It is now almost three years ago that Jits and I started our adventure together, trying to bring Dutch Coffee back to the Netherlands. Ever since 2014 we experienced some great things together, but starting a blog kind of slip our mind during all the exiting things we had planned. So, from now on we would like to include you in our adventure, telling you all about our journey and experiences making Batavia Coffee. If you want to be notified when a new blog is placed, then follow us on Facebook. All new blogposts will be added there. In this fist blog, we will discuss how it all started. Taking you all the way back to the summer of 2013. During his study in South-Korea, Jits discovered ‘Dutch Coffee’ at an airport. The black ice coffee, served in large glasses looked didn’t look Dutch at all, yet the salesman was convinced that it was a typical Dutch drink!
The 17th century
Arriving at the city of Seoul, Jits discovered that the small coffee place at the airport wasn’t the only spot in Asia where black ice coffee was sold, represented as typically Dutch. Eventually, Jits got curious and went to try the drink himself. As a fan of black warm coffee, he found that the black ice coffee was perfect for his taste. The owner of one of the coffee places Jits visited, told him that the coffee was named after the original brewing method founded by Dutch merchants in the 17th century.
Extremely sweet
After finishing his study in Seoul, Jits travelled to India where he met up with me. Together we started working for an IT-company there. In no-time the idea developed to start our own company together. As huge coffee lovers, it wasn’t always easy to get a decent morning coffee in India. During work, our colleagues usually drank thee and the streets were dominated with street carts selling Chai. They did sell ice coffee in bars and restaurants but it was usually made by using a bag of instant coffee decorated with vanilla ice cream on top. It was at an incredibly warm day that Jits told me about his coffee experiences in South-Korea. At that moment we decided that, after nearly three centuries, Dutch Coffee deserved a comeback in the Netherlands.
Batavia Coffee in the Netherlands
We started preparing during our stay in India so that we could launch Dutch Coffee right after arriving back in the Netherlands. We reserved www.dutch-coffee.nl and contacted every supplier of Dutch coffee we could find. Eventually, we found a match with a company called Tiamo. They make both classic Japanese coffee as modern Dutch Coffees. After months of e-mailing the company back and forth with the company we ordered our first shipment which was ready for us upon our arrival in the Netherlands.
To be continued…