Archives for category: espresso

Coffee Bru is one of the latest additions to the Amsterdam coffee scene. Located in the eastern borough ‘Oost’, it’s not located near any of the other high-level coffee places, allowing a whole new group of people to enjoy speciality coffee. Coffee Bru has been well-designed, which is visible through the decoration. The mosaic on the bar must have taken a while to finish and is custom-made to fit the La Marzocco as well as 2 Anfim grinders and a brew bar. Colorful and artsy throughout, Coffee Bru is a great addition to bring liveliness to the area.
The customers are for the most part locals, as this part of Amsterdam is largely unknown to tourists. Although the child-friendly back of the store will appeal to the mothers in the area, the free wifi will appeal to the working man or students. The espresso I had tasted great. With a winey sour, this is a far cry from Italian style espresso – and gladly so. On the slow coffee-side of things, some improvement can be made, but it’s nearly impossible to have all your filters taste great if you’re working with several baristas, multiple brewing methods and two or three different beans at any given time. While the first Chemex was too bitter, the Sidamo on V60 was great. If they keep working on their skills, this place will be great for both espresso and filter, and is a clear gain for the neighbourhood.

Coffee Bru

Coffee Bru

Coffee Bru

Having read dozen of positive reports on Zweibar on a German community for coffee-enthusiasts, I really believed this place could not disappoint. The truth is far, far from that. This place, although packed with people, failed to even meet the basic principles of making espresso. After we were lucky to find the only two remaining seats, by chance right at the counter, we ordered an espresso and a cappuccino, and I couldn’t help but notice the time it took to make a single espresso.

A few coffees later, I decided to time the espressos being made. The first one I measured took 15 seconds, the second took only twelve. So, not only did they fail to consistently pour espressos, they didn’t meet the 25-second standard at all. Surprisingly, this short extraction time did not result in an extremely sour espresso. Instead, it tasted, as my girlfriend described it, like burnt rubber. Without a clue as to how that actually tastes, it’s probably not far off from describing the flavors. I can’t even remember how long ago it was since I’ve had this much trouble getting an espresso down. No need to say, we didn’t order another drink but quickly left.

Before doing so, we couldn’t help but notice several other things. The portafilter did not get properly cleaned in between espressos and beans weren’t ground as needed but instead by a whole lot at a time. Staff was clearly unable to handle the amount of orders that came in and were yelling from one side of the store to the other to communicate. Coming in at 40 milliliters for a double espresso, not only brewing time is short, but total volume is somewhat short as well. My only advice on this place is to avoid it all costs, and my hope for the people of the city of Essen is that this place is not in fact the best in espresso culture it has to offer. Essen may have been cultural capital of Europe, the coffee culture is apparently far from fully developed.
Read the rest of this entry »

Newly opened on the day of our visit, this place in the historic city of Hasselt is yet another offspring of the Antwerp-based Caffenation family. Inspiring others to open up coffee bars like the Village in Utrecht and temporary coffee lab Zwart in Antwerp, Marc has been thinking about taking the love for coffee from Antwerp to Hasselt for a long while, before finally taking the decision to go for it, as other coffee houses in the city still mostly lack the dedication he has for coffee. The result is the opening of KingKongCoffee, this January 6, 2012.

KingKongCoffee, Hasselt

Read the rest of this entry »

The saying that every answer raises new questions, seems to be equally true to experiences. Each new experience makes one long for more new experiences. That’s why I’ve created this wish list. I’m not pretending to remember every single spot I’ve ever come across and want to visit, but by putting them on a map, I should be able to keep track of places I one day want to see. And perhaps it even generates more wishes through tips from other people: so feel free to comment and advice me.

Read the rest of this entry »

Although I have been drinking lots of coffees over the past months, no new ratings have been posted to my blog. The reason for this is simply that I have been neglecting my blog for a long time, but it’s time to step up now. And the place I’d wish to start with, is the Village in Utrecht. Right around the corner from where I live, this place has opened up last February. Right on the first days I stopped by for a coffee, but struggled to formulate an opinion back then. On the one hand, I have always loved the relaxedness about the place, yet I didn’t think their espressos were any good – back then.

Read the rest of this entry »

Located in an old-fashioned market hall, where local produce as well as exotic products are being sold, this espresso bar is a good place to recover from the masses of shopping people. The espresso machiatto was on the mild side for my liking, while the espresso got completely lost in the milk of the cappuccino. They do however have various beans on offer, so that might be a solution to their mild standard bean, although I haven’t tried the other beans, all other variables were as they should be: nicely foamed and just the right amount of milk.

Espresso Store

I am slowly developing a theory, where all outlets of Bagels & Beans within Amsterdam’s city limits provide a rather different quality in contrast to shops elsewhere. Although it’s been high-ranking in various tests with some branches, I get served a really, really bitter, over-extracted espresso machiatto with too much milk (which, in this case, helped partly mask the terrible flavours) and foam of the kind which resembles the surface of the moon. Luckily, the lack of wifi, as opposed to free wifi in other stores, toilets for which you have to pay, as opposed to other stores offering free toilets and unfriendly staff are all in line with the ‘quality’ of coffee. Just stick with the books of Selexyz.

Read the rest of this entry »

I stumbled upon this place as it was advertised on a sign in the nearby Rathaus metro station as Kaffeerösterei. With my last cup already some seven hours behind me, I couldn’t resist. The place was nicely set up, with a mixture of comfortable chairs and not-so-soft yet properly shaped modern chairs, which looked really nice.

My espresso machiatto was quite good in fact. Properly foamed and a decent shot of espresso. The main issue here was that the drink itself was something in between of a machiatto and a cappuccino, with a little too much milk.

Read the rest of this entry »

On the square, which is in plenty supply of Asian restaurants, Bagels & Beans was the first place I dropped by more every now and then. After my brother and parents had helped me move, I found it the perfect place to regain strength with coffee and a bagel. Or like today, so that I can make use of their free wifi while enjoying a cup of coffee.

The cappuccinos have always been rather good, with a very rich and nearly creamy foam and a nice and powerful shot of espresso. In my experience, staff here wants to produce constant quality, something which not all outlets of this chain are able to do. Minor annoyance was the wifi being terribly slow.

Read the rest of this entry »