It may be notorious for another kind of coffeeshop, but Amsterdam locals love their caffeine. The Dutch drink an average 3.2 cups of joe a day, the third highest consumption in the world and nearly double that of the Brits.

 

Once, this was mostly glugged at home, but lately there’s been a wave of artisan coffee ventures – including Good To Go, a bike-through coffee kiosk in the Oud-West.

5 of Amsterdam's best artisan coffee shops

  • Two For Joy Coffee Roasters

    Haarlemmerdijk 182, 1013 JK, Amsterdam

    With its Chesterfield sofas, exposed brickwork and posies in milk bottles, this place has a laidback, living-room vibe that distinguishes it from some more po-faced rivals.

    The beans are house-roasted, the coffee hits the mark and the cakes are really quite delicious.   

  • Monks Coffee Roasters

    Bilderdijkstraat 46, 1052 NB, Amsterdam

    Touted as a slice of Melbourne in Amsterdam’s fast-regenerating Oud-West district, Monks is a hive of caffeinated activity for MacBook-toting freelancers.

    Sweet treats come courtesy of Jenn Knight, whose Tablespoon Baking Company does a mean peanut butter cookie.
     

  • The Coffee Virus

    Overhoeksplein 2, 1031 KS, Amsterdam

    Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Nope, it’s the world’s first coffee drone. The team behind this friendly, sweetly ramshackle café inside the A-LAB start-up building made headlines with their ‘coffee-copter’ back in 2014.

    Happily, their conventional lattes are just as good as the flying ones.

  • Bocca

    Kerkstraat 96hs, 1017 GP, Amsterdam

    What’s your preferred level of TDS? (That’s total dissolved solids, obviously.) Coffee nerds adore this flagship tasting room, staffed by obsessive baristas.

    Bocca is a hobby that’s spiralled out of control for brothers Menno and Tewis Simons, who went from roasting in their garage to supplying beans to businesses across town.

  • CT Coffee & Coconuts

    Ceintuurbaan 282–284, 1072 LR, Amsterdam

    The final curtain may have fallen on this building’s former life as a playhouse, but lashings of drama survive in its cavernous art deco structure.

    As the name suggests, the stars of the show nowadays are a bespoke house espresso, roasted by the coffee wizards behind Bocca (see above), and entire fresh coconuts served with a splash of lime.

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