Curious Buds Specialty Coffee

Rotating European roasters on a Luxembourg bar

Curious Buds is built for comparison rather than loyalty to one house roast. The bar pours fresh, seasonal selections from rotating European specialty roasters, FRUKT and Coffee Collective among them, and the point of the rotation is that regulars get a different cup every few weeks. The founders came to it through Copenhagen and then barista work in Paris, training newcomers and working coffee festivals, which explains how much of the counter conversation is about variety, terroir, processing and brewing. In the cup, the range runs from espresso, batch brew and V60 pour-over to cold brew, iced americano and milk drinks such as flat white and cappuccino. Guest coffees have included a Guatemalan roasted in Amsterdam by RumBaba served with milk, and a Colombian from the same roaster brewed as filter.

A relaxed room with a simple ordering rule

The setting is casual and work-friendly, with comfortable chairs and a mix of tables that suit freelancers as easily as someone in for a cappuccino. There is a terrace for sitting outside, Wi-Fi, step-free access, and both children and dogs are welcome, so nothing about the room is formal. For a first visit the simplest rule is to choose a brew method before choosing a sweet: V60 or another pour-over for the manual filter side, espresso or flat white for something shorter or milk-based, cold brew or iced americano when the weather calls for it. Green tea and hot chocolate are there for non-coffee drinkers, and matcha shows up mainly in the pastry case.

Order a filter, then the matcha brookie

If milk texture is what you want, the flat white sits alongside cappuccino and espresso, and the guest coffees often appear in a milk preparation as well as a filter one. For sweets, the two names to know are the yuzu cheesecake and the matcha dark chocolate brookie, the latter praised often enough to count as the house signature, with the cookies close behind. The most dessert-like order on the menu is the Froyogato, made with two scoops of frozen vanilla yogurt, Speculoos chunks, fruit and a shot of espresso poured over. It is the clearest example of what the cafe does with its own ideas once the roaster rotation has done its part.