Places to go in Amsterdam during WOC

The World of Coffee Amsterdam is coming closer and closer, and questions for tips are rolling in.

I have a running list of best coffee places in Amsterdam separated into bars and roasters. Personal favourites are: Sweetcup, Scandinavian Embassy, East57, but all of them are great.

But ofcourse there is more to do than drink coffee; eat, drink, shop, hang... Below all my Amsterdam fav's.

The Amsterdam Coffee Festival 2015 and the Brew Fight Night

Last week was the week of the second edition of the Amsterdam Coffee Festival. And a big success it was. With an extra day, it did seem a little more quiet, however this also meant more room and time to explore. Such as checking out the new La Marzocco Linea Mini, getting your Hario red plastic pitcher bought and signed by Hiroshi Sawada, sitting a top of the Bocca stand for a good view and running by different national and international roasters and getting educated in the Lab. Including a talk by yours truly on extraction.

Not only that, but you could also check out the Dutch Brewer's Cup, Latte Art and Cupping competitions. And the Dutchies representing the Netherlands in Gothenburg are Rob Kerkhoff for Brewer's Cup, Nick Vink for Latte Art and Youri Joosten for Cupping for the second time. Congrats to all of them.

But the real competition as at night at the Stooker Roasting Company in the East of Amsterdam. The first European Brew Fight! Based on Brewer's Fight Club in Los Angeles, Stooker, Cafe Imports Europe and Third Wave Wichteln organised a coffee brew competition. 

Besides twelve competitors battling it out, there were vegetable snacks and beer from Uerige Altbier from Düsseldorf and Oedipus. In three rounds of 10 minutes coffee professionals from all over Europe fought it out using their own coffee brewed on their own brew method.

The coffees were judged by a panel led by Mateusz Petlinski of Woyton Roast Inc and consisted Florian Hessel of Stooker Roasting Co., Gabriel Dunn of Cafe Imports Europe and Thorsten Keller of Third Wave Wichteln. The night was led by Markus Reuter, who given a mega phone drove the party crowd crazy for coffee resulting in Xena the Warrior Princess battle sounds howling through the shop.

Twelve different competitors, twelve different coffees and a lot of brew methods. From V60's to French Press, Aeropress, Chemex, Kalita and even a tea bag, steeping the coffee in the pitcher.

The final round was battled out between Keng Pereira using a Colombia Gesha roasted by the Coffeecompany and Mr. Hoban with his own Ethiopian Hachira coffee. And with Keng's always the runner up and not the winner tradition (he placed second at the 2015 Dutch Barista Competition), the ultimate Brew Fighter was Mr. Hoban. He went home with an Acaia White Pearl, sponsored by Duismann Coffee Company, a Cafe Imports goodie bag and some colourful Acme Cups.

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Want to try Mr. Hoban's coffee and recipe? 

15 grams of Mr. Hoban Ethiopia Hachira N2

grindsize 8,55 on the EK43

250 ml of reversed osmosis water at 93 degrees Celsius

Hario V60 cup brewer

use a short blooming time

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FIRST EUROPEAN BREW FIGHT NIGHT from Felix Hellwig on Vimeo.

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Want to see more pics? Check out the Coffee Strides Facebook Album.

The Dutch Aeropress Championships 2015

Friday the 13th of March marked the day of the Dutch Aeropress Championships. For the second consecutive year organised by the Coffeecompany on the Oosterdok in Amsterdam. And it was a grand success. 

Now, for the non Dutch readers of this blog, you need to understand...the Netherlands is very, very big. No, immense... No, of course not. The Netherlands is small. But because it is so tinie tiny, the Dutch have become used to everything being close by. And so, often people do not show up when an event is more than 1 hour of travelling. None the less, the entire Dutch coffee community showed up to listen to the MC Kim Staalman infamously squeak the evening together. 

The judging panel was filled by national and international coffee folks, namely Gabriel Dunn of Cafe Imports, Sofie Nys of 32Cup and Yoeri Joosten of the Golden Coffee Box and National Cuptasting Champion. The coffee they judged this year? The Colombian Finca El Mango, sourced by 32Cup and roasted by the Coffeecompany. With Coffeecompany's own words, a complex, tropically sweet, sparkling berries, chocolaty coffee. 

The competitors, ranging from previous champions to newbies and from home baristas to trained professionals, brewed up a storm and some interesting techniques were presented. Such as letting the coffee bloom with cold water. And adding more ground coffee during the brewing process. Still, a short summary can be made, with most competitors aiming for a high dosage, removing fines, relatively cold water (between 75 and 80 degrees Celsius), and chilling the end result either by continuously pouring the end result over into an other pitcher, or leaving it in a bowl of ice. Basically anything in their power to make the brew lighter and more acidic. Quelle surprise, coffee people like acidic coffees. 

At the end of the night Francesco Graccotti (White Label) pumped his way to the third place, while Mieke Boden (BorgmanBorgman/Crusio) and Floris van der Burg fought for the title. Eventually Floris brought home the gold, resulting in two top three spots for the Amsterdam based White Label. 

Congrats Floris, now go and win the world title!

Recipes:

Floris van der Burg

19 grams of coffee finely ground on the Mählkonig EK45, fines removed

paper filter

Stir and bloom the ground coffee using 30 grams of water at 15 Degrees Celsius for 2 minutes

Over a period of 30 seconds add 160 grams of water at 72 Degrees Celsius

Wait for 30 seconds and plunge for 30 seconds

Mieke Boden

23,6 grams of coffee very coarsely ground on the Mählkonig EK45

Inverted method

2 paper filters

Add water at 74 Degrees Celsius and fill to the top

Aim for a total time of 1:45 minutes

Francesco Graccotti

20 grams of coffee ground on the Mählkonig EK45, fines removed

Inverted method

3 paper filters

Stir and bloom the ground coffee using 40 grams of water at 15 Degrees Celsius for 2 minutes

Over a period of 30 seconds add 160 grams of water at 80 Degrees Celsius 

Wait for 30 seconds and plunge

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Wanna try these recipes or create your own? Act fast and buy the competition coffee while it lasts.

Want to see more pics? Check out the FB page.

The Dutch Barista Championships 2015

The Dutch Barista Championships. It is all over, done and dusted. Until the end of this year all Dutch baristas can rest, relax, and look at Lex Wenneker compete at the World Barista Championships. Lex Wenneker; now one of the most all round baristas the Netherlands can be proud of, taking prices not only for the Barista Championships, but in Cupping and Latte Art as well. Maybe Brewers Cup next year?

His run was kind of amazing. Not only the craftsmanship of the coffee and the home made signature units. But the relaxed state and timing of every single word, phrase and motion. And it was not as free spirited as he might like you to think. His trainer was next to the stage the entire performance with a stopwatch: is everything on point?

Last year I spoke about runs not being thought out enough. Missing information. Confusing ingredients. No real introductions, middles or ends. As viewers we always think that the runs in the finals on the World stage look so easy and improvised. But when you see the runs over the different rounds, you see how every step has been thought out, practised and muscle memorised. Best example? Colin Harmon's 2012 run in Vienna. The ease and spontaneity, all put together in advance. What a difference a year makes. Not only was Lex' run amazingly built up, most of them were. Ka-Tjun's amazing phosphoric acid lesson. Keng's smoothness, timing and intrinsic signature. Stefan Bouman's ease and classic feel. Stefan Sampietro keeping it personal, building a presentation around his Nonna who taught him how to drink coffee. And Dagmar, whose presentation, although a little cloudy and chaotic here and there, was lighted up by the led lights on her presentation boards. 

Most amazingly, almost all of these competitors are first timers. Meaning they can only get better. Let's start a new Dutch Barista Championship tradition, repeat competing. Lex, coming back with a vengeance worked. We all now how Esther Maasdam's repeat latte art competition turned out; four times national champion, placed for the World finals and a very successful freelance coffee career indeed. With newbies competing like this, that international top six creeps closer and closer...It's been a while. 

check out more photos on the CoffeeStrides Facebook page.

The Christmas Coffee Gift Guide

It's almost Christmas time! That means fairy lights, Christmas trees and warm drinks. Plus, of course presents. Now buying presents for a coffee geek is quite hard, especially if you do not know a whole lot about coffee yourself. You do not want to end up giving a blender grinder, the special Christmas blend of Douwe Egberts or something by an other mainstream commodity coffee brand. So what do you get someone like me?

And so, just in time for some Christmas shopping and shipping, a guide for some lovely  and useful gifts every coffee snob will thank you for.

Coffee Beans

(EU6-30)

Javacoffee Santa Clara and Winter Blend

As a coffee lover, trying new beans, roasters, single origins, blends, it is all you want. If a coffee friend comes back from a trip abroad, they had better brung back come beans to try. And so you cannot go wrong. Just as long as you make sure you buy the right roast, depending on the brew methods used by your coffee lover friend. Espresso is only for the espresso machine. If your friend does not use or own one, get a filter/lighter roast.

Although a regular coffee from an artisan specialty coffee roaster will do, more and more roasters are bringing out Christmas blends. And who can resist a limited edition? A few nice ones are:

The Koppi Nutcracker. This Swedish brand has some awesome coffees. This special winter roast is a Nyungwe Rwanda with notes of apple, rose hips and grapes.

A very festive option is the Winter Blend and the Santa Clara coffee by Javacoffee in Poland. The packaging is very wintery and Christmassy and the coffees sound amazing. 

If you want to opt for something that is a bit more Christmas spirited, opt for the Coffeecompany dark days blend. For every bag you buy, the Coffeecompany donates a bag to the Regenboog Groep Charity. They provide help to vulnerable groups in the Amsterdam community.

Other favourite Christmas themed coffees; Counter Culture, Single Origin Roasters (OMG the packaging...), the Barn, Ozone, the Make Decent Coffee 'Brewdolph' and the Has Bean espresso or filter blend. 

And what does a Christmas coffee need? 

Christmas coffee mug
(EU11-16)

There are some amazing coffee mugs out there, and of course there are some amazing Christmas mugs out there. In a time where ugly is beautiful, this is the perfect time to get someone a themed mug. Here is an option in different categories.

SoMUG

The Scandinavian clean look
Fresh, clean and sophisticated. In case you are afraid your friend will not use the mug if it's too much.

Mugsleys

The specialty coffee roaster logo template
It really is true. Although exceptions do exist, of course, most hipster coffee bars have a logo that looks just like this...They really, really do. And if they don't, they will have a chalk board, coffee packaging, or sticker that has something on it in this style.
Coffee people...you know what I'm talking about...

HoneyDropDecals

The British Youtuber style
Strange category, I know. But secretly watching British youtubers is one of my favourite pass times. And when they do home hauls, they buy things that look like this; in different cute colours with animals on them.

Hx5Designs

The gimmick

It glows in the dark. Lof it. Nuff said.

LGCeremics

The figurine
They are plentiful, the last more beautiful and awful than the first.

HandmadeTrend

The cosy cover
Who needs a new mug when you can just add to the old one? I see covers as presents for every single holiday theme; Easter, Thanksgiving, New Year. Plus, it keeps the coffee nice and warm. Plus, it helps to not burn your fingers. And all those other non reasons you could name to excuse yourself to buy this.

the Kalita Wave

Kalita Wave
(EU25)

I just came round to this brew method. It looks good. It tastes good. It's shiny. You can add my brew guide if you want to.

Travel Kit
(EU135-250)

I always bring a brew method and coffee with me when travelling. As do most of my coffee friends. However, almost none of us have a cool hipster little official coffee travel kit. They are very expensive, but also quite amazing.

Handsome Coffee Roasters travel kit

The most handsome kit is the kit by Handsome Coffee Roasters. And it is very complete, even holding a precision scale, and we all know how much coffee geeks like to measure out everything they use. An other kit worth mentioning the the Stumptown kit.

The Coffee Themed T-shirt
(EU20)

Redbubble screen shot

I think the pic says enough. I could spend hours looking through redbubble's coffee t-shirts. Check searches on 'coffee', 'barista', 'latte art', 'aeropress', or any other coffee related word you know and awesomeness will appear. 

CJEbyDesigns

The Coffee Print
(EU7-300)

An other amazing shopping platform is Etsy. I have been addicted to Etsy for about 5 years now and sometimes you come across real perfection. Buy an artsy coffee print for your friend to hang up in their coffee store, their living room, or wherever. 

The Coffee Book
(EU25)

How could I not add this book to the list. It has been released this year, which means there is still some chance your friend does not own it yet. Written by James Hoffmann, one of the coffee gurus of the specialty coffee scene, 'The World Atlas of Coffee' tells the tale of coffee. From different origin countries to brewing.

Still unsure what to buy? Then the only solution is to buy everything. Which you can do for only $200. It even includes coconut oil, chocolate and tea.

pictures are of the webshops listed in the article