An unfiltered look at Belgium’s colonial history + specialty-coffee culture in the country’s capital.
BY ISABELLE MANI
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Photos by Isabelle Mani unless otherwise noted
Before coffee became an espresso served in a Dansaert café or a handmade pourover brew prepared beside the Brussels canal—or before the city became the host of World of Coffee Europe 2026, which took place late last month, Belgium had long served as one of coffee’s major gateways into Europe.
The country’s relationship with coffee is built on centuries of port commerce, colonial history, and warehousing. Belgium maintains a uniquely logistical profile: 66% of the green coffee arriving at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges—Europe’s largest by stocking capacity—is ultimately re-exported.
The country competes directly with Germany for first place in EU green coffee re-exports and is an epicenter for major global trading houses.
You can read more about the current state of the European coffee market in my coverage of World of Coffee Europe 2026.
Belgians are coffee drinkers and specialty fans
Belgium sustains a mature, high-consumption domestic market with a growing community of independent cafés. According to a map created by OK Coffee Studio and launched during WOC week, Brussels has around 90 locations serving specialty coffee, comprising a mix of top-tier cafes, micro-roasteries, bakeries, and unique cultural spots featuring high-quality coffee concepts.
Although consumption volumes are largely steady, Belgians are spending more on coffee.
This growth in value is largely driven by premiumisation, as consumers trade up to whole-bean coffee, better brews, and specialty café drinks.
Brussels’ expanding specialty scene reflects how picky Belgians are about coffee quality: More than half say their office coffee falls short—which is a big deal in a country where over 80% of coffee is consumed at work.
Coffee and colonial legacy
Coffee began entering the urban consumer culture of the territories that now constitute Belgium (then part of the Southern Netherlands), particularly at the beginning of the eighteenth century. But unfortunately, Belgium’s coffee history cannot be separated from its colonial relationship with Central Africa.
During the colonial period, coffee cultivation was developed and expanded in the Belgian Congo, particularly in the eastern regions around Lake Kivu, as well as in Rwanda.
This was a territory first claimed as the personal possession of the Belgian monarch Leopold II through the so-called “Congo Free State”—a violent colonial regime built on forced labor and extraction that caused the deaths of an estimated 10 million Congolese people.
Belgium formally annexed the territory in 1908, transforming it into the Belgian Congo.
The Congo Basin and the Lake Kivu region are also pointed to by researchers working in genetics and archaeobotany as one of the major cradles of the Coffea genus, particularly Coffea canephora, which originated across western and central sub-Saharan Africa.
Long before Congolese independence in 1960—and before the wars that would later devastate what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo—Belgian colonial institutions had already played an outsized role in turning Canephora into a global plantation crop through extraction rather than local agronomic reinvestment, at a time when Arabica plantations were collapsing under coffee leaf rust.
That history is not confined to the past. In Belgium, it is already being revisited through debates over education, public monuments, restitution, and the responsibilities of government and cultural institutions.
For this article, I spoke with my friend and Brussels coffee professional Paulien Vandebeek, whose trajectory has developed alongside the city’s rapidly expanding specialty scene.
While she acknowledges that many people still navigate the coffee industry through different balances of profit and purpose—“in different shades of the scale,” as she puts it—Paulien also recognises a generational shift. People are becoming more critical of Belgium’s history, its present, and their own role within both.
Having only recently recognised the impact of her own position, she now wants to use it. “I am going for it and want to be a voice for our generation,” says Paulien.
In coffee, that historical awareness shapes how this generation understands the trade today: where coffee comes from, how value circulates, and who benefits.
Reading Brussels with a local
Paulien has worked within the Brussels coffee scene for more than five years. After a brief period with a commercial coffee company, she joined MOK as a full-time barista in 2021. A year and a half later, she became a roaster, eventually taking responsibility for buying and curating coffee for the company.
“Brussels has held very high quality coffee standards since the first coffee bars popped up,” she says. “The most well-known and acclaimed roasteries and bars arrived first and set the tone, so people got adjusted to this standard and never seemed to settle for less afterwards.”
For Paulien, the continuing arrival of new cafés has not yet produced saturation. Instead, she believes it can make specialty coffee less exclusive. “Specialty needs to be on every corner to be inclusive, accessible, and the obvious choice,” says Paulien.
The industry is also opening up more to consumers, she says, allowing personal preferences back into the café rather than pushing for a single “correct way to drink coffee.”
These are the four cafés I recommend visiting while in Brussels.
Berns Coffee
Square Sainctelette 8, Brussels
Berns Coffee does not present itself as a super polished specialty-coffee concept—and that’s precisely its most charming trait. Its official profile describes a changing selection of coffees and a space shared with the wider creative environment of Vitesse Lab since 2023.
“The menu is a personal and not a commercial choice, and the interior and design are alive and a work in progress. It is impossible not to leave this place inspired and refreshed,” says Paulien.
I absolutely agree. Also, what great coffee. I had a great time there, and luckily for me, it was tiramisu (locally made) night.
MOK Coffee – Dansaert
Antoine Dansaertstraat/Rue Antoine Dansaert 196, Brussels
MOK has been roasting coffee since 2012 and currently operates three coffee bars in Belgium: its original café in Leuven, MOK Dansaert, and MOK Studio, a listening bar in Brussels. The company’s approach is through seasonality, traceability, and small-batch roasting.
I really liked the diversity of its offerings, the professionalism and openness of the staff, and the food offerings at its Dansaert store (the vegetarian menu is full of tasty options).
Jackie
Chaussée de Charleroi 203, Saint-Gilles, Brussels
Opened in 2021, Jackie brings together specialty coffee and a welcoming space to read, supporting independent journalism and creativity.
Its walls are packed with independent magazines covering everything from politics to cycling, while the ground floor works as a shared coffee salon and the upstairs as a co-working space that also hosts events.
“Go by bike if you want to score some points with Gilles, the owner,” Paulien says.
Bouche Namur
Rue de Namur 4, Brussels
Opened in 2021, Bouche Namur is a must-stop for specialty coffee enthusiasts, locals and visitors alike. Recommended to me by several friends, it combines precise brewing with a warm, welcoming atmosphere—a classic third place where you can chill.
In a country where people take great pride in their pâtisserie, Bouche pairs that tradition with carefully brewed specialty coffee.
Honorable mentions
Wide Awake: A Brussels roaster with three cafés (Saint-Catherine, Flagey, and Dansaert) known for its long-term producer relationships and data-driven approach to roasting.
Fika: A Nordic-inspired neighbourhood café in Ixelles, known for its homemade kanelbullar and quiet back garden.
Addis Stories: A café devoted entirely to seasonal, single-origin Ethiopian coffees roasted by MOK, alongside Ethiopian food, crafts, and traditional Jebena coffee ceremonies.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Isabelle Mani (she/her) is a writer, journalist, and communicator specializing in the international coffee industry. Since 2017, she has focused on writing articles and features for various international coffee news outlets. Isabelle has traveled to coffee-producing countries such as Colombia, Kenya, Rwanda, China, and Brazil to study and research coffee. She holds training certifications from the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) and the Coffee Quality Institute (Arabica Q Grading).
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