As La Boutique del Caffé Torrefazione opens its second location on Van Woustraat, we take a look back at its other home in de Pijp.

We must confess that once upon a time, we rather unfairly considered the coffee venue as an overflow or extended waiting line for nearby Bakers & Roasters. But the family run cafe is a neighbourhood destination in its own right, for a couple of reasons…

One, of course, being its coffee (which is certainly good), but the other is its joyous lack of pretension. While the product is technically the most important reason to go, there are hundreds of places for a decent cup of coffee in the city, so having a go-to place that sits outside of hipster roastery set up gives it a leg up. This place hasn’t come to life with a social media strategy, just with hard work, good Italian product and a vision of its own future. All achieved, we suspect, with limited financial means.

When we first visited a couple of years ago it was little more than a vintage squidgy sofa and half-a-dozen tables and chairs. Aside from a few more places to sit and sup a latte, not so much has changed in the bygone years. Just a bit more merchandise on the handmade shelves and a fuller food menu.

There’s not much in the way of cookie cutter cues like white subway tiles, OSB, and copper lighting conduit. So if you need that then perhaps you want to look elsewhere (but dare you not to). This place is not about that. It’s makeshift, casual, imperfect and we like it. It’s MDF benches stapled with coffee bean sacks, and that lovely squidgy sofa which we fantasise about owning somehow.

The Van Woustraat spot at the other end of de Pijp is equally humble. It doesn’t have the improvised aesthetics of the first location but it keeps the unpretentious decor and – most importantly – fine coffee and tasty food at the forefront of its offering.

Whilst we shouldn’t harp on too much about Bakers & Roasters (we do that in another post), we might as well acknowledge that La Boutique del Caffe’s growth could be at least partially attributed to its proximity to the Antipozilian (Australian and Brazilian owners, y’see) brunch heavyweight along the street. But a few years after the first visit, it’s refreshing to see it’s no longer a waiting room en route, but the destination itself.

Facebook: La Boutique Del Caffe Torrefazione

Specialities	Coffee, Italian dishes
Price	€€
Booking	Private hire possible
Groups	4-6 people max, unless you hire privately

Eerste Jacob van Campenstraat

 

Van Woustraat