Full Circle Coffee, Ghent

Full Circle Coffee started with Ezra, who learned the trade as a barista and roaster and then ran pop-up coffee bars in Ghent for several years in a row. As the crowds grew he needed a permanent home, and the bar in Zuid opened in 2016. Everything on the menu is vegan: milk drinks are made with Oatly oat milk or TipToh pea milk, and the donuts, cakes and other sweets are plant-based too.

Since August 2021 the coffee has been roasted in the Zuid bar itself, on a Probat that stands in plain view by the entrance. The team uses its own beans for both espresso and filter and roasts no blends. The espresso goes into americanos, cappuccinos, flat whites, lattes and seasonal maple and pumpkin spice lattes, and a special double espresso rotates at the barista’s choice. Filter coffee is brewed by hand on V60 at Zuid and as batch brew at Astrid, served black only, without milk or sugar. Matcha, golden, pink beetroot and ube lattes, chai and hot chocolate sit alongside.

The second bar, Full Circle Astrid, opened in November 2022 near Gent-Sint-Pieters station, with white brick walls, petrol, mustard and bronze seating and a La Marzocco on a concrete bar the team poured themselves. Dogs are welcome, there is a dog bar, and regulars can end up with their photo on the wall. Beans are sold on the shelf, at the bar and online, ground to order for moka pot, Chemex or V60, and wholesale is available. The current retail range is listed below with the roaster’s own tasting notes.