Discover Benelux | Food & Drink | A Taste of the Netherlands
BOOT KOFFIE:
45 years of tasting, roasting and serving coffee TEXT: JULIËN L’ORTYE | PHOTOS: BOOT KOFFIE
“What we are aiming for is for our coffee to tell a very pure, distinct story,” begins Barend Boot. At his company Boot Koffie, which has been around for 45 years, you can be sure that he will live up to those expectations. At this place, they know the craft of roasting like no other. Also rather special is the time and effort they put in to connecting with the farmers. Barend wants his coffee to be ‘floating in your memory’, which is one of the reasons that his company, with a terrific web shop and a speciality coffee bar and roastery in Amersfoort, is so thoroughly focused on the quality of the beans they are selling. “We are doing our utmost to create an amazing flavour profile,” he continues. “It is about the roasting process, the buying process, going often to the farmer(s) to build up a relationship, everything.” Barend took over the business from his dad who, in the 60s, noticed that he had to blend several small coffees with a great taste, with bigger amounts of less tasting 36 | Issue 50 | February 2018
coffee to get an acceptable melange. “He was quite a visionary,” Barend says. “He invented a small coffee roaster, called The Golden Coffeebox, which has been sold all over the world.” At Boot Koffie, the clients are actually pretty connected to the farmers where the beans come from: it may just happen that there are customers asking for the coffee from Maria from Panama. “We love personal contact and truly believe in longterm relationships, which is why we select our plantations ourselves, in order to keep in touch with the farmers.” Together with them, Barend and his team try to improve the farmers’ conditions of life. “In that way, you can enjoy the best, freshly roasted Arabica and they can enjoy the best education and housing.” What is also very special about Boot Koffie are the Speciality Coffeebar and Coffee Roastery, located in Amersfoort, where their customers can experience everything about the roasting process. “This is the only place in the Netherlands
where all our ‘speciality coffees’ can be ordered at the bar. Apart from that we are also selling our coffee and tea to companies and operating a coffee store in Baarn.” In other words: many opportunities for you to pay them a visit and taste the delicious coffee.
Speciality Coffeebar & Coffee Roastery: Oliemolenhof 90, 3812 PB, Amersfoort (approx. 50 kilometres from Amsterdam) Coffeestore: Laanstraat 49, 3743 BB, Baarn (approx. 35 kilometres from Amsterdam) Email: info@bootkoffie.nl Web: www.bootkoffie.nl