Barmhartig Koffie

The house blend is the reason to climb the stairs. Barmhartig Koffie is an upstairs café in Amsterdam Oost, and its own framing is “coffee with a view”: the outlook toward the IJ and Java Island is treated as part of the offer, not as backdrop. Set in the Eastern Docklands, it serves regulars, locals, tourists, laptop workers, kids, and members arriving from CrossFit Vastberaden and Heldhaftig Yoga.

Coffee orders to keep simple

The coffee story is more specific than a standard latte list. Barmhartig pours its own Barmhartig blend, roasted with Spot On Coffee. Built from two different Ethiopias and one part Brazil, it reads as red fruit, hazelnut, caramel and dark chocolate. It is designed for espresso and for the milk of the guest’s choice, which keeps straight espresso drinks and milk-forward ones close to the same house style.

Named coffee orders include the latte and the koffie verkeerd, both useful if you want the blend softened through milk rather than treated as a black-coffee tasting. Beyond coffee there is tea, juice and protein shakes. Juices are made fresh for each order; the protein shakes use vegan protein, half a banana and the guest’s chosen milk, with an optional espresso shot and a few flavours to choose between.

A casual Amsterdam café for daytime visits

This is a lively, casual upstairs café rather than a hushed specialty bar. It takes laptop workers, children, local regulars, tourists and the fitness-adjacent traffic from its sibling CrossFit and yoga spaces, and laptop use is built in, with tables set aside for it on weekdays.

The route shapes the visit too. The café’s own copy stresses that only a staircase or a lift separates guests from the coffee, the snacks and the view, which is the whole point of an elevated room. The interior is mid-century styled, modern and a little eclectic, with views across the IJ, Java Island and the Amsterdam Tower. It feels less like a street-level takeaway counter than a neighbourhood perch for coffee, work, meeting people and the post-workout hour.

Order a latte, koffie verkeerd, and something baked

For a simple order, start with a latte or a koffie verkeerd and add something baked. The pastry case is anchored by croissants, pain au chocolat and pain au raisins, all made with a lot of real butter and baked in the café’s own oven daily. The café’s baking grandmother supplies vegan banana bread, brownies and muffins.

Weekend baking adds another layer, with two specials made each weekend and left unnamed until they appear. Savoury food centres on six toasties from De Tweede Jeugd, a partner that turns unsold bread into vegan and vegetarian toasties, plus a classic ham and cheese made with sustainably sourced wild boar ham. Between the viennoiserie, the homemade vegan bakes, the juices, the protein shakes and the toasties, this works as more than a coffee-only stop, with the house blend still at the centre.