Antwerp coffee guide: the city where the roasters pour their own

Caffenation, Cuperus, Normo, Kolonel, Tartoer, Andy Roasters and Rush Rush roast their own coffee: Caffenation since 2003, Cuperus, in Antwerp since 1931, at its roastery in Deurne, and the other five for bars of their own. The other three are cafés known for the roasters they pour: Kasette Koffie serves Kolonel, Nordica 31 serves UNCOMMON alongside Scandinavian guest roasters, and MONO pours coffees of the month from Assembly Coffee in London. Most of these coffee shops in Antwerp sit in the historic centre, the university quarter, Het Zuid and Zurenborg, with Berchem, Borgerhout and Deurne a little further out.

Caffenation, PAKT and the city bars

Caffenation has roasted and served coffee in Antwerp since 2003, and its first bar was, by its own account, the very first specialty coffee bar in Belgium. Robrecht Berghmans started the company, and the name joins “Caffè”, for the Italian coffee that set the standard at the time, with “Nation”, for a place where it all happens. The roastery, the offices and a bar share one address at PAKT. The other bars are CITY, BLUE, a bar and bakery, and KOCO, a plant-based bar inside the Eat Dust denim store. A new flagship bar opened in 2026, with a large upstairs room for laptop work. The range runs from two everyday coffees, Roast ED and Brazil IAN, to colour-coded blends and a Rare Coffee Series. Caffenation shares its in-house numbers in an annual transparency report, and its green coffee buyer runs a direct trade programme. Water is free at every bar.

Cuperus, the university quarter, the Sterckshof and the Boelaerpark

Cuperus began in 1823 in Friesland as a tea business, added coffee, and moved to Antwerp in 1931 with a shop and tearoom in the Boerentoren. It later began roasting its own coffee, and in 1965 it opened, by its own account, the first coffee bar in Antwerp. Glenn and Ellen took it over in 2013. Cuperus roasts in Deurne, and its buyers travel to origin on their own, paying farmers fair prices under direct trade; the first farmer it bought from this way was Olman, in Nicaragua. Each coffee in the Specialty range has a card naming the producer, altitude, cultivar and process, beside a Klassiekers range of blends and single origins and a long tea list. There are three bars: Cuperus Horsey in the university quarter, a coffee bar and bakery with terraces at the front and back, Cuperus Stark in the historic Sterckshof in the Rivierenhof park, with a large garden, and Bar Boulaar, opened in May 2026 at the entrance to the Boelaerpark in Borgerhout.

Normo, the historic centre

Normo is a coffee bar and micro-roastery in the historic centre, with its roastery in Borgerhout, open by appointment. Its roasters put the farmers first and want to present each coffee “zo naakt mogelijk”, as bare as possible. The espressos are light-roasted but balanced, the filter coffees suit every brewing method, and Normo also sells direct-trade tea selected by the Belgian tea sommelier Ann van Steenkiste. For other cafés it works as a partner rather than a supplier, planning bars, training baristas and helping to buy machines, and its coffee is poured in cafés from Antwerp to Ghent.

Kolonel, the south of the city and the Eilandje

Kolonel is run by Kobe and Femke, who opened their first coffee bar in 2010 and began roasting their own coffee in 2016. They roast in small batches on an IMF 15 kg roaster, chosen as a more environmentally responsible machine, for their own bars, their webshop and the businesses they supply. The range mixes single origins, several roasted separately for espresso and for filter, with the Kolonel Blend served in both bars, the seasonal Paramount blend of two organic coffees, and a sugar-cane decaf from Colombia. Kolonel South is south of the centre and Kolonel North, opened in 2019, is on the Eilandje by the old docks. Both serve coffee, breakfast and lunch, and both take reservations.

Tartoer, the city centre and the Stuivenberg site

Tartoer has served coffee since 2013 and now has two coffee bars in the centre, one near the Grote Markt and one on the Ossenmarkt in the university quarter. All its coffee is roasted in-house on a Giesen W6, light and only as single origins, with no blends. The micro-roastery and the bakery share the Stuivenberg site in the former Stuivenberg hospital, where Tartoer holds public cuppings, roastery tours and community events and runs a take-away bar in summer. The bakery bakes by hand every day, mostly vegan, and the vegan cinnamon roll is its signature. Oat, soy, almond and coconut milk come at no extra charge.

Andy Roasters, Het Zuid and Berchem

Andy Roasters was started by the best friends Kjell and Dave, who ran their own coffee bars for five years before they began roasting at the Blikfabriek in Hoboken, in the middle of the pandemic. Two years later they opened the flagship store in Het Zuid, built on “Great coffee, amazing people and always the right tunes”. Andy buys from a select group of specialised traders across Europe, roasts light, and sorts its coffees into Not So Fruity, Fruity Washed and Fruity Unwashed, with a Pink Series for its most exclusive lots. Every Saturday, Andy’s Morning Show brings two DJs to the flagship for back-to-back sets, broadcast on We Are Various online radio. The second café, Café Betty, is in Berchem, with a bar and furniture by the Antwerp designer Nick Bal.

Rush Rush, Zurenborg

Rush Rush is run by Nanigui and Simon, who started out as baristas in different coffee shops; one of them turned to roasting and the other to cooking, and Simon finished second at the World AeroPress Championship in Vancouver. Rush Rush roasts light for fruity, floral flavours, with attention to traceability and seasonality, and most coffees come in separate filter and espresso roasts. Its café is in Zurenborg, Antwerp’s architectural neighbourhood, and serves the current coffees with seasonal dishes and home-made cakes and pastries. There are no reservations, and a Rush Rush glass jar of filter coffee can be refilled at the café without packaging.

Kasette Koffie, the historic centre

Kasette Koffie began as a mobile bar giving free coffee to healthcare workers through the pandemic winters, then moved into a former flower shop. The music comes only from vinyl, a DJ plays a live set on most Saturdays, and three chickens live in the courtyard garden. The coffee comes from Kolonel and a selection of guest roasters from around Europe, as espresso drinks or as pour-over from a large range of filter beans. The owner, Reuben Vermoet, bakes everything except the bread and the croissants, including a New York-style cheesecake served at weekends only.

Nordica 31, Brederode

Nordica 31 brings Nordic street food, coffee and house-baked sourdough together in a minimalist white room. Its founder, Lisa, travelled Europe for two years in a campervan and found the Nordic kitchen on her trips to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Canada. The coffee comes from UNCOMMON and from Scandinavian guest roasters such as La Cabra, Koppi, April, Coffee Collective and Drop, with a filter of the day from the guest roaster of the month. The kitchen makes smørrebrød on home-made Danish rye, cardamom and cinnamon buns, a Nordic hot dog on Wednesdays and sourdough pizzette on Thursdays. There are no reservations.

MONO Coffee, Berchem

MONO serves only single origins, and its coffees of the month are roasted by Assembly Coffee, an independent roaster in London, changing with the season. The house espresso stays the same all year: a red honey Catucai from Mio Fazenda in Monte Santo de Minas, Brazil. The hand-brew menu changes every three to four weeks and has two halves, a classic menu of familiar origins and processes and an experimental menu of rarer ones, with up to six coffees at once, each brewed on an Orea or an AeroPress. MONO has its own kitchen and bakery, and it takes no reservations.

What you need to know about Antwerp specialty coffee

Which Antwerp coffee shops roast their own coffee? Caffenation roasts at PAKT, Cuperus in Deurne, Normo in Borgerhout and Tartoer on the Stuivenberg site. Kolonel and Rush Rush roast for their own bars too, and Andy Roasters roasts at the Blikfabriek in Hoboken.

Which roasters do the other cafés pour? Kasette Koffie pours Kolonel and guest roasters from around Europe, Nordica 31 pours UNCOMMON and a Scandinavian guest roaster each month, and MONO pours Assembly Coffee from London.

Where can you eat as well? Kolonel’s two bars serve breakfast and lunch, Nordica 31 has Nordic breakfasts and smørrebrød, Rush Rush serves seasonal dishes, Cuperus Horsey and Cuperus Stark serve soup and focaccia, Kasette Koffie makes grilled cheese sandwiches, and Tartoer and Caffenation’s BLUE have their own bakeries.

Can you book a table? Kolonel takes reservations at both bars. Cuperus, Rush Rush, MONO and Nordica 31 do not.

Can you work on a laptop? Caffenation’s new flagship has a large upstairs room for laptop work, with extra outlets and free wifi, and asks guests to buy a drink every hour. Cuperus Horsey and Cuperus Stark have seats with sockets for working. Nordica 31 is not a co-working space, and at busy times laptops and meetings are not possible there.

Where are the plant-based options? Caffenation’s KOCO is a plant-based bar, and most of what Tartoer bakes is vegan, with plant-based milks at no extra charge.