NL The Social Hub Amsterdam City combines a hotel, student housing, workspaces, and hospitality. The article describes the coffee offering, events, suppliers, and sustainability information, distinguishing between location-specific data and group-wide claims.
About The Social Hub Amsterdam City
History and Concept
The Social Hub Amsterdam City is located at Wibautstraat 129 in Amsterdam-Oost. The location is not an independently established coffee bar, but a mixed hospitality concept with multiple functions. The building contains hotel rooms, student housing, workspaces, meeting rooms, event spaces, and various hospitality facilities. The coffee bar is part of the work café, restaurant, and bar environment on the ground floor.
The complex is housed in the former offices and printing house of the newspapers Trouw and Het Parool. The building was renovated into a facility featuring 571 rooms, restaurants, coworking spaces, and shared amenities. The official opening took place on April 15, 2016. No specific opening date for the coffee counter has been publicly recorded.
The location originally operated under the name The Student Hotel Amsterdam City. In October 2022, the company changed its name to The Social Hub. According to the company, the new name was chosen to better reflect the mixed-use nature of the locations. The target audience includes not only students and hotel guests, but also local residents, entrepreneurs, and flexible workers.
Charlie MacGregor founded the parent company and remains the general director. He also established the support organization Movement on the Ground in 2015. Under this concept, accommodation, work, food, drink, and organized activities are all brought under one roof. The coffee provision is thus part of a broader function for meeting and staying.
Coffee and Brewing
The public menu from 2025 lists Moyee Coffee as the coffee supplier. The selection includes espresso, double espresso, americano, espresso macchiato, cappuccino, and flat white. Latte macchiato and caffè latte are also on the menu. The drinks can be served cold and are available with oat, soy, or coconut milk alternatives.
The menu exclusively documents preparations based on espresso. Other brewing methods, such as pour-over, batch brew, French press, AeroPress, Chemex, or siphon, are not mentioned. Additionally, the specific Moyee blend used, the origin of the beans, branding, and the espresso machine are not publicly described. As a result, a substantive assessment of the specific coffee profile based on available data is not possible.
In addition to coffee, the location serves hot chocolate, loose-leaf tea, and fresh mint or ginger tea. Fleur de Café supplies the tea. The menu also mentions a cold matcha latte with coconut and mango. Schulp is listed as the juice supplier. These mentions highlight supplier relationships but provide no information regarding individual certifications.
Community and Events
The hospitality spaces are part of a location where gatherings take place regularly. The available spaces include a theater, meeting rooms, a lobby, and zones for food and drink. These are used for seminars, workshops, presentations, receptions, and private dinners. According to a publication from November 2024, local residents also use the bar and restaurant.
In 2022, Amsterdam City was an official Pride Hotel during Amsterdam Pride. The program included workshops, Pride University lectures, and gatherings on diversity and inclusion. During Pride Amsterdam 2023, the location functioned as The Pride Hub. There, among other things, lectures, panel discussions, a masterclass, and a group singing workshop took place.
The first Better Society Academy was also organized at this location in 2023. According to the company, 27 LGBTQIA+ activists and professionals from various European countries participated in this three-day program. Additionally, the building has served as a polling station during elections. Public coffee tastings, barista lessons, or workshops on brewing methods have not been documented.
Sustainability and origin
The Social Hub has been collaborating with Moyee Coffee at the group level since 2019. The company reported that 156,000 euros had been invested in African farming communities within this partnership. It was also stated that 141 farmers had been supported in closing the gap to a living income. These figures apply to the entire partnership and are not broken down for Amsterdam City specifically.
Moyee calls its trading model FairChain. According to the supplier, a portion of the coffee is processed and roasted in producing countries, including Ethiopia and Kenya. Moyee also claims to work directly with farmers, provide agricultural training, and use coffee from tree-rich, biodiverse areas. However, the menu in Amsterdam contains no separate information that allows the served beans to be traced back to a specific farm or region.
The parent company achieved B Corp certification in October 2024. This certification applies to the group and not individually to the coffee bar in Amsterdam. No public data has been found regarding coffee-specific prices, national rankings, or recognition at barista competitions. The available recognition primarily relates to the total hospitality concept, social programs, and the building's role in Amsterdam-Oost.