When I came up with the idea to do a coffee lovers’ walking tour around some of my most favourite specialty coffee spots, I had no clue if it would be a success. I knew one thing though. This had never been done before. I posted an update on my Facebook page to test the waters for audience interest and was very positively surprised when many people said they loved the idea.

Strengthened by the resounding support, I set out to plot the event and route. Considering it was going to be a walking tour, I figured the best place to start was Oud West.  Once I had settled on that, it was easy to choose the specialty coffee bars we’d visit.

I contacted the businesses in question and was overwhelmed with the extremely positive responses I received. Phew. Without them on board, I’d be be serving filter coffee out of a thermo. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Yet, one of the things that is probably the most annoying about creating an event on Facebook is that you never know who will actually show up. I was glad to see, that despite having reached my proposed maxium of 15 participants, there were still people inquiring for spaces on the tour. I was chuffed and I knew that even if only 5 people turned up, it would still be a great experience.

When the day finally came, I arrived at Trakteren slightly early, to make sure that Erik and Edward were ready to roll when my guests arrived. When the first person popped his head around the door, asking the boys about the walking tour, I felt a huge weight fall off my shoulders. Yey! The first participant! We shook hands enthusiastically and soon after the next people started showing up.

At just after 13:30 we were around 11 people, including the talented photographer Jelle Rietveld, who had gladly accepted the invitation to document our walk with gorgeous framed impressions.

Here’s a list of places that we visited and the things we tasted or did:

• Trakteren: a shot of Espresso – Kenya, by private label
• Lot Sixty One: a glass of cold brew
• Screaming Beans: a cup of traditional Syphon – Ethiopia, Yirgacheffe 3 by private label & a Japanese cold brew Chemex – Ethiopia Yirgacheffe 3 by private label
• Headfirst: cupping – blind tasting a variety of different coffees including single origins from El Salvador, Indonesia and Ethiopia
• Sweet Cup: a cup of Chemex filter brew – Indonesia, Sumatra by Bocca & a cup of Chemex filter brew – Ethiopia, Sidamo by Bocca

Of course every participant also got a beautiful Amsterdam Omfietskaart to collect stamps at each location.

In hindsight, the tour was one of the most wonderful things I could have imagined it to be. The people were really great, the weather was fabulous and the coffees were mind blowing. I sincerely hope that everyone could walk away with some new coffee knowledge and will be able to translate these experiences into something that will be useful for making great coffee at home.

Thank you once again to everyone who came. Without your support this would not have been possible!
There will definitely be a number two. I’ll keep you posted.

You can find reviews of all places that were visited on this tour by clicking here

All photos courtesy of Jelle Rietveld – find him on Facebook and Instagram