So, with all this coffeeshop talk, I almost forgot about the real coffee! I love coffee, especially espresso, and wondered if the dutch have any customs that are different to american coffee drinking. Do they offer calorie-free sugar packets? Do they frown upon ice cream coffees? (starbucks' mocha frap upside-down 4 pump extra whip skinny latte venti)..ha!
the dutch have some amazing coffee. Dowe Egbert is a store brand that is quite good, and in the cafes you can order coffee as in the rest of Europe. Don't miss the "varm chocolat melk, mit shlogrum" (hot chocolate w/ whipped cream) anywhere in Holland it is quite the treat!
You won't find fancy drinks like frappucinos and flavored coffees in Europe (unless you find a starbucks, which they haven't let into Holland yet - as far as I know). Instead you will find the traditional espressos & cappucinos & cafe au lait (latte). There's no ice cream coffees either, but there's nothing preventing you from adding a scoop of ice cream to your coffee, except perhaps the fact that you're drinking coffee from a six ounce cup! Sorry no big gulps there. Good luck finding artificial sweetner in a coffeeshop, although you can get some in a supermarket (this may have changed now). You get a packet of sugar and a cookie when you order a coffee, nothing more, nothing less. Yes, Dutch chocolate is some of the best in the world. Unfortunately you won't find it made from scratch anymore unless you go somewhere special. It's poured out of a bottle and heated up. It's still good, but not authentic. And whipped cream is spelled "slagroom"...
iggy:uke: to Open First Store in Central Amsterdam in Historic Centraal Station. Press release Starbucks Coffee Company (Nasdaq: SBUX) and Servex, one of the largest food and beverage concessionaires in Dutch railway stations and a subsidiary of NS, today announced a strategic licensing agreement to open Starbucks stores in prime railway stations throughout the Netherlands. The first store will be opened in the landmark Centraal Station in Amsterdam in the spring of 2009. Starbucks will continue work on its broader development plans in the Netherlands while opening stores in top railway stations across the country.
Coffee in the US is flyweight compared to the coffee you get in Europe, unless you are one of the few that go to special coffee shops and buy $12/lb + coffee. It it fantastic, I still have not gotten a bad cup of coffee in all the times i've been there. Yes they have sugar substitutes there. You won't find and cold coffee drinks there, ice seems to be a precious commodity there. Even when you get a fountain soda there it will only have 2 maybe 3 ice cubes in it. I'm not talking tray cubes mind you, I'm talking those round chunks that ice makers make. There is a Starbucks there now, havent seen it. Not really sure about the menu. Lastly when you do get a cup of coffee, do not be suprised when they bring you a cup a little bigger than an American espresso cup. That little cup however will prolly be equal in effect to a x-tra large coffee from a convience store
I always look real forward to the coffee whenever I go to Europe, and almost all the countries all over Europe have excellent and far superior coffee to the US
That's sad. I hope the coffeeshops and restaurants protest that. It will ruin the Dutch coffee culture... The Dutch have been selling coffee since b4 America was a country.
Starbuck has been in holland since 2002 they opened up a roasting plant at the Port of Amsterdam, and it includes a little-known store Holland’s second Starbucks store is located inside the Nike HQ in Hilversum — but it is accessible only to Nike employees! a 3erd in Terminal 1 at Schiphol Airport. You’d have to show a plane ticket to a European location in order to order a drink at that Starbucks Then, last year, two Starbucks stores opened at Schiphol Plaza, the shopping center that is part of Schiphol Airport. One — standing room only — is located in the main hall near the train ticket counter. The other — a spacious affair with lots of seats, tables and easy chairs — at the far end of Arrivals area 4:toetap05: and now one opening at central station in the spring!!
