It has also been marked by ranges of speciality coffees, reflected by the increasing number of independent roasters and cafes, like the ones which populate Eindhoven’s Bergen district. Although the majority of European’s still favour cheap, mainstream coffee (instant, standard blends, robusta etc).
The story was quite similar in Rotterdam – we stopped in at a few coffee shops and roasters to see what we could learn from them, but the only issue on everyone’s mind was how the coronavirus was going to impact their job and industry. We visited Rotterdam port, which is the first stop for a lot of our coffee being transported from South America. Just like the rest of the country, the port was like a ghost town.
Unfortunately, the cafe and hospitality industry is going to be one of the hardest hit in the Netherlands due to the coronavirus pandemic. At 6pm on Sunday evening, just as we were checking in at Schipol to return home, an announcement from the Dutch government closed all cafes, bars and restaurants with immediate effect. We need to make sure we remain safe, and look out for each other in this difficult time