Museumwinkel De Witte Os

More About Museumwinkel De Witte Os

Museumwinkel De Witte Os is part of Museum Joure and is located at Midstraat 97 in Joure. The museum describes the shop as the oldest Douwe Egberts shop in the country. According to the museum, the broader Douwe Egberts history at this location dates back to 1753, referring to the origins of the coffee and tea business in Joure.

The name De Witte Os is linked to Johannes Hessel de Jong. In 1871, he purchased the shop next to the family home and named it De Witte Os. The current museum context developed later. The predecessor of Museum Joure, Stichting Johannes Hesselhuis, opened on July 1, 1976, in the former Douwe Egberts warehouse on Geelgietersstraat. Museum Joure now consists of ten buildings.

Historical shop and museum roastery

Today, De Witte Os functions as a museum shop within a heritage environment. There is no publicly documented founding year for the current coffee roastery, nor is there a public list of founders or a specific motive for the contemporary roasting activities. Consequently, available information focuses primarily on the historical shop, the Douwe Egberts legacy, and the role of Museum Joure.

The coffee is produced in a traditional museum roastery. Sipke de Schiffart is the publicly named coffee roaster, who previously worked as a blender at Douwe Egberts. According to available information, he manages the purchase of green coffee or works with green coffee provided as a gift from Douwe Egberts. He roasts the coffee together with two volunteers.

Equipment and methodology

The roaster in the museum comes from the sample room of Douwe Egberts. This roaster was donated to Museum Joure and found a place in the Kadehuis. A local press release from 2015 regarding Batavia 1753 identifies the machine as a Probat coffee roaster. The report also mentions that the coffee was roasted in small batches within the museum.

There is little public information available regarding the technical side of the roasting process. Current roast profiles, batch sizes, roaster capacity, and quality control software are not publicly documented. As a result, the description of the roasting practice remains limited to the historical equipment, the people involved, and the small-scale museum setting.

Coffee Selection

The documented coffee selection consists of Ouwe Douwe, Pittige Weduwe, and Batavia 1753. All three are available as whole beans and ground coffee. Ouwe Douwe is described as an Arabica blend from Kenya, Colombia, and Central America, while Pittige Weduwe is described as a blend from Brazil, Central America, and Colombia.

Batavia 1753 is described as a Single Origin Specialty from the region around Bandung in Indonesia. The name refers to the year 1753 and to Batavia, or Jakarta, as a historical port for coffee transport. This range aligns with the historical narrative that Museum Joure presents regarding Douwe Egberts.

In addition to coffee, the webshop lists loose teas and gift sets. Examples include Zomerthee, Jouster griene tee, Jouster Winterthee, Earl grey, Citroenthee, and Jasmijnthee. Gift packages such as Jouster Punt, De Molenaar, Jouster Doaske, Pompebled, De Flecke, and De Vegelin are also listed on the form.

Origin and Supply Chain Information

Publicly available origin information mentions Kenya, Colombia, Brazil, Central America, and Indonesia. For Batavia 1753, the area around Bandung is mentioned separately. Further supply chain information is not publicly detailed. Names of farms, cooperatives, importers, contract types, FOB prices, and traceability documents are not publicly documented.

The 2024 annual report states that the procurement prices for green coffee beans, tea, and confectionery rose. The report does not mention any green coffee suppliers. Furthermore, coffee-specific certifications, packaging materials, waste policies, and carbon data are not publicly recorded. However, Museum Joure does describe the sustainability efforts regarding the buildings within the museum complex.

Sales, capacity, and museum cafe

The coffee, tea, and gift sets are sold via an online order form and in Museumwinkel De Witte Os. The form mentions a limit of seven bags of coffee per order. This limit is due to the limited capacity of the museum’s roasters. Orders received before Wednesday 12:00 PM are delivered or handed over to the postal service on Thursday or Friday.

The 2024 annual report mentions that items from De Witte Os can be paid for at the central VVV and museum desk, as well as within De Witte Os itself. Wholesale, external points of sale, and subscription models are not publicly documented. Consequently, visible sales seem primarily linked to the museum and its own ordering route.

Museumcafe De Tunkeamer is accessible via De Witte Os, via Midstraat 99, and via the Museumstraat side. The cafe is located in the former garden rooms of the De Jong family and has a terrace on Museumstraat. The public menu includes, among other things, ham and cheese toasties, cheese toasties, and slices of suikerbole.

Public, team, and activities

The Koffieproeverij is part of the Douwe Egberts presentation. Visitors prepare and taste various types of coffee and learn how the flavor changes as the coffee cools. In 2024, coffee workshops were also given by former blender Sipke during Open Museum Maand. Additionally, the annual report estimated approximately 8,500 non-museum visitors visited the museum cafe in 2024.

The organization surrounding De Witte Os relies heavily on volunteers. According to the annual report, the De Witte Os working group consists of about fifteen people, each working two or more half-days per week. A smaller group of about three craft volunteers regularly roast coffee for sale and provide demonstrations. Iris Nutma is publicly listed as the director of the overarching foundation.

No coffee-specific awards have been publicly documented for the coffees from De Witte Os. However, the renewed exhibition Thuis bij Douwe Egberts received media attention in 2025. Previous regional reporting covered, among other things, Batavia 1753 and the role of Sipke de Schiffart within Museum Joure’s makers series.

Disclaimer: We do our best to keep all information in this article as accurate as possible. Have you come across something that is no longer quite correct? Send a message to the editorial team at [email protected] and we'll update it!