During a recent visit to Bordeaux, my best friend Maxine and I stayed in an apartment in Chartons. This neighbourhood on the river Garonne is dubbed the ‘Marais’ of Bordeaux after the iconic Paris equivalent famed for its queer culture, arts and shopping. On our first day of walking into town, we passed a number of cute shops, bakeries and bars that really had a vibe. One of them was La Pelle, a charming café-cum-roastery that we went back to for breakfast and coffee on our last day.

It’s located on a short stretch of the Rue Notre Dame close to many other favourites of ours. These include Restaurant Pickles where we had an excellent dinner the night before and the Fire Walk bar where we went for a night cap after. La Pelle is a local roaster that, like L’alchemiste uses a modern Loring roaster, which is probably why it is allowed to operate in such a busy residential quarter. The Loring roaster massively elimiates any gases and odours that are created during the roasting process.

As you walk in, you immediately catch a glimpse of the roasting machine and sacks of coffee. The space is dominated by a large bar and offers seating at the front, in the back and on the terrace. We took a seat opposite the bar and managed to escape a heavy downpour by a few seconds only. There is a light but tasty breakfast menu and we ordered a combination of eggs and fresh fruit to go with our coffee and dirty chai.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to meet with founder and head roaster Carlos Pereira as he was out but we briefly chatted on Instagram while we were there. Carlos, who was raised amongst the coffee farms of Brazil, later moved to Paris where he co-founded Coutume. Bordeaux’s coffee scene is much smaller than that of Paris but I was very positively impressed by its quality and diversity. La Pelle has been around since 2016 and a large part of Carlos’ sourcing comes from Brazil.

After my flat white, I also had a batch brew while we waited for the rain to subside and we thorougly enjoyed our stay. The staff was friendly and welcoming and there was a nice bustle about the place. I can imagine that in good weather, the terrace is a great place to people watch and while the day away in this cute part of the city.

There had been some excitement in the coffee community after it was revealed a few months ago that local coffee roasters DAK would open their first showroom in Amsterdam. I happened to cycle past the venue shortly after the teaser foils were put on the windows and kept pursuing Louis-Philippe Boucher and Veronique Laharde for details. Sadly, to no avail.

Last week, it finally opened and despite my best intentions, I didn’t get round to visiting until today. Well, what can I say? It really blew my mind. When people talk of a showroom, it’s usually more common for fashion or car brands to have such spaces. Most roasters usually prefer having cafés, often with a full day-time food menu, pastries and sometimes natural wines and what not.

A showroom unlike any other in Amsterdam

DAK’s space, on the other hand, is a real showroom that showcases its finest coffees, a new range of apparell and a small number of accessories like filter papers along side matcha tea. As you walk in, you are greeted by a product island for t-shirts, sweatshirts and caps while on the wall, you will find DAK’s range of white coffee packs. Turning left, you will find more coffee on display next to a small bench that overlooks the insane bar that will make any coffee geek squeal.

On it, there are a 3-group Slayer espresso machine, two Decent espresso machines that are primarily used for making filter coffee, a FloSmart milk dispenser and various grinders. Yako Konstantinidis, DAK’s head of coffee was present when I visited and he immediately offered to give me a tasting of their current menu.

Taste the rainbow

I took a seat near the bar from where I had a great view of the activity behind the coffee machine and Yako kicked things off with an shot of DAK’s Milky Cake espresso. This is a thermal shock washed Castillo variety from Colombia that is also primarily used in its milk beverages. We then continued with a cup of Darling Peach, an anaerobic washed Ethiopian 74158 variety and a shot of the Blueberry boom, which is a similar lot but this time an anaerobic natural.

At the back, there is a ‘secret’ cupping room that will be soon be used for weekly coffee tastings. As was explained to me during my visit, this will be primarily for group bookings and people who want to learn more about coffee. Its bent metal door frame makes it almost look like the entrance to a speakeasy.

The whole space is so well done and has so many features that I’ve not yet seen in any other specialty coffee bars or showrooms for that matter. For a while, everyone kind of used the same tarrazzo style counter tops or elements that Toki was the first to introduce many years ago. DAK mixes lots of textures like metal, wood, concrete and bricks in different shapes and colours to create a warm and yet futuristic looking space.

It’s funny that they should have picked that particular spot to open their first showroom as this 1km of Out West seems to have become THE specialty coffee area of Amsterdam with many other cafés and roasters within a few meters. Yet, as one of the fastest growing roasters in The Netherlands, DAK was long overdue its own space where it could showcase its unique branding and exceptional coffees direct to consumer. It is a real triumph!

A few weeks ago, my best friend and I went on a road trip to the south of France to attend the joint birthday party of two friends. They invited us to a grand celebration inside a beautiful chateaux near Bordeaux and we decided to take our time on the way there by stopping in Fontainebleau where we discovered, amongst other things, a wonderful coffee shop by the name of Machina Coffee.

For the past few years, I have been touting France as one of the most exciting places for specialty coffee in the world and I am so happy to see cute cafés popping up in even the smallest of towns. After breakfast in the chateaux where we spent the night and going for a lovely morning walk around Fontainebleau’s gorgeous palace, we went back to where we had parked the car and have a coffee.

Specialty coffee near France’s most famous business school

Machina Coffee is small and cosy inside and frequented by the city’s many international students and visitors as well as specialty coffee hungry locals who come here to enjoy expertly prepared espresso-based drinks, pourovers and tasty brunches. Founded by David Alexandre who wanted to create a welcoming space for coffee lovers in Fontainebleau, Machina Coffee also stands out as a place where you can buy a wide range of coffee beans from different roasters alongside a selection of other goodies.

We took a seat inside and ordered a Flat White and a Dirty Chai; my friend Maxine doesn’t really drink coffee unless I make it. He He. The place was buzzing with different voices and people talking across tables about travel plans, where to go for dinner in Paris and why Economy Plus is not worth the extra money.

For David, a small city like Fontainebleau that is just a few kilometers from the capital, was the ideal place to open a café. Paris might be one of the world’s most visited cities, but its high rents are also regularly pricing out entrepreneurs who want to set up their own businesses. Many, like Thomas Labroue of MOKO in Bordeaux are thus heading back to their hometowns or further away from Paris to find new opportunities.

A varied offering including many French and international roasters

In addition to Machina Coffee’s widely changing coffee menu, David also experiments with dinner pop ups, serving natural wines and kombuchas and hosting various artists on the walls. David is a big car racing fan and there is much related memorabilia on display too.

This lovely coffee shop was a really great surprise find for us! If there is one thing I would say, then it’s that the counter and the shelves were quite cluttered, which made it feel more crowded than it needed to be and that the menu is a bit too big. Somtimes, less truly is more.

The last World Of Coffee exhibition took place in Denmark’s capital Copenhagen, often rated as one of the world’s most livable places and home to one of the happiest people on the planet. Though relatively small by size and population, Denmark punches above its weight on many fronts. From Danish furniture design, to its Hygge lifestyle and world class restaurants like Noma, the Danes know how to live and make things that others want. When it comes to specialty coffee, it’s much the same story. It can count the most World Barista Champions out of all countries (4) and gave birth to many top notch roasters including Coffee Collective, La Cabra and April.

The latter was founded by Patrick Rolf who moved to Copenhagen after working in Berlin where he acquired much of his knowledge about roasting and serving coffee. At first, April was purely a wholesale roaster but it has since added two showrooms in Copenhagen as well as one shortlived outlet in Seoul that is slated to reopen with a new concept in early 2025.

Serial competitor and innovator

Patrick is a serial competitor who has won numerous national Barista championships and reached the finals of many more. When it comes to his approach to coffee, he can be described as a visionary who isn’t afraid of trying something new. He was an early adopter of putting his coffees in Nespresso compatible capsules and drip bags, offers various ranges of beans including more basic lots that pay farmers a living wage and he even has his own utility clothing line that can be viewed at April’s showrooms.

Funnily enough, when I was in Copenhagen, I ended up staying in a hotel on the same street as one of April’s showrooms and I had arranged to meet a friend there for coffee. Despite the huge coffee crowds that were in the city for the WOC, I managed to arrive at a relatively quite time to catch up with my friend who was visiting from Berlin. The showroom can only be described as stylishly Scandinavian with refreshing splashes of colour and a welcomingly decluttered counter that invites conversations with the baristas.

Stylish interiors and smart branding

We sat opposite the bar from where we had a great vantage point to observe the toing and froing inside the shop, including overhearing a few conversations that customers had with the baristas as they picked out various coffee boxes from the shelves. When it was my turn to order, I asked the Barista for some advice on which coffee I should try and he recommended a Geisha from El Socorro in Guatemala, incidentally the same coffee we have in our GEMS release for December.

As is always the case with handpoured coffees, it took a minute to arrive but its presentation was beautiful inside Aprils’ own line of cups made by Serax. My friend had ordered a different microlot and we ended up sharing our coffees with each other.

When it comes to branding and design, April really sets the bar high. There’s even an escutcheon outside featuring the April logo, something usually more associated with consulates and embassies but in a way, many specialty coffee places like this see themselves as ambassadors of coffee producers to the world.

You pay for exclusivity as well as experience

I think my only gripe about this experience were the fact that there was no pricelist for those specials on display that could have warned me of the whopping €24 per cup price that I ended up having to pay for my coffee. This really took me aback quite a bit and was by far the most expensive cup of coffee I have ever drunk anywhere.

And, I would have quite liked to see some kind of information card to go with each coffee. Instead, I was told to pick up a box from the shelf to read more about the farmer and the coffee. This made the experience feel somewhat less special. But there is no doubt that Patrick and his team have a very loyal following that is going to be prepared to pay whatever just for the gratification of having been to April.

A little while ago, I started seeing ads for a new specialty coffee bar in my personal Instagram feed. It all looked very fancy and elevated, which might not come as a surprise given that the place is question is called Elevate Coffee Lab. I immediately reached out to this Instagram account to get more information but never heard back. Very mysterious indeed. The best thing to do in such situations? Visit!

Thus, there I was the other week heading to Elevate Coffee Lab in De Pijp to find out what all the fuss was about. Located on the cute Van der Helstplein, this modern coffee bar is all about offering a top notch coffee experience without any distractions. Conceived by Ahmad Alshikh who previously worked for the likes of Keen Coffee – incidentally also roasting some coffee for our subscription box – Elevate Coffee Lab aims to raise the bar higher by offering a bespoke coffee menu that will soon be enriched with a series of exclusive signature drinks.

The interior is modern and minimalist. The espresso equipment sits on terracotta bricks covered with a custom made counter top that also features three slots for Acaia Lunar scales and a small indent for storing viles with beans. Ahmed said that he designed most of the space himself while some furniture pieces that he picked got customized. At the back there is a large room that will soon be turned into a cupping lab and training space.

Next to the regular menu, there is also a small frozen selection that includes carefully selected microlots and competition level coffees, something that is still quite rare in Amsterdam. Ahmed currently sources his coffees from Keen, DAK and other local roasters and mentioned that he wants to experiment with other roasters in the future.

Though not available right now due to the cold weather, Elevate Coffee Lab also has a license for a large terrace, which will be absolutely lovely in the warmer months. Indoor seating is available by the large window, along the bar and on some admittedly slightly uncomfortable looking stools and chairs.

Personally, I am a big fan of sitting at the bar though, whether at this place or any other coffee bar. There’s nothing like being able to strike up a conversation with the barista and watching them at work. At Elevate, Ahmed works with a San Remo Racer espresso machine, an X-One 3-in-1 grinder, the Silexa milk maid pouring creamy milk from Moma and oat milk alongside a stellar set up for filter including the aforementioned Acaia scales, Fellows Stagg kettles and the latest Mahlkönig EK-43 grinder.

While Ahmed is still getting into the hang of things, the best thing to do is to pop in for some delicious slow coffee, maybe a pastry from L’Abeille and allow the time to pass

During a recent trip to Bordeaux, my friend Maxine and I were really surprised by the amount of excellent specialty coffee that we found all over this lovely city. Though the weather was somewhat wet on our first day, by the next day, the skies had cleared and we could enjoy lovely stroll around Bordeaux’s medieval center and its lush botanical garden.

One of the places that had been recommended to us by various locals was L’Alchimiste Coffee’s roastery in the alternative Darwin complex on the other side of the river Garonne. This creative hub that is part of the rejuvenation of a former army barracks offers a great deal of interesting shopping and food, a popular indoor skate park, vintage stores and houses the L’Alchemiste Coffee roastery. As you approach the space, you can already smell the lovely notes of caramelized coffee coming from its chimneys.

The café and roastery are located inside a large space that also includes a Veja boutique and an apparell retailer. The high ceilings and open interior lend this coffee shop a really majestic feel. As you walk in, you are greeted by a long bar on the right, a small retail shop on the left and a mezzanine seating area with a large terrace on the left. At the back, you’ll find the coffee roastery where a small team of talented people works with a Loring roaster to bring out the best and tastiest flavours of each coffee.

I was lucky to meet Yohan Caunegre who is the General Manager of L’Alchimiste Coffee and who then gave me a tour of the facilities. Yohan has been with L’Alchimiste for a couple of years and works closely with its original founder Arthur Audibert and his wife Virginie Maison who is in charge of the cultural program. During my visit, the café hosted an exhibition of famous French actors due to L’Alchimiste Coffee’s support of the local independent film festival in Bordeaux.

The lovely barista on duty prepared a delicious flat white for me while Maxine drank a kombucha and leafed through some of the magazines on hand. I really loved the energy of the space. It reminded me somehow of the NDSM area in Amsterdam, which is a former shipyard that was first a more underground creative hub but is slowly being gobbled up by gentrification. Sadly, that’s often the fate of places like this.

Yet, Darwin still retains a somewhat alternative and counter culture spirit. Outside, you can find old army trucks parked next to workshops where people make handmade jewellery or woodwork. Opposite, we found an excellent bakery and chocolatier that our waistline was not so enthousiastic about.

L’Alchimiste Coffee also runs a coffee shop in downtown Bordeaux but due to time constraints, I didn’t get a chance to swing by there. Most recently, the team was joined by new head roaster Jake Hansen who left his former home in Virginia to start a new life with in Bordeaux with his wife and dogs. Yohan confirmed that while L’Alchimiste is a champion of specialty coffee in this part of France, it’s happy to find new customers further afield. Let’s see if we can get them featured in one of our Coffeevine boxes soon.

I’m not usually someone who enjoys very long drives, especially when it’s raining and the surrounding landscapes are dull. But when my friend Maxine and I headed down to Bordeaux the other week to eventually attend a joint 40th birthday party about a two-hour drive from there, we just had so much fun and great conversations in the car that the time just flew by. How expensive are those French motorways tolls though, right?

After spending our first night in our apartment in the southwestern French city, we headed out for breakfast at a place that had been warmly recommended to us by the owner of Piha, a local café and roastery that we paid a visit to a bit later that same day. Moko Coffee is located just outside the Porte Dijeaux, one of the city’s many gates that still stand today.

Founded by Bordeaux local Thomas Labroue, Moko Coffee is a celebration of modern coffee, great food and stylish retro interior design. In many ways, the place exudes a 60’s interior vibe, which has been artfully translated into a handsome comtemporary coffee shop by local architectural firm Dircks. The space itself used to be a former carpark before it had a brief life as an Italian restaurant and was then discovered by Thomas while searching for a suitable venue for Moko.

Before returning to Bordeaux, Thomas spent many years living and working in Paris where he worked himself up at KB Coffee Roasters, a long-term Coffeevine partner. Just before they opened Back in Black where their roastery is also housed, Thomas and his wife decided to move back to their hometown to join the burgeoning local coffee scene to open his own café. And then Covid came and his plans fell through. Instead, he joined Piha and worked with them for over a year and La Pelle café, another local roaster.

At the end of 2023, he finally found the right space to realize his vision and working with Dircks, he created a celebrated place that attracts a mixed crowd of creatives, visitors, expats and other folk. The big coffee bar sits along the left of the space and I particularly loved the menu on the wall. At the back, there is a square shaped space with more seating.

We kicked off our visit with a delicious coffee and a dirty Chai for Maxine followed by a smashed croissant dish with a poached egg for breakfast. There is cool art on the walls and a wide array of coffee to buy from the retail shelf. All the of the cakes are homemade and looked absolutely divine but we wanted to pace ourselves without going overboard right at the start of the day. Coupled with its friendly and welcoming service, Moko Coffee really is a great place to visit in Bordeaux and warmly recommended by yours truly.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, after stuffing my face with dim sum at one of The Hague’s classic Chinese joints, I wandered towards a coffee bar that I had on my bucket list for some time. This coffee place is owned by the people behind one of The Hague’s microroasteries and I wanted to find out more. I initially thought the café was also called Roast Factory but as I arrived on its terrace, I realise it was, in fact, called Joejoe. Lateron I learned that it will soon be called Roast Factory. Might not come as a massive surprise to be honest.

What I found was a welcoming place with lots of terrace seating and some limited indoor seating. There is a large bar that stretches all the way back to the entrance of the small roastery, which is next door. I found the space to be a bit dark towards the front, but the radiating friendliness of the two baristas, Sonya and Thedros, gave me all the indoor sunshine I needed.

Roast Factory was founded by Stefan Coster in 2016 and after some years as working primarily as a wholesale roaster, he opened Joejoe in early 2023 to have somewhat of a showroom for his own coffees. Joejoe is a Dutch expression that is colloquially used to say ‘bye’ when you’re in a rush. Since Stefan used to deliver his coffees with a cargo bike, he was always zipping in and out and shouting ‘joejoe’ when visiting customers. Thus the name of the coffee bar but as I learned on site, JoeJoe will soon be renamed Roast Factory for internal reasons.

Though I did make it outside onto the terrace to sip my iced filter coffee prepared with a lovely natural processed Ethiopian coffee from Wuba, I spent most of my time chatting to Sonya and Thedros who made me feel super welcome. We gossipped and chatted about the local coffee scene and I washed Thedros make his signature latte art bunny whenever he got a chance.

Though The Hague’s coffee scene is still small and lacks more elevated concepts with trendy frozen coffee menus or a wide range of signature drinks like you find in other cities, it is a more familiar scene that is very much built around neighbourhoods. In Amsterdam, there are areas where various specialty coffeer shops are practically facing each other. In The Hague they are more evenly distributed.

Joejoe doesn’t have any freshly cooked breakfast options but it does have incredibly delicious sourdough focaccia sandwiches, cardamom and cinnamon rolls and a decent selection of fresh coffee. Next to your standard espresso-based drinks there is also a batch brew and the aforementioned iced coffee. I really enjoyed my visit there and really loved the wonderful hospitality shown to me by Sonya and Thedros.

It has been a while since I last reviewed a coffee place in Amsterdam. Somehow, I find myself going out for coffee less and less, primarily because I have a great set up at home and I’m quite literally indundated with coffee beans that I could not possibly drink. When I do go out, I tend to visit my regular spots but that needs to change! I told myself that starting June, I will visit a new café every week and find out what is going on in my lovely city of Amsterdam so I can recommend you guys, once again, the best places to get great coffee just like I used to!

The first place I want to shine a light on is a particularly cute place called Priesthood right around the corner of the first flat I ever lived in after moving to Amsterdam. In all fairness, the center is not a place I frequent much these days but it’s really nice to see that my old hood has been enriched with some good quality coffee places in recent months.

What’s interesting about Priesthood is that it is a volunteer run café. On the day of my visit, I was attended by the lovely Emma and Rose who run this café together with a few other volunteers. The café is inside a Christian bookshop that is run by the Youth with a Mission group. It’s a cosy space that feels like your grandparent’s living room but thanks to its big windows and convenient location, it attracts a lot of curious folk as well as regulars.

I sat down in an armchair right by the door, which gave me a good overview of the place and allowed me to observe the coming and going. As I sipped on a batchbrew of Rum Baba roasted coffee, I chatted with Emma who is one of the original founders and a local resident.

Her story is that she always loved coffee and one day, she came up with the idea of adding a small pop up café to the bookshop to give create a meeting place for the local community even those who are not Christian or part of the organisation. The pop up eventually became permanent and is still one of the only places in this particular part of town that serves specialty coffee.

On the hopper for espresso they have coffees from Uncommon who is their regular roaster while their selection for filter coffee changes based on what’s fresh and delicious. It can come from the aforementioned Rum Baba as well as other local roasters like DAK or Friedhats. To complement your coffee, you can choose from a selection of tasty cakes and pastries.

What I loved about this place was that it really is hidden in plainsight but all the more welcoming when you do discover it. I must have cycled past this address a dozen times and never noticed it but not that I know where it is, I will try and swing by more often. A great addition to the Amsterdam coffee scene!

Last year when I attended the London Coffee Festival, I had wanted to visit one particular café that had been top of my wishlist for some time. But as fortune would have it, on the day of my planned visit, they were closed. The café in question is Formative, home to the 2023 UK Barista Champion Ian Kissick and a great team of talented baristas. Nowadays, they are open every day of the week.

Since I couldn’t visit them last year, I decided to put them in one of our Coffeevine boxes instead, given that they had just started roasting their own coffees at the Plot roastery and head roaster Nicholas Pastellopoulos was super keen to get word out about Formative’s recent venture into roasting. For the Coffeevine box in question, they offered us a stunning coffee from Diego Bermudez that got rave reviews from our subscribers.

A year later, i.e. this past April, I finally had a chance to swing by the iconic café near Westminster that stands out for its modern architecture, exceptional coffees and friendly service. Since my visit again coincided with the London Coffee Festival, Ian and co were busy guest brewing coffees at various festival booths and I didn’t get a chance to say hello in person. Instead, I got to experience Formative during this relaxed Friday afternoon just before closing time.

The interior is bright and full of natural light thanks to its huge floor to ceiling windows and corner location. The ceiling and walls have cool custom made light fixtures and decorations while the floor and bar are made of the same material, visually melting into one. It’s a cool effect that makes the space look elevated and really fancy.

While Formative is roasting its own coffee these days, there are still different guest roasters on the menu such as Manhattan from Rotterdam. These complement a selection of exceptinal coffees that include competition level lots and more accessible options.

Given how so many specialty coffee roasters and cafés are crowded around East London, Formative filled a gap in this part of London, which during the week also sees a lot of bankers and diplomats roam its streets in search of great coffee. Ian certainly lifted the café’s reputation by winning the UK Barista Championships and I am convinced that this is only the beginning of great things to come for Formative. A great place to visit when in this area.