Coffee Eindhoven Tasting

I am on an Eindhoven coffee quest. Recently I bought an espresso machine for at home and I am looking to see which coffee in Eindhoven is suited the best for us.

So I am on my way tasting in some of Eindhovens best coffee bars and roasteries, and bringing the fresh beans home to try it in my machine. Who has the best coffee in Eindhoven? Or rather, which taste of coffee suits me?

Just to warn you, I am not an average coffee drinker, I like my coffee either pure and feisty or I like my coffee with milk (like a cappuccino, flat white or on occasion a latte). So what’s the best coffee Eindhoven has to offer for me?

Let’s start of with the basics. I bought a nice espresso machine, and although it makes the noise of the ones in the coffeebar, it does spit out a very decent coffee. With this machine, the milk dispenser can be directly used for the cappuccino milk. In the end I started using a separate milk foam maker just a simple one gives better foam for the cappuccino.

I started using the Bio Arla full cream milk, which gives a nice substance for the cappuccino. Then I switched to HollandJersey full milk, which does even better (available at AH). This was a good tip from one of the coffee bars, because some other milks (“especially for the coffee”) didn’t cream as well as this one.

I started off with some coffee beans from the supermarket, only to learn that most of them tasted like ashtray or overcooked pancakes. Maybe I chose the wrong ones, the wrong roast, or the wrong mix, but I didn’t like them at all and almost went back with my espresso machine, because I thought something was wrong with it.

Then I figured I would just go to the coffee bars I like to have my coffee-and-a-paper and tried out some espressos.
Normally I like to go to ZwartWit Koffie, DENF Coffee, Beanbrothers and Lucifer Coffee roasters, and occasionally I go to Coffeelab. So these places were the right hotspots to start off with. I started trying espressos at some of the above, some places I still have to go to to taste more coffee.

Coffee Eindhoven Tasting update:

These are the beans I tried in my home made cappuccino up till now, which taste delicious:

• DENF Coffee had a great one, called 801, which we tried and instantly liked.
  The others from DENF I tried were a bit harsh for my cappuccino liking or need to be drunk differently (pure or otherwise).Just tried the IBETH from Genova Colombia from DENF Coffee. It’s a bit too spiky on \the acidity level for me for an espresso, but blends lovely into a cappuccino with the aroma of red apple, sugar cane and strawberry.

• We tried the Brazil from Lucifer Coffee Roasters, which we will also keep in our assortment. This one blends very nicely in the cappuccino milk, has a very round taste. Recently I tried the dark Brazil, very yummy!
  

• Next up is the Brazil from Beanbrothers Stadsbranderij. I tried this one at Beanbrothers, as an espresso, and this was very hopeful. UPDATE: Good coffee beans for the cappuccino, A bit more sassyness than the Brazil from Lucifer, so depending on your mood, you could try both. You can order online at Beanbrothers here.Update: Received the try-out package from Beanbrothers, containing:
  – Omar Acosta from Honduras, organic coffee with the following flavors: caramel, marzipan, mandarin and dark chocolate.
  – Bruno from Brazil, Naturally processed coffee, with the following flavors: pecan, yellow fruit, butterscotch, milk chocolate.
  – Brotherhood (mix) from Brazil, Uganda, Nicaragua, with the following flavors: citrus, sugarcane, milk chocolate.
  – And last but not least Silvio Sanchez from Nicaragua, with the following flavors: currants, cherry, caramel, rum, dark chocolate.
  The Brotherhood mix thas a very full taste, and although it has milk chocolate, it made me think of dark chocolate instead. Not the 80% one, but the aftertaste of the coffee is firm, too firm for my liking.
  The Silvio Sanchez blended quite nicely in our cappuccino at home, and also when making an espresso it was very nice.
• In between we will try the Decaf brazil blend from FifthNRE (The Roast). We tried the brazil in a cappuccino at Fifth, which tasted great. Update: Great Decaf!!
• Tried the Guatemala flavor from Sprout Coffee Roasters, which is very good. Full bodied aroma with a little acidity in the end. Perfect for my home cappuccinos!
• Also bought a Colombian Keen Coffee from ZwartWitKoffie. It’s called ‘La Conchita’ and we’re addicted. This will be our ‘basic’ luxury coffee.
• Had a try of one of the koffietje.nl surprise packages, This was a treat, a great mix of 3 blends. Shukonin was a great full bodied one with floral aromas, yumm. And ‘Man met Bril koffie’ had a nice flavour as well (Colombian Coffee). You could try out a koffietje.nl package yourself. Go check out their website.
• Still on the wishlist is the “no school blend” from Coffeelab, since someone told me I should try it.
  

Any other tips?
Please let me know in the comments, or send me a comment on my instagram, where I will be posting more on the best coffee Eindhoven has to taste. Also read my coffee trends blog, which I recently posted here.

Check out more Eindhoven coffee hotspots here. Enjoy your start of the day!