Specialty coffee in Belgium
Specialty coffee in Belgium rests on a few long-running roasters: OR Coffee started in Aalst in 2001 and Caffènation in Antwerp in 2003. Belgian specialty roasting predates the wider European wave. OR Coffee Roasters, founded by Tom Janssen and Katrien Pauwels, buys around 98% of its coffee through direct trade and runs a training centre. Caffènation, founded by Rob Berghmans in Antwerp, roasts light with a strong focus on African coffees and publishes an annual transparency report. MOK, founded in Leuven in 2012 by twice Belgian Cup Tasters champion Jens Crabbé, moved its roastery to Brussels in 2016.
Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent are the three main scenes, of similar size, and each has a distinct character; Ghent has the most roasters of the three. Leuven has a strong scene for its size, and specialty bars have spread to Liège, Aalst, Hasselt, Mechelen and Bruges, as well as the Brussels communes of Ixelles and Saint-Gilles.
Roasters that shape Belgian taste include Caffènation, OR Coffee Roasters, MOK Coffee, Parlor Coffee Roasters, Vandekerckhove & Bar and madmum Coffee Roasters & Bar. Many of them run a bar alongside the roastery. Expect light to medium roasts, filter methods such as V60 and AeroPress, and a strong interest in natural and experimental processing.
