Playground Coffee was founded in Hamburg in 2014 by Veljko Tatalović and his co founder Matze, a former cameraman turned roaster. What started as a pop up espresso bar inside Otto's Burger grew into a permanent space in St. Pauli near the Reeperbahn, which opened in March 2017. The roastery operates separately on Hamburg's Elbe coast, where a 12 kilogram batch roaster and two other machines handle production. Veljko personally sources all green coffee from small farms in countries like Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zimbabwe. The beans carry playful names like Skywalker, King Kongo, and Dirty Berry, reflecting the brand's irreverent character.