You have to admit it’s getting better. So reports Karina Hof, a longtime Sprudge staff writer based in Holland, who has for years been fascinated by the disconnect between Amsterdam’s famed “coffeeshops”โlounges where legal cannabis is sold and consumed freelyโand the actual coffee served therein. In a city with one of the world’s great modern coffee cultures, and centuries of history in the coffee trade, why would the famed “coffeeshops” serve high quality cannabis but such low quality brews?ย
Happily that’s changing, and fast. Karina Hof reports to us today from Amsterdam, just in time for the global 4/20 cannabis holiday.
By 2016, Amsterdam had an astounding 173 coffeeshopsโlounges where cannabis can be bought and consumed onsite, much to the delight of tourists, expats and yes, evens some locals. For an article on this site the year before, I went looking for an enjoyable coffee to have at the cityโs cannabis purveyors, many of which offer patrons a place to sit and smoke, snack, and sip. There were a couple of OK cups, including one prepared with what could be readily identified as “specialty coffee”, but mostly I encountered over-extracted old-school-Mediterranean dark roasts and staff who were caught off guard by my inquires; sometimes it felt as though I was asking such a trivial or taboo question, like: who provides your toilet paper?
Here in spring 2019, I revisited the assignment, finding that in four years, the number of coffeeshops serving specialty coffee had quadrupled. The figure itself is not extreme, but it shows evolutionโperhaps as much of specialty coffeeโs democratization as cannabis cultureโs mainstreaming. Five places described here use coffee from either Australian-headed, Amsterdam-founded Lot Sixty One or the longer-established Dutch operation Bocca, both of which are among the Netherlandsโ larger specialty roasters. These brands appear in cafes, restaurants, and stores around the country, but to experience them in a coffeeshop imbues in that euphemism for these venues a new, true meaning.
Tweede Kamer
The arrival of specialty coffee to Tweede Kamer is just another jewel in the tiara of this coffeeshop, the most elegant around in terms of interior (art deco) and staff (as personable as professional). Now standing alongside the pre-rolled joint cones and plastic storagesโmany containing a cannabis selection from Amsterdam Geneticsโare Tweede Kamer-branded Lot Sixty One coffee packages. The display itself reflects how much changed since Sprudge last visited, back when they were serving, โterrible coffee,โ as company social media coordinator and ever-effervescent budtender Babiche Bakker puts it. โIt was a lot of different beans mixed.โ
Today, Tweede Kamer and its sister business, Coffeeshopamsterdam, send their staff for barista courses at Lot Sixty One, which Bakker points out is a smart move since Tweede Kamer as a training space is โtoo small probably.โ Elbow-to-elbow seating does not deter their loyal, diverse clientele. No wonder that American touristโs dying wish: to have his ashes preserved at his favorite coffeeshopโworry not, the urn is on a shelf well above the strains and the beans.
Coffeeshopamsterdam
On what Smokers Guide to Amsterdam calls the High Street owing to its concentration of coffeeshops, one that stands out for its plainly memorable (in the long, not short, term, naturally) is Coffeeshopamsterdam. Formerly known as Dampkring II, this venue, which has the same owner as Tweede Kamer though is about triple the size, also sells a cannabis selection from Amsterdam Genetics and coffee from Lot Sixty One. Both budtenders and baristas here are attentive and easygoing, whether handing over with your cappuccino a free mini stroopwaffel or a 10-euro gram of Girl Scout Cookies.
Fully embracing its polysemous branding, the business prints โAmsterdam Coffeeโ on its coffee packaging, baggies, and literature; accompanying the words is the image of a white demitasse with, not steam, but ascending smoke rings. Explains company digital media manager Paul James: โAdvertising for a coffeeshop is totally illegal as is promoting the sale of drugs. However, promoting Amsterdam Coffee is not. We just let people make their own minds up about the connection between the two.โ
Green House United
When, on a springy Wednesday morning, a soft-spoken server brought to the table the menuโs โHealthy Breakfastโโlow-fat yoghurt, low-sugar cruseli, fresh fruits, and a sprig of mint all gingerly arranged in a custard gobletโthe place suddenly seemed less like an Amsterdam coffeeshop and more like a Le Pain Quotidien. But instead of bottomless hazelnut spread, there was that common coffeeshop fixture: a glass filled with green leaves of rolling-tobacco substitute.
Sure enough, this was Green House United, the largest of the cityโs four Green House coffeeshops.
With an actual kitchen, it can cater to meal-size munchies day or night and, turns out, perfectly extract a single-origin Brazilian coffee, Boccaโs Soulmate. The light, fresh fare contrasts with leathery maroon furnishings and dim lighting, though the walls are undeniably brightened by Cannabis Cup trophies, smiling stoner celebrity photos, and clips from VICE/HBOโs Strain Hunter. That show follows Arjan Roskam, founder of Green House Seed Co. and the eponymous coffeeshops, as he searches for cannabis landraces on continent-hopping expeditions that sometimes share remarkable similarities with coffee-origin trips.
La Tertulia
Brownie points are in order here because four years ago, when Sprudge sought low and high for decent coffee at coffeeshops, La Tertulia delivered. The same holds true today. โWe are still serving Bocca coffee,โ replies Aline, the younger of the mother-daughter team who own the business, when recently asked for an update. โMoreover, all our employees are getting a training by Bocca soon!โ
Whether or not the baristas will master latte art, which Aline hopes for, La Tertulia is sure to maintain its unique appeal. The coffeeshop is women-owned and women-operated, has more space than mostโupstairs, small groups can comfortably work or play a borrowed board game; outside bistro chairs and tables allow for smoking and sipping al fresco and canal-sideโand a respectable snack menu. The toasties come in about a dozen variations (who would have known tomato-chili chutney, zucchini, and pineapple work together?). And the pot brownie is of American-standard dimensions, homemade by a baker to whom Aline delivers her regularly collected shake.
Hempstory
You cannot smoke or vape here, but this hemp-heralding lifestyle store deserves an honorable mention. At its core is a bar with a La Marzocco Linea Classic, which Bocca-trained baristas use to prepare Bocca coffee drinks. Hemp milk repeats on the menu, and hot beverages come with a complimentary heart-shaped Hanf & Natur hemp biscuit.
From clothes to cosmetics and chips to cookies, much of the goods sold here are made from or with hemp. The shop also well stocks CBD products from world-renowned seed bank Sensi Seeds, whose founder, Ben Dronkers, owns Hempstory itself, the neighboring Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum, and industrial hemp company Hempflax. Despite being in the middle of the Red Light District, Hempstory is green-leaningโstylistically more Broccoli than Pineapple Express, more GOOP than Snoopโbut equally respectful of the aesthetics surrounding coffee and cannabis.
Karina Hof is a Sprudge staff writer based in Amsterdam. Read moreย Karina Hof on Sprudge.ย