Rum Baba

At the Elandsgracht brewbar the whole bean list is available as both espresso and filter, so the first question is not milk or black but which coffee and how it should be made. Rum Baba roasts its own in Amsterdam and has done for about fifteen years, and the bar exists to put the current lots in front of people rather than to sell one house blend.

Espresso, filter, nitro and the bean list

The lots change but the shape of the list holds. Burundi Shikankoni runs to palm sugar, orange and marmalade; Burundi Nkuba is darker and juicier, with blackberry and a jammy, winey character. Guatemala Medium is the balanced one, cane sugar, cacao and red apple, and Honduras Guayabina brings orange, toffee and milk chocolate.

Cold coffee is Diamond Rush Nitro Cold Brew, made from Liquid Diamond La Reserva and poured with blueberry, blackberry and lime in it. The blends cover familiar ground, with East Africa Bundle Classic on berries, chocolate and caramel and Yellow Blend Classic on toffee, chocolate and berries. The Kaleidoscope coffees are the playful end: Acapulco Dreams tropical, Ombligon floral and violet, Strawberry Vanilla Sky exactly what it sounds like. Bakes sit beside the coffee as an accompaniment rather than a menu of their own.

A roastery bar, not a general café

Rum Baba works across three rooms in the city: this brewbar and shop, a bakery and shop in the east, and the roastery that supplies both. Elandsgracht is the tasting and retail point, which is why the bar behaves like a counter for comparing coffees rather than a place to settle in for hours.

The feel is casual and the branding is deliberately playful, but the roasting is the serious part, each batch refined to bring out what the lot has. Retail runs deep: light and medium roasts, decaf, subscriptions, brewing equipment, matcha and tea. The house was recognised in the 2025 European Coffee Trip Awards. Expect a hybrid of coffee bar, bean shop and pickup point.

How to order

Choose the brewing format first. Espresso is the concentrated route through whatever is current; filter is the slower, clearer way to read a single lot. For something cold, Diamond Rush Nitro Cold Brew is the one built for it.

Then choose a direction. For fruit and sweetness, Burundi Shikankoni points at palm sugar, orange and marmalade, while Burundi Nkuba is the darker, jammier version of the same idea. For a classic profile, Guatemala Medium or Honduras Guayabina will do it. If you want the bar at its most experimental, ask for whichever Kaleidoscope lot is open. Add a bake, and take beans home if the cup lands.