latin Salsa Cholbergiensis, recorded in the year 1000. Medieval German sources use Colberg, and under Hanseatic and later Prussian influence the form Kolberg took over. After 1945, when Pomerania became part of Poland, the name Kołobrzeg was restored.

When was Kołobrzeg founded?

Settlement goes back to the 7th and 8th centuries, when salt was extracted on Wyspa Solna (Salt Island). The town was formally chartered under Lübeck law on 23 May 1255, and that is treated as the birth of the present town.

What was Festung Kolberg?

During the Second World War the German command declared Kołobrzeg a fortress, Festung Kolberg. The town mattered strategically because of its port and its position on the Baltic. The battle for it, in March 1945, was one of the heaviest in Pomerania.

What is Poland’s Wedding to the Sea?

On 18 March 1945, after Kołobrzeg was taken, a white and red flag was symbolically planted in the Baltic. Corporal Franciszek Niewidziajło walked into the water carrying it. The ceremony marked Pomerania returning to Poland and Poland regaining access to the sea.

Why is Kołobrzeg known as a spa town?

Rich brine springs and peat mud with medicinal properties were identified in the 19th century. The first brine bath house opened in 1830, and Kołobrzeg is now one of the most important spa towns in Poland, with patients coming from across Europe.