FF Kava began as a free typeface called Kaffeesatz, published by Yanone in 2004 during the early stages of his type design career.
The bold weight was reminiscent of coffee house grotesk typefaces of the 1920s, while the lighter versions bridged the gap to contemporary type design.

The current FF Kava family is a carefully revised, more rounded version of the old Kaffeesatz fonts. A black weight has been added as well as small caps and more figure sets to complete an attractive and functional sans serif type family.