We're leaving shortly for 2 weeks in the Netherlands. I do have a short list of Amsterdam cafes in my crosshairs. But we're overnighting in Haarlem, Rotterdam, Den Bosch and Utrecht. Likely daytrips include Amsterdam, Den Haag and Eindhoven.

Let me know if you have any favorite cafes in any of these cities. If all goes well, I'll provide a follow up report when we get home. Cheers!

Welcome in NL

In Amsterdam caffènation is the one of the places to be.
Warmondstraat 120, 1058 KZ

In Utrecht the koffielab, Lijnmarkt 47, 3511 KG

I'll check for some more addresses.

When you travel to Den Haag, stop by at "Koffiebranderij Boon", Prinsestraat 114. It is in the city centre at some 15 minutes walk from the Central Station. It is a small roasting shop where you can try the latest blend or some well-roasted SOs. The woman running it is named Lianne and she is passionate about what she does.

And there are several chains of cafes present in all makor cities. My go-to place is Bagels & Beans; not bleeding-edge, third wave etc. but AFIK they typically pull medium dark roasted Panamese coffee on a KvdW Idrocompresso machine and do a good job.

Hah.



Months ago, I earmarked the Scananavian Embassy as a possible espresso stop early in our trip, but they'll be on vacation during our stay in Haarlem.

Still too much to see in Amsterdam, really: Friedhats, Sweet Cup, White Label, Cafenation...

Two stops into our Netherlands trip.

Mica Coffeebar, Haarlem:



This is a small owner-operated specialty coffeebar. Two sisters from Haarlem founded this cafe after spending a few years in Copenhagen. They serve Blommers coffee, which is roasted in Nijmegen. I enjoyed an espresso as well as a "slow coffee" (pourover). If you are in Haarlem, I'd recommend try this place out.

Friedhats Coffee Roastery, Amsterdam:





If you follow the barista championships, you've probably heard of Lex Wenneker of Friedhats. He's the Dutch Barista Champion who came in second this year at the World Barista Championship. Lex and his buisiness partners are opening a cafe very soon. Since we only had a day to visit Amsterdam, I made an appointment to visit Friedhats Roastery and pick up some coffee for our trip. Dylan Sedgwick and Bob Wenneker gave us a tour and pulled us some shots with a very unusual Bourbon Pointu Laurina Coffee that Lex brought back from Brazil. If I have the story right, he was on an SCA sponsored trip to origin, as part of his championship. Lex won the Laurina coffee by successfully riding a mechanical bull. This coffee was grown by Luis Pascoal at Daterra Coffee and processed using a carbonic maceration process that involves extreme temperatures, like freezing the coffee. Roaster's tasting notes include rum raisin liquor and grilled pineapple. As espresso, I tasted banana but not just any banana, it was the fried banana that they serve in the Netherlands with an Indonesian rice table.

Thanks for the tip, noted!
Enjoy your stay in the Netherlands.

Here's a total sleeper specialty coffee destination in Rotterdam:

Harvest Coffee Brewers
http://harvestcoffeebrewers.nl

It's easy to walk-or in our case bike-by the store front. But this place is worth taking the trouble to find. I had two shots, a Guatemala roasted by Friedhats Coffee and a Peruvian roasted by a collective in Eindhoven. Both were excellent. The cafe backs up to a quiet inner harbor. If the weather is nice the outdoor seating off the back of the cafe is the place to be. But you can also sit inside with a full view of the water. This is a really special destination, my favorite cafe in the Netherlands so far for espresso.

A visit with Henk Langkemper in Den Haag:



When I get home, I'll add a separate post with photos from Henk's collection. (These are all cell phone photos, but I am also traveling with a little Sony RX100.) As far as our Nederlandse coffee crawl is concerned, Henk's in-house barista served up some of the best coffee we have had all trip, a gesha roasted by Amsterdam's White Label.

We found a specialty coffeebar in Den Bosch!



Drab - Beans & Machines:

http://drabdenbosch.nl

The shop is not far off the main market and convenient from the train station. The have a very nice selection of specialty coffee gear and porcelain cups. They also serve Blommers Coffee, a roaster out of Nijmegen. They have a limited lunch menu, but the food is quite good.