Rituals with nunc.: At Home with Isabelle

How a new coffee ritual changed her everyday life.

Isabelle lives with her husband in a small village between Freiburg and Lake Constance, right in the heart of the Black Forest. A house with history — she grew up here. Two years ago, the couple began renovating her parents’ home. Much of it is finished now, while other parts are still coming together step by step.

The living space is bright and open. Large windows look out onto the garden, while inside warm wood, light walls and furniture in soft natural tones shape the atmosphere. Everything feels calm, with plenty of space between objects. Isabelle explains that when renovating the house, one thing mattered most to them: creating a home where people love to come together.

“We’re very social people,” she says. “Our friends and family all live here in the village, so it happens all the time that someone just drops by.”

That fits her profession. Isabelle is the founder of the event agency plan.b weddings & events. Together with her team, she designs weddings and events around Lake Constance and in the Black Forest. Furniture, decoration, floral concepts — in the end, it’s always about creating spaces where people can come together and experience special moments.

Her days are often fast-paced. Meetings, event setups, conversations with couples, new concepts. That makes the quiet moments at home even more important. One of them begins every morning in the kitchen. About six months ago, a nunc. moved in — and with it, something changed that Isabelle hadn’t really thought about before.

“Before that, we would wake up, get ready and leave the house right away,” Isabelle says. “We’d usually have our coffee somewhere on the way or at the office. It was always just something on the side.”

Now mornings look different. Before heading out, Isabelle and her husband make a cappuccino and sit down for a moment at the kitchen counter.

“Since the nunc. is here, we make a cappuccino together every morning and drink it before we leave the house. It’s become our little start to the day.”

It’s not a long moment — but it changes the way the morning begins.

“My days are usually quite fast and I’m often on the move. So coming down here in the morning, making a coffee and sitting for a moment really feels like arriving in the day.”

Isabelle’s favorite cappuccino is made with the Serene Sunset beans. A blend of three Arabicas with fruity notes of raspberry and blackberry and a hint of milk chocolate. Full-bodied and smooth on the finish. The beans are inserted into the interchangeable Smart Hopper, allowing different roasts to be swapped easily — something that quickly becomes useful in everyday life. Because coffee here is rarely just for two people.

“Our whole group of friends and our family love the nunc. just as much as we do,” Isabelle says with a laugh. “At the beginning it was exciting for everyone when it arrived. And now they just come over.” Often completely spontaneously. “Someone brings cake, someone sits down at the table, and suddenly everyone is having coffee. We used to go to cafés for that. Now it just happens here at home.” And many of them already know exactly which coffee they want.

“Our best friend walks in and immediately says: I’ll have a Roaring Volcano. They all know exactly what they want.”

Guests who have their own portafilter machines at home are often surprised.

“Many of our friends have espresso machines themselves, so they know how much technique and skill it usually takes to make really good coffee,” Isabelle explains. “And then they stand here and say: How can this be so easy?”

With features like Magic Milk, which automatically froths the milk, cappuccinos are prepared almost effortlessly while the espresso is already running.

“You just place the milk pitcher underneath and everything runs at the same time. Everyone thinks that’s pretty amazing.”

Over time, Isabelle’s perspective on coffee has changed. Right next to her office there is a café with a portafilter machine. She used to grab coffee there quite often. Today she sometimes thinks differently about it.

“Since we have the nunc., I often find myself wondering: should I grab a quick coffee outside — or just go home and have one there instead?”

She laughs.

“Once you get used to really good coffee, you notice the difference.”

And so it happens more and more often that someone stops by spontaneously. Someone brings cake, someone sits down at the kitchen counter, the nunc. is running.

“Sometimes it really feels like this has become a bit of the new café in the village,” Isabelle says.

She takes another sip of her cappuccino.

“The nunc. is something we really wouldn’t want to live without anymore.”