Brussels, Belgium - Where to get good coffee?

by **xjohnex** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 9:05 am

Hi
I'm moving to Brussels in Belgium in a month, and;

Are there any good cafés that I could go to?

Are there some baristas that one shouldn't miss getting a espresso of when you're there?

Have anyone heard of any evening or week-end barista classes? I would love to learn more

All the best!

/Johne

by **Raf** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 4:39 pm

xjohnex wrote:Hi
I'm moving to Brussels in Belgium in a month, and;

Are there any good cafés that I could go to?

No, unfortunately.

xjohnex wrote:Are there some baristas that one shouldn't miss getting a espresso of when you're there?

No.

xjohnex wrote:Have anyone heard of any evening or week-end barista classes? I would love to learn more

Lavazza Belgium offers them, it seems.

I wish I could give you more optimistic news about coffee in Brussels, but there you are. Anyway: welcome to TMC, and welcome to Brussels!

by **Jo2** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 6:40 pm

Are there any good cafés that I could go to?

What about this one: "La Perle Noire"

Look here: http://www.toomuchcoffee.com/index.php? ... pic&t=1346

by **Sammy** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 7:16 pm

Hi Xjohnex, La Perle Noire is more a place to actually buy your coffee, rather than to drink it. Problem is they are small and when it is calm, somethimes the beans may have been sitting too long in the shop... That being said, this happened to me only once and I go there weekly (find me there on saturdays - they close at 14h00).

I would also be interested in a good barista training session. Perhaps I should just take the good old Eurostar and hop over to the londonschoolofcoffee.com. Otherwise, perhaps the Brussels branch of TMC (we seem to be quite a few now) could organise a barista session... It only takes a barista and a place with a good machine... I'll think about it. I may have a place, I only need a good barista.

Meanwhile, welcome to Brussels and welcome to TMC

Sam.

by **Raf** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 7:22 am

Ah, Sam! Good idea! We should have plenty of good barista's here on TMC - we even have a Dutch Barista Champion in our midst (Jeroen Veldkamp, although I'm not sure he signed in yet).

by **xjohnex** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:21 am

Yeah I figured after looking around abit in the forum that brussels wasn't the best place to go to get some coffee :cry:

but if we are a small group that are interested in having a barista jam, we should be able to find one decent barista who could get to brussels, that would be so much fun! I'll check out la perle noir for sure, I won't bring my machine and grinder down there as for now I will be in Brussels for only 5 months, and after that I don't know yet. So I'll just bring my presso for now (and maybe my grinder) but the old pavoni (which weighs like 8-10 pounds) will have some time off....

/Johne

by **Sammy** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 9:49 pm

Hey Johne and other Bruxeleirs,

I will definitely pick up the idea after the summer break. Seems difficult to pull off anything for the moment.
Anyone any ideas for the barista with the golden hands and ditto crema?

Sam.

by **Jo2** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 7:39 am

It only takes a barista and a place with a good machine...

I could talk to my boss and see what we can come up with... It's not Brussels, but Amsterdam, or Utrecht is still closer than London...

by **Belgik** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:43 pm

Hey ya'll. Barista lessons in Brussels? I'm interested. In fact, I'd be happy to meet the other coffee freaks just to get acquainted. I'm sitting there with my shining coffee machine in the suburbs, "splendid isolation".
Even though the Perle Noir is not really a café, you CAN drink an espresso or other coffee or even tea there, there's a few tables and the smell of fresh coffee is all-pervasive...

by **Raf** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 2:01 pm

Yes, unfortunately the coffee is rather over roasted, as I noticed the last time I went there...

by **Belgik** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 10:03 am

One of the characteristics of "splendid isolation" is that Raf is demonstrating exactly my reason for being interested in meeting other coffee aficionados: sharing information, establishing more of a "standard". I thought the "Perle Noire" coffee to be just fine (maybe I like overtoasted?), I use it at home and, until I taste espresso far better than the ones I make myself, I will have learned something and be on the path towards ...better espresso.
Trust you understand what I'm saying...

by **Raf** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 1:08 pm

We should do a barista course here in Brussels. Maybe in october or november? Make it a tmc happening?

by **Belgik** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 7:35 am

Yep. A barista course. ---- ¡TMC!-----

by **coffeefreak** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 8:14 pm

I've been to Brussels last week.

There is a place called Corica (www. corica.be) in the city center.

They roast and sell 20 different coffee, but all of them you can buy to drink as well. Even JMB and Kopi Luwak (€ 9,-- per cup).

Very good coffee, not so good barista's

Perle Noire has good coffee as well, but remember the Belgium way of coffee drinking is a little different as ours.

Jan "Coffee Freak" Schuitemaker

by **Sammy** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 8:58 pm

Hi CF, I would be interested in learning more about the differences in the ways we drink our coffees, particularly good (non-drip) ones...

Anyway, I concur with Raf. I had a bad experience at la perle noire in July. Really disappointing. I guess they cleared some leftovers before the summer holiday... I take it as a one-off error. So, see you there next Saturday!

Sam.

Brussels, Belgium - Where to get good coffee?

Brussels, Belgium - Where to get good coffee?

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