ALBA specialty coffee opens on The Hague's Piet Heinstraat
Anne and Floortje are opening a 7 a.m. coffee bar in the Zeeheldenkwartier. The renovation was paid for by 108 investors through crowdfunding.
ALBA specialty coffee opens this winter at Piet Heinstraat 99 in The Hague’s Zeeheldenkwartier. The coffee bar is the work of Anne and Floortje, who are converting an empty shop with money from 108 investors. Their own website announces a soft launch in December; local food site De Buik van Den Haag still spoke of mid-November this week.
The two met while working at DeDAKKAS in Haarlem. At ALBA specialty coffee, Anne runs the coffee: she has spent more than eleven years behind an espresso machine. Floortje takes care of the kitchen. When they saw a ‘To Let’ sign in the window of the small building, the decision was quick.
The name is also a promise about opening hours. ‘ALBA means dawn: that first quiet moment of the day when everything is still open,’ the founders write. According to the website, the doors open at 7:00 on Mondays and from Wednesday to Friday, until 15:00. At weekends it is open from 9:00 to 16:00. On Tuesdays the bar is closed.
ALBA means dawn: that first quiet moment of the day when everything is still open.
How ALBA specialty coffee paid for the renovation
The money for building work, fittings and equipment came through the Dutch crowdfunding platform CrowdAboutNow. The minimum target was €75,000. When the campaign closed on 18 September it stood at €79,366 from 108 investors, an average of about €735 each. Anne and Floortje borrow at 4.5 percent interest a year and repay over 75 months, with the first year free of repayments. The €100,000 maximum, meant for extras such as a custom-built bar and an awning, was not reached.
Coffee, sourdough and granola in the Zeeheldenkwartier
The menu lists specialty coffee, freshly baked pastries and sourdough buns. The beans are not final yet, Anne told De Buik: probably a Rwandan coffee with notes of marzipan and chocolate on the first grinder, and a fruitier Ethiopian on the second. Batch brew will rotate between roasters. As a reference they name Morning Glory in Haarlem.
Floortje is working on a roast beef sandwich with a homemade sauce of dill, pickle and yoghurt, and on house granola. Prices have not been published. The interior will be warm, with a wall rug, plenty of fabric and wood. ‘The ambition is to know every guest by name,’ the two say.
That puts ALBA specialty coffee closer to the neighbourhood regular than to the coffee tourist. For a sense of the bar a new opening has to clear, see our list of the best coffee bars in Amsterdam.
The first repayment to investors is due in December 2027. Until then, the 7 a.m. coffee has to do the work.
