The best cafés in Amsterdam
I recently wrote about some of my favourite independent bookshops in Amsterdam, and as I mentioned there, a bookshop crawl is never truly complete without good coffee. So consider this a part two of sorts, a guide to all my favourite cafés in the Dutch capital.
My criteria for this selection are good coffee, cozy interior, good pastries, and good memories. I understand that last one might not be immediately relevant to you, but a place that creates good memories once has a pretty good chance of doing it again for you too.
One small but important note before we get into it: you’ll notice I use the word café very intentionally here, and not coffee shop. In Amsterdam, those are two very different things, and the second refers to a very specific kind of business model that does not sell coffee. So if you find yourself there and fancy a latte, make sure you’re looking for a café on your map.
The best cafés in Amsterdam: my personal favourites
Amsterdam is, like most great cities, absolutely full of fantastic places to eat, drink and grab a coffee. It would be impossible to visit them all, and I most certainly didn’t. In my five years living there, I discovered a lot, but once I had a solid list of places I loved, I kept going back to them. So this is in no way an exhaustive list. It’s simply a collection of my favourite spots: the ones that saw me coming back over and over, and that always welcomed me and my friends for a gezellig afternoon.
Scandinavian Embassy, De Pijp
I remember taking the first sip of my filter coffee on a cold winter day and thinking it was the best coffee I’d ever had. Now, I’ve had a lot of good coffee in my life, so I’m not sure that’s necessarily 100% true, but if you care about coffee, Scandinavian Embassy definitely needs to be on your list.
Founded by Nicolas Castagno, the 2013 Brewers Cup Champion of Sweden and nestled between the buildings facing Sarphati Park, the interior is minimal and warm in that very Scandinavian way, with clean lines and natural materials. It’s quite small, so I never actually sat down, but it’s the perfect place to grab a coffee to go and wander through the streets of De Pijp or find a bench in the park.
Badeta Coffee Roasters, De Pijp
De Pijp is one of those Amsterdam neighbourhoods that feels like a village within a city, and Badeta fits right in. I’ve had some of the best conversations of my Amsterdam years in this place. It’s small and neighbourhood-y, slightly off the main street, with the kind of relaxed energy that makes it perfect for a slow morning or a long Saturday afternoon. Despite its size, I always managed to find a spot to sit, which in Amsterdam is never guaranteed. The coffee is great, the atmosphere is even better, and it has that rare quality of making you feel like a local even if you’ve only been in the city for a week.
Coffee Bru, De Pijp and Oost
Still in De Pijp, there’s one of Coffee Bru locations. The place is colourful, the branding is great and the coffee is fantastic. But their location in Oost is the one that holds a special place for me.
The main reason is the room at the back. Bright, airy, with a skylight above that floods the whole space with natural light even on the greyest Amsterdam day. I’ve read a book in there, worked in there, met friends in there. Plus, they use Rum Baba beans (more on those in a second) so the coffee is always going to be good.
Rum Baba, Oost
Amsterdam Oost is where a lot of locals actually live, and the cafés there feel like it. Rum Baba is the perfect example. It grew out of Coffee Bru: the founders Jeroen and Lusan started Coffee Bru a while back, then began roasting their own ethically sourced beans under the Rum Baba name 15 years ago. The interior is minimal, the beans are consistently interesting, and it became my go-to place to buy beans to make coffee at home. Also, once again, big fan of their branding.
Five Ways, Oost
Five Ways is where I’ve spent more than a few lazy Sundays spilling tea and drinking coffee. They also roast their own beans and have a no-laptop policy, which keeps things lively and conversational. For Amsterdam standards, they have a generous amount of seating, both inside and outside during the summer, though they do fill up quickly, so if you’re going for brunch, book in advance. General Amsterdam rule by the way. The good news is there’s a small, lovely square right in front, so even if you can’t get a table inside, hanging out there with your coffee is always an option.
Uncommon, Overtoom
By now you’ve probably noticed a pattern: I used to live in Oost, and it shows. But there are a handful of places in other parts of the city that kept calling me back too, and Uncommon is one of them.
It’s on Overtoom, a busy street but just outside the part that’s overrun with landmarks and tourists, not far from Vondelpark. The kind of place you’d duck into after a walk in the park and end up staying in for two hours. Great coffee, great pastries, and a warm atmosphere that makes it a very good place to take a break from the city without actually leaving it.
Bocca coffee, Zentrum
Now. If you’re looking for a seriously good cup of coffe, Bocca Coffee is where you should go.
Bocca was founded in 2001 by brothers Menno and Tewis Simons. Menno started roasting in his Amsterdam garage after stumbling onto a hillside of red coffee cherries during a buying trip to Ethiopia, and pledging to bring the beans home and help the farmers get organic certification. That’s quite a founding story for what went on to become the first specialty coffee roaster in the Netherlands to control the entire chain from sourcing to serving.
They won the European Coffee Award for best artisan roaster in Europe in 2014 and they’ve been consistently excellent ever since. They’re also B Corp certified, roast fresh every day in small batches, and work directly with farmers around the world. Their range of beans is extraordinary and they also run barista workshops at their espresso bar on Kerkstraat, where you can learn to taste, brew and recognise the flavours that make specialty coffee so unique.
Your Amsterdam coffee map, sorted
Right, that’s your coffee map sorted. Tell me which one was your favourite. Or better yet, tell me which one I criminally left off the list, because Amsterdam has more good cafés than any single article could ever do justice to, and I have a feeling there are still a few gems out there with my name on them.
