Rhythmic, upbeat music welcomes customers in the coffee bar on Jan Pieter Heijestraat. “The playlist was put together by a Kenyan coffee farmer,” says Wakuli owner Yorick Bruins (32). With the music, sky-blue floorboards and a few banana-yellow tiled walls, he and co-owners Lukas Grosfeld (31) and Lies Uljee (37) want to convey their focus: the origin of coffee.
“Old-fashioned coziness or sleek Scandinavian designs distract from the story of coffee. It’s colourful, warm, brooding and exotic,” says Grosfeld. “Certainly not Dutch or Italian, as some people think.”
The rest of the walls are white, but pink, yellow and turquoise bags of beans, filter coffee and boxes of compostable cups color the place. Behind the bar – made from recycled jute coffee bags – baristas explain the flavors of the different beans. For example, the Peruvian variant promises a hint of fig and citrus and a touch of chocolate can be tasted in the Indonesian bean.
Customers can drink the ‘specialty coffee’ on school stools. “We can easily show here how people can also drink good coffee at home,” says Bruins, because according to the owners, many people still drink bad coffee. “The farmers are paid little and the coffee tastes a bit like asphalt.”
Despite their national clientele, the owners once once more chose Amsterdam, following their first bar in East. “This is the coffee capital. We can make the most impact where there is a high demand for coffee,” says Uljee. A third, a fourth and perhaps a fifth Wakulibar are already planned. “There are still plenty of neighborhoods in Amsterdam that deserve good coffee.”
Diners
Jan Pieter Heijestraat 76, Old West
Lentesspecials
This season you can come and drink white chocolate matchas (€4.50), iced coconut espressos (€5) and magnolia lemonades (€3.50).
Special
Behind the bar is a meeting room where coffee farmers and baristas come together. Last year, farmers from Congo, Honduras and Brazil visited Amsterdam.
Predecessor
Before Wakuli, the gluten-free shop G’in West was housed in the corner building.
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