Specialty coffee in Netherlands

Specialty coffee in the Netherlands builds on centuries of Dutch roasting and a strong competition scene, with most roasters in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The Dutch have roasted coffee since the era of Douwe Egberts and Simon Lévelt, and the specialty generation grew out of that trade. In Amsterdam, Friedhats was founded in 2016 by Lex Wenneker, a Dutch Barista Champion, and Dylan Sedgwick; Stooker Roasting Company was started in 2015 by alumni of Lot Sixty One. Bocca Coffee Roasters has also produced national champions, including Coen van Sprang, who won the Dutch Barista Championship in 2014.

Amsterdam holds the largest share of cafés and roasters, with Rotterdam a strong second and Utrecht, The Hague and Haarlem well supplied. Smaller cities are notable for roasting: Maastricht, Nijmegen, Sittard and Groningen each have their own, so the roaster map is more even than the café map.

Roasters that shape Dutch specialty coffee include Friedhats, Bocca, Giraffe Coffee Roasters, Branderij Luijendijk, Espressofabriek and A Matter of Concrete in Rotterdam, which receives visitors by appointment. Expect light roasts, filter coffee as a standard order and single-variety lots at roasters like Friedhats; Stooker, by contrast, sells most of its coffee wholesale.