EspressoBrussels — Alhambra quarter — since 2023
Roastedout back.Poured out front.
Four Brussels locals, a roaster in the back room and an oven running from seven in the morning. We make the coffee, we bake the bread, and we put kitchens from far away inside it.
What we do, in three points
We could have made it easier.
In 2023 we took over an empty unit on a street the neighbourhood avoided. We wanted a place that served a serious espresso without talking down to anyone. Everything else got added along the way.
We roast it ourselves
The roaster sits in the back room, just behind the counter. We buy green coffee in small lots, roast ten kilos at a time, and only bag it once we like it. When a lot is finished, it's finished.
We cook everything that goes in the bread
The bread comes out of the oven in the morning. What goes inside comes from Tokyo, Hanoi, Athens or Mexico City. This isn't fusion for the sake of it — it's what we want to eat at lunchtime.
We leave the door open
Public cupping every Thursday at six, gigs at the back of the room, and one long table where you end up sitting next to somebody. The neighbourhood walked in and we never showed it out.
The menu
What's on today
The menu shifts with the deliveries and the mood of the kitchen. These are the ones that keep coming back.
The roastery
Ten kilos at a time, never more.
We don't roast to fill shelves. We roast what we can taste, correct and sell within three weeks.
We choose
Small lots, bought from importers who tell us what the producer was paid. We turn down more coffees than we take.
We roast
Two profiles per coffee: one for espresso, longer, one for filter, shorter and lighter. We write everything down, including the failures.
We taste
Cupping every Thursday, open table. If a lot doesn't hold up in the cup, it doesn't go into a bag.
We pour
The coffee goes on the counter machine first. It's the best quality control we know of: two hundred customers a day.
« A coffee that isn't good at the counter won't get better at your place. We'd rather find out before we sell it. »
The place
One room, a terrace, and a great many mismatched chairs.
A brick wall we left bare, green tiles behind the bar, and paper bunting nobody has taken down since opening day. Outside, every Tolix chair is a different colour because we hunted them down one at a time.
The four of us
ÉléonoreLouisePierrePaul
We already knew each other. We spent two years visiting coffee bars elsewhere telling ourselves we'd do it better, and then we had to actually do it. Neighbourhood crowdfunding did the rest, and we opened in January 2023.
Four partners, an empty unit, and a street the City wanted to see come back to life.
Visit
Sint-Jan Nepomucenusstraat 10
Opening hours
- Monday
- Closed
- Tuesday — Friday
- 7.30 am — 4 pm
- Saturday
- 9 am — 5 pm
- Sunday
- 9 am — 3 pm
Getting there
- Sainte-Catherine metro — 4 minutes on foot
- De Brouckère metro — 7 minutes on foot
- Villo! Béguinage station on the corner