Wakuli Bar

Wakuli Bar is a coffee bar located in Amsterdam-Oost. Public sources place the establishment on the Linnaeusstraat in the 1093 EP Amsterdam postal area. Several directories list Linnaeusstraat 237a as the address. The company describes the location as Wakuli’s first bar and as a small corner spot in Amsterdam-Oost.

Public sources name Yorick Bruins and Lukas Grosfeld as the founders of Wakuli. In a university publication, Grosfeld’s first name also appears as Lucas. According to a public business listing, Bruins previously worked as an agricultural consultant in East Africa. A publication from the University of Amsterdam reports that Grosfeld is an alumnus of Economics and Business and won the Isaac Roet Prize in 2018 with the business plan for Wakuli.

According to several public reports, the first Wakuli Bar opened in late September 2022 in Amsterdam-Oost. This gave the brand, which was already active as a coffee company, its own physical presence in the city. The bar fits into a concept where not only is coffee sold, but explanations regarding origin and flavor profiles are also provided. According to Wakuli, this is a key part of the coffee bar’s formula.

The name Wakuli is derived from wakulima, the Swahili word for farmers. The company links this name to a model aimed at shortening the chain between producer and consumer. Their own explanation states that this should better enable farmers to be paid for quality and to build independent, profitable, and future-proof coffee businesses.

The bar serves coffee from Wakuli itself. The company reports that it roasts its own coffee and ships it from its own roastery north of Amsterdam. This directly connects the bar to the broader brand and the assortment offered outside the physical location.

The publicly listed staple drinks include espresso, cappuccino, and filter coffee. Additionally, public materials refer to blends and single-origin coffees. Local press reported during the opening that customers could purchase coffee for home use in various forms, including whole beans, filter grind, and pods. This indicates an offering focused on both on-site consumption and home brewing.

Alongside the permanent menu, Wakuli lists seasonal drinks on their bar page. Publicly documented examples include the Tiramisu Latte and Chocolate Raspberry Cold Brew. These drinks complement the regular coffee selection and show that parts of the menu rotate with the seasons. The sources do not provide a full menu or a fixed rotation of specials.

Wakuli also documents workshops held at its Amsterdam coffee bars. The workshop page states that the company is starting with a coffee tasting workshop, with more formats to follow. A public post about the workshops mentions that these sessions last an hour and a half and are conducted in English. As such, the bar serves not only as a retail space but also plays an educational role in coffee cupping.

For the location on the Linnaeusstraat, the consulted sources do not document any permanent exhibitions, recurring tastings, or structural neighborhood partnerships. This does not mean such activities are absent, but rather that they were not concretely found in the reviewed public material.

Wakuli presents its sourcing model as direct and long-term. According to their own explanation, the company works with producer groups, cooperatives, and exporters through long-term relationships. Additionally, Wakuli states its goal to make all its coffee regenerative by 2028 at the latest. The phrasing describes an objective rather than a completed status.

The company also states that it does not use certified coffee as its sourcing model for origin. At the same time, Wakuli reports that 2022 was its first certification year via B Corp. Furthermore, the company indicates a desire to distance itself from the commodity coffee pricing model. Instead, Wakuli aims to agree on prices with producers in a way that makes incomes more predictable.

Public partner pages mention several origin relationships:

• Rebuild Women’s Hope in DR Congo
• Ontosoroh/Asnikom in Indonesië
• Coopervass in Brazilië
• Kata Muduga / Kolla Bolcha in Ethiopië

The opening of the first bar in Amsterdam-Oost gained attention in various business and local publications in September 2022. Additionally, the Linnaeusstraat location is listed in city and coffee guides. At a corporate level, Wakuli was publicly mentioned in 2022 as a December nominee for Coolest Dutch Brands and later as a finalist in that competition. These mentions speak to the brand’s visibility, but not directly to the daily operations of the bar.

Taken together, the public materials reveal a coffee bar that functions as an extension of a larger specialty coffee company. The establishment in Amsterdam-Oost combines classic coffee brews, rotating seasonal drinks, retail sales, and workshops. At the same time, their communication places a strong emphasis on origin, shortening the supply chain, and fair pricing agreements with producers. Based on the available sources, this forms the core of the Wakuli Bar profile.