Haarlem is a great little city, with beautiful old architecture and the best small shops. It is also filled with places with pretty decent coffee, mostly delivered by Bocca Coffee Roasters. But there is more out there.
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Victor's Espresso
address: Kruisstraat 35
espresso machine: Faema
coffee: own blend roasted by Coffeexperts
I feel like everyone in the Dutch coffee community knows Victor. The tall curly haired man, who came by on his motorcycle to fix your espresso machine. He has his own cafe in Haarlem; Victor's espresso.
Right near the Central Station it is easy to visit. It has a very classic espressobar interior, almost a little bit like a pub, with bar, tall tables en regular tables in the back. There is quite some coffee related decoration on the walls, including a latte art 2nd place trophy from 2002. Talk about classics.
The coffee is private label roasted by Coffeexperts. The espresso blend contains Colombia, Guatemala and Brazil and is promised to never have an older roasted on date than two weeks. It's all a little second wave, but done very well. We thoroughly enjoyed the espresso and cappuccinos. Clean, clear and chocolaty.
Aoké Cafe
address: Drossestraat 7
espresso machine: La Marzocco Linea
coffee: Stooker Coffee Roasters
Aoké Cafe, probably my favourite in Haarlem, is based in a home ware store, where you can buy the most amazing stuff, including a lot of stuff you never knew you wanted. Like coffee themed socks. Or lunch boxes that look like an old school Nintendo game boy.
You are seated on stuff you can buy, surrounded by more cool stuff you can buy, drinking coffee roasted by Stooker Coffee Roasters, or drinking tea by Crusio. But it is all very cosy and the staff is very friendly.
We thoroughly enjoyed a flat white, a cappuccino and two espresso. All well balanced and well prepared. Although after all the second-wave chocolaty loveliness at Victor's Espressobar, the light more acidic coffee did take a sip to get used to.
Mogador
address: Gasthuisstraat 48
espresso machine: La Marzocco Linea
coffee: Bocca Coffee Roasters
Mogador was absolutely packed with people, apparently a lot of people already know how to find their way to this Bocca Coffee serving cafe. The space is a perfect mix between the hipster coffee bar vibe (with a bike on the wall and such) and the regular cafe next door.
The coffee was well made, but you could taste the crowdiness a little with a slightly dirty espresso group taste in the cup. The cappuccinos and espressos again were very good. We did see 'Marrocan' coffee mentioned on the menu and so we ordered that as well. For someone hoping for something ibrikish or at least spiced coffee, it was disappointing to get a small size (let's say about 50-60ml) drink that mostly reassembled a latte macchiato. After doing some research I came across the Nous Nous, which is probably the inspiration for the Marrocan coffee at Mogador.
MICA
address: Kleine Houtstraat 103
espresso machine: La Marzocco Linea
coffee: Bonanza
Mica just opened it's doors in Haarlem a couple of months ago. It has a little bit of a Scandinavian vibe, with a lot of light wood and quite some greenery. The atmosphere is very breathable and comfortable. Definitely a place I would visit a lot if I lived in Haarlem.
Besides serving coffee, roasted by Bonanza in Berlin, they also have some great food, including homemade soup, which was amazing!
The coffee tasted great as well, however the milk in the milk based drinks was a little bubbly and thick. Funnily enough this did not affect the taste of the drink as much as it normally does. Quite certainly a place to visit again.
Want to see more Coffee Crawl Haarlem edition? Check out the album on the Coffee Strides Facebook page.
Want to read about the other Coffee Crawls? Check out the other editions.
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