On the primary weekend of April, Amsterdam hosted the tenth version of its espresso competition. At the moment, we’re sharing just a few fascinating issues we noticed on the occasion.
BY TANYA NANETTI
SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT
Pictures by Tanya Nanetti
On an unexpectedly heat and sunny weekend in early April, Amsterdam hosted the tenth annual Amsterdam Espresso Pageant. One of many metropolis’s hottest espresso occasions, the three-day competition welcomed its friends with a packed schedule of occasions, a vibrant roasting village, and a bevy of exhibitors showcasing their new instruments and creations.
That’s how, between (positively too many) sips of scrumptious espresso, I had the prospect to find many fascinating issues: Right here’s a brief checklist of actually fascinating discoveries I made throughout my wanderings across the crowded competition.
Cascara Cupboard: A Newly Launched Macerated Cascara that Will Blow Your Thoughts
Colourful and playful, Cascara Cupboard’s sales space caught my consideration as quickly as I began exploring the competition. Behind the counter, founder Vincent Rikken and two pals have been able to pour a sip of flippantly glowing macerated cascara to anybody .
As I sampled this scrumptious and weird drink, available on the market for simply 48 hours, I had an opportunity to get a fast assertion from Vincent, as playful and endearing because the Cascara Cupboard itself.
“Ever since Ben and Jen sadly separated and their dwelling, with extra bogs than bedrooms, went available on the market, I’ve dreamed of bringing that form of consolation into my life,” Vincent says, toasting with a beneficiant portion of caffeine-free cascara. “I don’t imagine that at this age I’m meant to reside an uncomfortable life. I don’t have the need. To finance my villa goals, I wanted a uncared for and misunderstood commodity. Right here is cascara: the cherry discarded from espresso, reborn as a glowing, prebiotic soda. Cascara Cupboard proves that it’s potential to show one thing undervalued into one thing deliciously extravagant.”
And certainly it’s each scrumptious and lavish, obtainable in a standard caffeinated model and a extra enjoyable caffeine-free one. Keep tuned to get one of many colourful cans, set to hit the market within the coming months.
Graycano: An Ingenious Dripper Comprised of Aluminum
As is the case at each espresso occasion around the globe, the newest version of the Amsterdam Espresso Pageant noticed a good quantity of traditional and progressive drippers and brewers. Among the many many we noticed in motion, the Graycano Dripper positively deserves particular point out, as a result of its distinctive options that embrace a solid aluminum core particularly designed to keep up a secure brewing temperature and progressive lava ribbing to advertise a gradual move of water for brighter, sweeter notes in each sip.
We met Felix Bruegmann, CEO of Graycano, on the Graycano sales space, and he made us a scrumptious, super-smooth, candy, and balanced Colombian espresso that intrigued us to experiment extra with this fascinating dripper.
Chunky Cherry Espresso: A New Roaster Dealing (Largely) with Canephora
Among the many many fascinating roasters that produce virtually solely arabica, this yr’s espresso competition launched Chunky Cherry Espresso, an area roaster doing just about the alternative, launched earlier this yr by Mikolaj Pociecha.
Mikolaj, a well-recognized title to anybody all for canephora because of his fascinating ebook titled exactly “Canephora,“ selects and roasts scrumptious beans from each producing nations normally related to canephora (corresponding to Indonesia and Vietnam) and nations well-known for his or her scrumptious arabica beans.
How might we not point out the Panama Kiva Property that we had the chance to attempt as a pourover? It’s a slow-drying anaerobic canephora that includes excellent boozy notes of whiskey, combined with a touch of candy chocolate and buttery cookies. One thing price attempting when you get the prospect!
Il Manovale, Sprout, and Different Roasters from Far and Huge
Lastly, as is usually the case, the espresso competition was a possibility for many people espresso lovers to find, usually for the primary time, new roasteries from throughout Europe.
Alongside lots of Amsterdam’s coolest roasters, this yr’s competition featured fascinating entries corresponding to Sprout Espresso (a roastery primarily based in Eindhoven with roots in Australia) and Il Manovale (from southern Italy, dwelling of the 2025 Italian Roasting Champion), alongside acquainted faces like Berlin’s 5 Elephant and Romanian Mabo Espresso. A number of good coffees to try to fascinating folks to fulfill!
One of the vital fascinating issues we obtained to find because of this yr’s Amsterdam Espresso Pageant was the competition’s new location and surrounding neighborhood.
Known as merely NDSM (quick for Nederlandsche Dok en Scheepsbouw Maatschappij, or “Netherlands Dock and Shipbuilding Firm”), the realm, positioned in northern Amsterdam on the banks of the IJ River, is a former shipyard now redeveloped into one of many metropolis’s most vibrant areas.
House to fascinating museums, implausible avenue artwork, and good foods and drinks, NSDM is off the crushed path: sufficient to not be too crowded, but nicely sufficient linked to town middle to be simply reached by a brief (free) ferry journey.
It’s positively a spot to place in your checklist for the following time you’re in Amsterdam.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tanya Nanetti (she/her) is a specialty-coffee barista, a traveler, and a dreamer. When she’s not behind the espresso machine (or visiting some hidden nook of the world), she’s busy writing for Espresso Rebel, a web site about specialty espresso that she’s creating alongside along with her boyfriend.
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