tds.

tds. is a coffee bar inside Footnote Gallery in Ghent, run by Hanne and Kurt. A few years ago they quit their jobs, bought a van and travelled, and on the road their morning coffee became a ritual: comparing beans, roasters, brew methods and water, and measuring TDS, total dissolved solids, the share of the coffee that dissolves into the water. The number gave the bar its name. They choose roasters the way Manor Grunewald chooses the art at Footnote Gallery.

The bar always works with five roasters and changes the coffees every few months; when a coffee is gone, it is not restocked. The limited menu has a single-origin espresso, a decaf and three filter coffees, and the espresso also comes as an experience set: the same coffee black, with milk and as a creative drink. The daily menu keeps to espresso, americano, cortado, cappuccino, flat white, dirty and espresso tonic, made with a house blend. Recent roasters on the shelf have been Boo Coffee Roasters from Belgium, Nomad from Barcelona, Goût & Co from China, Tanat from France and Les Révélations, the French decaf roaster.

Bags are sold whole bean only, never ground. When a batch arrives, part goes on the shelf and part into the freezer, and frozen bags carry the date they went in. Table sessions are private and hosted at the bar’s table for up to six guests, for about two hours, in Dutch or English, built around tasting, brewing, pairing coffee with food or a question of the guests’ own, much like an omakase counter.

Photograph: tds.