The eerie grandeur found downtown in the cities of Old Europe is due to the fact that every centimeter is steeped in history. In the Netherlands, itโs a given that aย placeย of contemporary popular appealโsay, a dance club or a boutique hotelโmay inhabit a spot with hard-core historical gravitas.
What makes The Village Coffeeโs second location in Utrecht, the Netherlandsโ fourth-largest city, particularly haunting is that the previousย siteย was in useย right up until mid-2014: it was a prison. And although it began functioning as suchย only in 1856โsomewhat recent by European standardsโWolvenplein (“wolves square”), as the property is called today, occupies canal-cradled land in use sinceย 1580, when it was a military bulwark. In other words, discipline and control were the MO on this spotย for centuries.
So you may appreciate both the irony and the aptness of the aesthetic to the ownersย nowย established on Wolvenplein.
โWe like punk rock and metal,โ sums up co-owner Angelo Van de Weerd.
Sitting in The Village’sย spacious Wolvenplein courtyard among customers enjoying the sun and some hens roaming freely, the inked-up Van de Weerd and partner Lennaert Meijboom are wearing rock Ts (Motรถrhead and Black Sabbath, respectively) and slim black jeans. Bothย are warm and smiley, more likely to cuddle a chicken than to bite its head off.
Reflecting on their first location, which opened on nearby Voorstraat in 2011, they acknowledge the role The Village Coffee & Musicโso named for its double-life as an espresso bar and small gig venueโtook on.
Says Van de Weerd: โThere wasnโt really a place for theโI hate the wordโโalternative’ scene to hang out. But when The Village [came to]ย the Voorstraat, people met each other [there], and it was really cool. Thatโs how we introduced [that crowd]ย to good coffee. Via [Wolvenplein] we want to introduce them to good food and good beers, and how you roast coffee.โ
In fact, more than anything else, it was room to start roasting that sent them up the river.
โItโs kinda difficult to find a place in Utrecht, in the center, where you can have a [roasting]ย area and a part thatโs a restaurant,โ explains Meijboom. โWe were searching for more than two years to find a good location for the roastery because we didnโt want to start off in some industrial area.โ
In June 2014, Wolvenpleinโs last prisoners were transferred to other jails. By June 2015, as nearbyย spaces wereย being rented to entrepreneurs and artists, Meijboom and Van de Weerd had set up shop.
Despite the barred windows (a feature left over from the building’s previous life), the cafe feels breezy. A front entrance works withย one to the courtyard to provide favorable ventilation. Mid-century modern furniture, properly framed posters, and vases of fresh flowers counter any lingering correctional-facility vibes. The three-group La Marzocco Linea Classic is pure eye candy: customized by Dutch designย studio Zink, the Z3 modelโs glass panels reveal a powder-coated canary-yellow boiler.
The kitchen, which produces day fare all week and evening victuals on Fridays, uses bread baked in-house and ingredients sourced by blue-ribbon restaurant wholesaler Lindenhoff. Beers on tap include Jailbait Pale Ale, brewed for The Village by fellow Utrechters De Kromme Haring, and vino comesย fromย Margaret Wines, a local supplier favoring small, traditional vineyards.
A separate room, described by Meijboom as the former prison’s management center, is where the magic happens. Van de Weerd roasts on a Probat UG15 from 1955, withย sample roasts coming through aย smaller, self-restored โold Probat, also 1950-something,โ he says. Barstools invite visitors to sit and watch, while they in turn are watched by the wizard on the facingย wall’sย mural.
The Village serves its own roasts in all three of its locationsโan espresso bar opened on the Utrecht Science Park university campus this past Decemberโas well as distributing to businesses across town. At Wolvenplein, a pair of Anfim Super Caimano grinders stand at the ready, whether for the Outsider, a blend of 75 percent Colombian and 25 percent Ethiopian coffees; the Renegade, a blend of 50 percent Brazilian and 25 percent eachย Colombian and Ethiopian; or one of the weekly filter coffees or single-origin espressos.
Meijboom and Van de Weerd, now in their 30s, grew up in Wijk bij Duurstede, a town withย the Netherlandsโ only drive-through windmill. They connected over music and at festivals, which they attendedย at first justย as fans; eventually, theyย began working at them, sellingย coffee and sharpening their skills. By 2008 they found themselves as spectators at the World Barista Championship in Copenhagen. โWe started being really serious about coffee,โ Meijboom recalls. A year later, Van de Weerd came inย fourth atย the Dutch Barista Championship.
Planning to hitย nine of them this summer alone, music festivals remain important to The Village duo. Nowadays, though, the friends also attendย to pursueย their living, building up an espresso bar at nearly every location. When not on tour, they often can be found hosting movie nights and air-hockey matches at Wolvenplein or programming punk shows at music venueย EKKO.
Yet for all that activity, The Village has no plans to become an empire.
โWeโre not really [doing it]ย to expand a lot. We just want to do stuff that feels good, do cool things,โ says Van de Weerd. โSometimes something pops up, [like] people ask you: โOh yeah, do you want to open a bar in a prison?โ And weโre like: โAll right, letโs do it!โ But we donโt want 20 Villages.โ
Besides, Meijboom and Van de Weerd are now doing everything they ever wanted as coffee professionals. Whatโs more, they get to operate withinย a property where thick bars still line the central hallโs cell-stacked atrium and the solitary confinement spaces, not exactly scrubbed clean, were obviously very much occupied.ย It doesnโt get muchย more heavy metal than that.
Karina Hof is a Sprudge staff writer based in Amsterdam. Read moreย Karina Hof on Sprudge.ย