Bocca Coffee

Espresso and filter come off the roaster’s own range at this Amsterdam bar, where the retail shelf and the counter are the same programme in two formats.

A roastery with a bar attached

Bocca has worked as a specialty coffee company since 2001, and the Amsterdam espresso bar is its flagship counter rather than a branch of a chain. The business runs bean to cup: green coffee sourced directly, roasted, packed, then served here, which is why the bar reads as the public face of a roastery. It began with a small PROBAT roaster in a Jordaan garage, and the roasting culture is still worn openly; a 15-kilogram Probat was paraded through the city when the flagship moved. The retail range is the clearest guide to what is in the hopper: Soulmate, Bombita, Gusto, The Blend, La Donna, Baristina Blend, Espresso Blend, House Blend, a Brazil decaf and an Ethiopia.

A spacious counter, coffee first

The room is spacious and polished, and the day runs on counter service: a cup at the bar, a bag of beans off the shelf, a subscription set up, or a place taken on a course at the school of coffee the company runs in Amsterdam. Espresso and filter are kept as separate categories rather than one list, so the same coffee can be tasted two ways. Tea exists but stays secondary, a premium selection rather than a programme with named growers. Food is deliberately light. Yogurt with fruit and honey is the one properly named plate, and a small stroopwafel tends to arrive alongside the coffee. Nobody comes here for lunch, and the counter does not pretend otherwise.

Order espresso, then take the bag home

Order an espresso first, because it is the shortest route to what the roastery is doing that week, then follow it with a filter of a single origin if there is time to sit. The Ethiopia is the one to ask about when a lighter, fruit-led cup is the aim; House Blend and Espresso Blend are the steadier choices under milk. Soulmate, Gusto and La Donna are the names to look for on the retail shelf, and the Brazil decaf is a real option rather than an afterthought. Bocca is one of the older names in Dutch specialty coffee and has taken a European Coffee Award as best artisan roaster in Europe, which is worth knowing when deciding whether to leave with a bag as well as a cup.