Skina

Rush Rush on a Spirit, filter by hand

Rush Rush, from Antwerp, is the coffee here, and this is the only bar in Amsterdam pouring it, which is unusual in a city where specialty cafes tend either to roast their own or to take one of the obvious Dutch names. Espresso and milk drinks run through a two-group Kees van der Westen Spirit; filter coffee and tea are brewed by hand along the left-hand side of the bar, in front of whoever ordered them.

The list is short on purpose. Espresso, flat white, filter and tea are the drinks to work from, with non-dairy milk available, and the interest is in the roaster relationship and the manual brewing rather than in a long menu. Watching the filter being made is part of what the bar is for.

A corner in Amsterdam-West

Skina opened in July 2023 on a corner near Kwakersplein, run by two people already known around Amsterdam specialty coffee through Toki, Loof and Quartier Putain. The name is Papiamento for corner, a nod both to the site and to one founder's Caribbean family, and the place was built with friends rather than as a business plan, which is still how it reads.

The room is heavily designed without being precious: high ceilings, plants, bold linoleum flooring, a large Brian Elstak artwork on the wall, and a colour scheme worked in primaries, a white building, red floor, silver bar and triangles in blue, yellow and red. A few steps lead down to the long bar, with seating on one side and the espresso machine and pastry display on the other. It sits in a small cluster of neighbourhood specialty bars alongside Ikaria, Uncommon and Monks, which the founders treat as neighbours rather than competition.

Take the filter, then something to eat

Order the hand-brewed filter if there is time to wait for it, since that is where the Rush Rush coffees show at their clearest. If not, the flat white and the espresso off the Spirit are the two drinks the bar makes most, and the tea is brewed by hand at the same station.

Food is compact rather than a kitchen: pastries, sweets and sandwiches made fresh. The pastries come in from Loof and Grammes, the chicken salad sandwich follows a family recipe from one of the founders, and there is a vegan pumpkin sandwich for anyone avoiding meat. The crolus is the pastry worth asking about when it appears. The direction is consistent: coffee first, bakes bought from people who bake well, and two or three sandwiches done properly.