Our story
Born from
a single conviction.
“Coffee, at its best, is not a commodity. It is a landscape, a season, a pair of hands you'll never shake. We wanted to build a place that honours all of that.”
How it began
A canal-side café,
five years in the making.
Marieke spent three years managing specialty cafés in Melbourne before returning to Amsterdam with a single ambition: to open the most thoughtfully sourced café the city had ever seen. Daan, an architect with a long-standing obsession with roasting, joined her the week she signed the lease on Keizersgracht.
They named the place Bliksem — lightning — because that's what a perfect cup feels like. A bolt. Sudden clarity. The world sharpened for a moment.
Five years later, the team has grown to seventeen people. The lease is signed for another decade. And the coffee, we'd argue, has never been better.
What we believe
“Slowness is not inefficiency.
It is the whole point.”
How we work
01
Obsessive Sourcing
We visit every farm we work with. We cup hundreds of lots each season. Only when a coffee moves us does it make it onto the menu.
02
Unhurried Service
A good cup takes time. We won't rush yours. Pull up a chair, take your coat off — this is your hour.
03
Honest Craft
No shortcuts, no automated machines, no powders. Everything is made by hand, by people who care deeply about what they're making.
Come as you are