Vanilla Puxx Coffee - Puxx
Pinterest Photo: Amsterdam, Netherlands
A vague idea about coffee halfway across the globe inspired something that grew into the experience I am currently living today. Of course, I didn’t
decide to go to the Netherlands right away. I looked at other places including
England, Ireland, Finland, Spain and even Australia before I decided to give
Shannon a call and get serious about considering the Netherlands. Although I didn't end up in Amsterdam like this photo, I'd say I landed pretty darn close!
Coffee got me started and koffie will be how it ends. The Dutch
know their koffie and it is important to them. With a plethora of trendy café’s that
sell beautiful frothy drinks, I learned a lot from koffie from the Netherlands.
Fresca - My favorite place for a Koffie!
You can find most of the Dutch on campus with
a little cup of koffie all throughout the day. They drink small portions and
often. Usually with just a little milk and sugar, not all fancy like Starbucks,
because they appreciate the simple unsweetened things in life. This, I have
really gotten used to and may have nixed my expensive Starbucks habit (sorry
Starbucks for your loss). I guess we will have to see what the next few months
in the States holds! Yeah, I thought the cups were tiny, (their large is the
same size as the tall at Starbucks, which I tended to avoid before because of
its small measure) but I learned you can always have another! Each of our
classes at Radboud are anywhere from 2-3 hours long but they have a break every
hour for koffie or a smoke (another vice the Dutch seem cling to a bit more
than Americans). If our professors miss the time for the break and accidentally
lecture a bit into it, they apologize a lot for taking up our break time because breaks are taken seriously by those koffie drinkers!
If you order a koffie in any café, it is popularly served in
a glass just like water would be in America. This never made much sense to me
because you can hardly pick up your glass to drink from it until it cools down.
At that point it is too cool to enjoy. I will say though, it does look quite
nice to see the layers of koffie, milk and foam in your drink as an artistic
part of your purchase. My friend Lena, from Germany, says that must be a Dutch
thing because her coffee is served in mugs in her country as well.
Speaking of Lena, her boyfriend is Dutch and I had the pleasure
of learning from him all about the art of making coffee. He has a state of the
art koffie machine at his apartment and a hand-held milk foamer. I had no idea
that you could do that by hand (which is a purchase I promise to make right
when I get back home) and he showed me how. He says that it is definitely not
as good as the machines that do it at coffee shops but those are a huge
investment and tricky to master.
My Dutch friend Willem from class informed
me, you know the foam is good when your sugar rests on top and doesn’t sink
through. (Sign of a good koffie)!
Latte Macchiato with good foam via the sugar test - Fresca
Quote from the Netherland’s Queen Maxima, “Dutch is one cookie
with your koffie” reiterating the koffie/cookie relationship. Every single
koffie I have ordered in a café has come with precisely one cookie. Let me tell
you, there is nothing better. I now look forward to seeing the type of cookie I
will get next!
A koffie is a good companion. It wakes you warmly in the
morning, is a good conversation facilitator, and is there for you during the
most stressful of times of studying.
I can promise that one of the final things I do in the
Netherlands is enjoy a koffie. That’s a fact!
P.S., if you or anyone you know ever travel to Nijmegen and want to try some Dutch koffie,
here is a list of my favorites!
Fresca Café, Puxx Coffee, The Fuzz, Sid en Liv & Café de
Mug – I know there are many more and I am determined to find them!
The Fuzz Coffee
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