The number of coffee shops in Amsterdam is growing explosively. Does this mean that Amsterdammers have suddenly come to love coffee more? The fact is that the rapid spread of what are known as specialty coffee bars is by no means restricted to Amsterdam. In many cities around the world, such coffee shops are springing up like mushrooms, whether it be Vancouver, Istanbul, Moscow or Kunming. This is partly the result of the emergence of creative economies, the corresponding concentration of highly educated individuals with a lifestyle focused on consumption, and the development of new forms of modern urbanity. But what exactly goes on in these coffee shops?

A plain cup of coffee

The older ones among us know the typical ‘brown coffee shops’ of Amsterdam where it was allegedly always convivial and where the coffee was in a hot container waiting patiently to be consumed avidly. ‘Due to its great success, coffee is being served again today,’ quipped a mischievous owner of a popular canteen. There was even a separate category of ‘coffee houses’ back in this period, most of which were simply furnished establishments, where alcohol was taboo but coffee, tea or milk were served, and where the hungry client could also order a fried egg on toast or a salted meat sandwich. For those who ordered a cup of coffee, it was natural that they would sit at a table to enjoy their shot of caffeine. The assortment was limited: there was black coffee and there was coffee with milk, both with or without sugar. For such an order, very little expertise was needed.

Café gourmet

How different it is today. It is almost impossible to find percolated coffee anymore because the coffee is freshly brewed practically everywhere you go – sometimes with a modern, designer machine made of chrome; at other times with a cheaper machine, but always made to individual order. The introduction of this newfangled machinery has been accompanied by a genuine improvement of quality, or at least the pretention thereof, and an unprecedented fragmentation of tastes and preferences. Those who order the ‘brown gold’ begin an extended conversation with numerous implicit and explicit choices, usually conducted using Italian- or American-sounding idioms. Is the coffee for here or to go?