Why did you choose Hungary?
Mario: I learnt business and management in Spain. I definitely wanted to study in a big city, full of life, and that's how I chose Budapest Business School, and with that, Hungary.
Had you known anything about Hungary before that?
Mario: Some of my university friends had been to Hungary as Erasmus students. They told me a lot about the parties here, the friendly atmosphere and the great university life.
You travelled around a lot together. Which countries did you go to?
Emese: After my Erasmus studies in Madrid, I returned to Hungary to complete my studies at the university. Then we spent the summer in Portugal, where we worked on a farm as volunteers. After that, we came back to Budapest together.
Mario: Meanwhile, we received our working holiday visa to New Zealand, where we spent a year. Then we also travelled around Asia for a while before returning to Europe.
After so much travelling, why did you decide to settle down in Hungary?
Mario: We had known how life was here and we thought it would be an ideal environment for the café that we had already been planning to open.
And why a café?
Mario: We became more deeply interested in coffee culture during our travels. We had an opportunity to meet foreign baristas and attend their courses.
Emese: I attended a barista course in Hungary, where I instantly fell in love with the world of coffee. I gained real practical experience in New Zealand, where, similarly to Australia, you can see a very serious new wave of coffee culture. I had a number of jobs as a head barista, and then it was in Asia that we first considered opening our own café somewhere in Europe. It was a long process until we opened Dorado Café 18 months ago in Budapest.
You seem to be planning for the long-term now in Budapest.
Mario: We can still take shorter European trips, but recently we haven't had time for longer journeys like before. We miss travelling, but now Dorado is the first.