Plein 10

Plein 10 is a lunch café and coffee bar in the center of Assen. The venue is located at ’t Forum 10, near the Koopmansplein. Public information also uses Forum 10 as the address. This places the location in the core area of the city, where hospitality, shops, and public use of the square converge.

The exact opening date is not publicly recorded in the available material. However, Plein 10 notes that the venue has a history of more than twenty years. Local information about Assen also mentions an existence of more than two decades. The founders are not documented in the investigated information. In 2013, Bert Erkelens was named as the owner.

The public concept of Plein 10 revolves around lunch, coffee with pastries, drinks, and a terrace with a view of the Koopmansplein. The interior is described as a combination of industrial and atmospheric elements. The venue also uses the term “living room feel.” In practical terms, this means that Plein 10 presents itself not only as a coffee location but also as a lunch café with daytime hospitality.

Plein 10 lists Beukenhorst Koffie as its coffee supplier. The available information does not specify which blend or coffee concept from this supplier is used. As a result, it can only be confirmed that the coffee comes from Beukenhorst, not which origin, branding, or blend the establishment serves.

The publicly available drink menu from March 2026 lists various coffee drinks. These include espresso, coffee, cappuccino, Dutch coffee, latte macchiato, and flat white. The menu also features choco coffee, chai latte, fresh mint tea, and fresh ginger tea. Additionally, it mentions flavor additions for coffee and cold preparations such as iced coffee and frappé.

A notable part of the menu is the group of so-called indulgent coffees. These are cappuccino variants with syrups such as caramel, chocolate, hazelnut, vanilla, and cookie. The menu also mentions toppings. These drinks place Plein 10 partly in a broader café tradition, where coffee drinks are combined with sweet additions.

Manual brewing methods are not documented in the available material. No public mentions were found of filter coffee, pour-over, AeroPress, Chemex, or cold brew. In 2013, it was reported that Plein 10 was not in the jury selection of the Koffie Top 100, as businesses with a fully automatic machine were excluded from that ranking at the time.

Plein 10’s own sustainability or sourcing vision regarding coffee is not publicly described in the examined information. Therefore, there is no basis for making statements about their own criteria for origin, certification, or direct trade. However, there is information available about the supplier Beukenhorst Koffie.

Beukenhorst Koffie describes itself as a roaster of its own coffee and mentions various coffee concepts. These include Beukenhorst Classic, Sento Rainforest Alliance, and Mondrian Espresso. The supplier also mentions sustainability practices, such as references to Rainforest Alliance, origin countries like Guatemala, Brazil, and Kenya, shipping by sea, and measures regarding energy use.

In addition, Beukenhorst mentions green electricity in the roastery, more efficient packaging, and the recycling of coffee machine parts via Wecycle. These points serve as information about the supplier. They cannot be translated into Plein 10’s own policy without further data.

Plein 10 states that it is a recognized apprenticeship business. Stagemarkt lists Lunchcafé Plein 10 with Apprenticeship ID 100153773 at the address Forum 10 in Assen. The registered recognitions relate to, among other things, service assistance, practice-oriented routes, and hospitality-related qualifications.

This registration indicates a role in professional practice formation. For the hospitality sector, this is relevant because cafés and lunch spots often provide a place where students learn work processes. In 2019, Ronnie Gankema of Lunchcafé Plein 10 was named a finalist for a regional master apprentice title in the North of the Netherlands.

There is also a public mention of Mamacafé Assen at Plein 10. According to the available information, this takes place every third Friday of the month from 10:00 to 11:30, starting on Friday, February 20. Other workshops, tastings, or exhibitions organized by Plein 10 are not documented in the available material.

In 2013, Plein 10 in Assen won the Public Prize associated with the Koffie Top 100. 1,909 votes were mentioned in connection with this. At the same time, it was noted that the establishment was not in the jury ranking itself, due to the then-current exclusion of businesses with a fully automatic machine.

Local and regional listings place Plein 10 in overviews of coffee bars, lunch spots, and hospitality venues in Assen. The picture that emerges from the available information is that of a long-established daytime café with coffee as a staple part of the offering. For those following the specialty coffee sector, the limited public information regarding brewing methods, blend selection, and origin is particularly relevant. This information determines how far the coffee side of Plein 10 can actually be assessed.