back to black coffee cafe roasting amsterdam netherlands holland europe sprudge

A New Wave cafe owned and run by two women is as rare in Amsterdam as a week without rain. Itโ€™s not that women here arenโ€™t active in the coffee industry, nor that they arenโ€™t entrepreneurs. Still, for now at least, it is predominantly men found in these roles.

The reasons for this wouldย warrant someย handwringing and social study. But it is not at present a preoccupation for Inge Bulthuis and Noortje Vlutters, co-founders and co-owners of Back to Black. They simply have been too busy at their Amsterdam cafe (which opened inย July 2014) to stop and strike Rosie the Riveter poses. And this past November, their business became even more progressive: Back to Black put a Giesen W6 roaster in the basement and, in so doing, Bulthuis became the only womanย roasting coffeeย in the Dutch capital to this reporter’s knowledge. (Corrections to the contrary are warmly welcomed.)

back to black coffee cafe roasting amsterdam netherlands holland europe sprudge
Noortje Vlutters and Inge Bulthuis with Binkie, the cafe cat.

Bulthuisโ€™ interest in roasting began years ago while working at Brandmeesters, the two-decade-old Dutch company whose name translates as โ€œroast masters.โ€ Her management position, however, afforded no opportunity to experiment with, much less master, that skill. Nor did a barista stint at Espressofabriek. But by then, Back to Black was ready to open its own doors, and Bulthuis was eager to become her own boss.

โ€œWhen you really start doing it yourself a lot, thatโ€™s the biggest, quickest learning process,โ€ she says of roasting.

She is fast, too, to praise Scott Raoโ€™s The Coffee Roasterโ€™s Companion. โ€œThatโ€™s really a roasterโ€™s bible,โ€ Bulthuis remarks, saying it was still useful to her even after taking a roasting course at the Berlin Coffee Festival.

back to black coffee cafe roasting amsterdam netherlands holland europe sprudge

back to black coffee cafe roasting amsterdam netherlands holland europe sprudge

Time spent observing how her friends at White Label and Stooker Roasting Company do their work were of lasting value, she says. Yet, Bulthuis also finds that โ€œsome people are a little bit secretiveโ€โ€”one roaster holds his hopper so close, heโ€™s quite โ€œthe alchemist.โ€ And Bulthuis says she can feel self-conscious when another roaster visits while Cropster software is running on her open laptop.

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โ€œOf course you want to stand out through your [roast] profile, and you want to do it a little bit different than the others,โ€ she elaborates. โ€œ[As for] the specialty coffee bars, if importers have great coffee, they all want to buy it. So it often happens that you buy exactly the same coffees, and the only way you can stand out is by roasting it just a little bit different.โ€

For now, Back to Blackโ€™s roasting takes place in their low-ceilinged basement. The space is tight but still accommodates an electrostatic filter, used to minimize smoke and smell, and doubles as a prep area for the homemade sweets and savories that Vlutters oversees.

back to black coffee cafe roasting amsterdam netherlands holland europe sprudge

back to black coffee cafe roasting amsterdam netherlands holland europe sprudge

Current roasting output is about 20 kilos per week. Early 2016โ€™s menu includes a Vista Bella from El Salvador and a Coko and an Iwacu from Rwanda, all three prepared for both espresso and filter. Besides being served upstairs, the coffee is available for purchase in 250-gram and 1-kilo packages. The Biotreย bags, chosen for their better biodegradability, sit on a shelf beside those of Stooker and neighboring roastery Sweet Cup, both of which Back to Black has regularly sold.

For their own label, the long-term goal is wholesale. So far, Dutch coffee subscription services Koffiejuffrouw and Roast are clients, and swaps with other roastersโ€”for example, Nossa Familia Coffee in Portland, Oregonโ€”are underway.

back to black coffee cafe roasting amsterdam netherlands holland europe sprudge

back to black coffee cafe roasting amsterdam netherlands holland europe sprudge

Before roasting, Back to Black had already become as much a hangout for locals as a destination for coffee connoisseurs. Situated between the Rijksmuseum and the Heineken Experience, it is also ideal for tourists in need of a rest or a jolt. From their business objectives published on Crowd About Now, the crowdfunding platform that helped them amass 18,000 euros in startup investments, itโ€™s easy to see how the cafeโ€™s present-day situation reflects once-dreamt-of ambitions.

At the bar, a two-group Kees van der Westen Spirit is capably operated alongside a Mahlkรถnig Guatemala Lab, two Anfim Super Caimano Baristaย grinders, and a Marco รœber boiler. The array of filter apparatuses includes Chemex, AeroPress, V60, siphon, and French press. Five baristas are employed part-time.

back to black coffee cafe roasting amsterdam netherlands holland europe sprudge

The venue, which fits 25, is frequently full enough to fog up the windows and keep Binkie, the cat, playing musical chairs. Thereโ€™s a ship’s hull-like effect in the room, created by its narrow shape, old wooden floor planks, and prominent ceiling beams. Three rattan barstools evoke a nautical vibe that is more Florida shuffleboard social than Dutch East India Company, and they make for a striking contrast with the back wall, painted a vibrant teal.

The color matches that of the custom-finished Giesen downstairs and quashes the assumption by a coffee-industry employee who, on learning of Bulthuis and Vluttersโ€™ interest in the machine, took to teasing. They recall: โ€œHe was making jokes with all the guys, [saying] โ€˜Oh, you wanna have a pink roaster? You wanna have a pink roaster?โ€™ โ€

back to black coffee cafe roasting amsterdam netherlands holland europe sprudge

back to black coffee cafe roasting amsterdam netherlands holland europe sprudge

Vlutters has since become curious about roasting herself. She is relatively new to the industry, though she has benefited from plenty of patient, one-on-one barista training from Bulthuis, whom she has known for 21 years. (The two met as 10-year-olds in Girl Scoutsโ€”perhaps a source of their self-determination.)

โ€œI would like to learn a new thing, and I see how sheโ€™s enthusiastic about it. But I’ll let her first start to set [the roasting business] up. And I [don’t want to be in the way] like, โ€˜What are you doing, what are you doing?โ€™ โ€ Vlutters laughs. If she does take it up, Vlutters could effectively double the city’s population of female coffee roasters.

Back to Black is located at Weteringstraat 48, Amsterdam. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Karina Hof is a Sprudge staff writer based in Amsterdam. Read moreย Karina Hof on Sprudge.ย 

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