The best specialty coffee shops in Amsterdam

If you’re in Amsterdam for the Amsterdam Coffee Festival, you’re going to spend most of your time at NDSM Loods. It runs from 16 to 18 April, up in Noord, across the IJ. For those few days, that’s where the whole scene gathers. It’ll be fun. It’ll be busy.

At some point, you’ll wonder if the local scene is any different outside the 4 walls of the show.

Here’s where you should go to find out.

Friedhats FUKU Café

_{Bos en Lommerweg 136H, 1055 ED | ~12 minutes by taxi from NDSM Loods}

FUKU is the retail space of Friedhats Coffee Roasters, founded by Lex Wenneker. He won the Dutch Barista Championship and placed second at the World Barista Championship in 2018. The menu offers multiple coffees, from different origins and processes, available across brew methods. It’s the kind of place where you actually learn something about coffee.

DAK Coffee Roasters Showroom

_{Bellamyplein 16H, 1053 AS | ~14 minutes by taxi from NDSM Loods}

DAK is a showroom focused on tasting. The coffees lean fruit-forward. The menu changes regularly. It feels like the decisions are driven by what the team finds interesting at that moment.

Scandinavian Embassy

_{Sarphatipark 34, 1072 PB | ~15 minutes by taxi from NDSM Loods}

Scandinavian Embassy has been a consistent feature and benchmark of the local scene since 2013. The coffee focuses on lighter roast profiles associated with Nordic coffee culture. And food matters just as much here. These were the best cinnamon buns I had in the city.

Uncommon Amsterdam

_{Eerste Constantijn Huygensstraat 63H, 1054 BR | ~13 minutes by taxi from NDSM Loods}

Uncommon encourages you to slow down. From the deliberately minimal interior to the no laptop policy, it’s all about freeing your senses from distraction enough to focus only on the coffee. Which does not disappoint.

Rum Baba

_{Pretoriusstraat 33, 1092 EZ | ~16 minutes by taxi from NDSM Loods}

Rum Baba is another OG. Started about 15 years ago as Coffee Bru, it’s grown into a coffee roastery and bakery that’s still very much part of the fabric of the city’s specialty coffee scene. Over time the coffee’s gone from more experimental to more focused. Still expressive, just more balanced. Don’t skip the bakery. Specifically, the marble cake.

Range

What I like about this list is the range it gives you if you make the effort to see a few of them.

Friedhats is where you go to learn. DAK keeps things fresh. Scandinavian Embassy keeps it light. Uncommon does as much for your eye as it does for your palate. And Rum Baba shows you how an OG moves.

Go see any one of them. I hope you get to all of them.

FAQ

Where is the Amsterdam Coffee Festival held?

The Amsterdam Coffee Festival takes place at NDSM Loods in Amsterdam Noord, across the IJ. It runs from 16 to 18 April 2026.

How far are these coffee shops from the festival?

All the cafés on this list are within roughly 10 to 16 minutes by taxi from NDSM Loods, making them easy to visit before or after the show.

Which coffee shop should I visit if I only have time for one?

If you want to learn, go to Friedhats, something more relaxed with food, go to Scandinavian Embassy, a sense of the city’s history in coffee, go to Rum Baba.

Are these coffee shops suitable for beginners?

Yes. None of these places are intimidating. Friedhats is especially good if you want to understand what you’re drinking, while Uncommon and Scandinavian Embassy are easy to settle into.

Is it worth leaving the festival to visit these cafés?

Yes. The festival shows you the industry. These cafés show you how people in Amsterdam actually drink coffee day to day.