another commercial machine we happened to find in a second-hand shop...it was gone the next day.

so we went for a little trip to utrecht the other day and managed to find a few little coffee making machines.

this was a cute old school electric coffee perculator! love the ceramic top on it.

in a simon levelt store, we found this atom-looking stove top perculator (not sure if it was or not)...oh it looked lovely.

we haven't posted in a while because basically, we haven't been out for coffee and have been drinking away with out little stovetop perculator (just a little experiment at the moment- better to have cheap ok tasting coffee than to spend big bucks on bad coffee).

we thought we'd start up a bit of a regular post as they come along of pictures we find of advertised coffees that look...well, really not that apetising.

today's pic features: 80's foam! i guess some people might like 80's dishwasher foam but if a coffee came out looking like this, i wouldnt be too excited.

a theory we have developed over the years is that if a barista/cafe cares about their coffee enough to have good milk and going further, latte art, you have high chances of getting a decent coffee. don't care about milk, don't care about the coffee. not always the case, but mostly. thoughts?

The Square is set in a big, sunny (if you're lucky) courtyard near the Binnenhof. It is a bar with a small lunch menu. The coffee we ordered was not so lekker. Very frothy and bubbly milk that we had to dig through to find the coffee. Luckily it was there, underneath all that bubble. On tasting, it was not the treasure at the bottom we'd hoped for. Quite bitter and burnt. Shame.

In a phrase: probably try the rest of the cafe's around the courtyard before going back.

The Baklust is a nice looking cafe near a canal. Organic with a tasty looking menu. No seats by the canal unfortunately, only a road. But inside is nice and the service is friendly. Decked out with enough space and reading material to have a relaxed cafe session. The coffee is nothing to return for however. Bubbly milk and not a great shot.

In a phrase: nice cafe, but the coffee is not an attraction.

we have had two days of coffee machine finds! the first one was in a 2nd hand store in Den Haag...and we decided that it probably wasnt a "true" espresso machine after giving it a look over. so we left it there.

the second one, we were walking down the road and caught a glimpse of it in a skip. we asked the owner what the deal was with it and he said that it didnt work- and to fix it, it would cost at least 500 euros. so we left that one there too.

I guess this would be more for the tea drinkers, but found this great cup on designmilk and thought it was quite sweet and would keep your cuppa hot. In Vietnam a few months ago, we were given our cups of coffee with the cups sitting in a bowl of hot water- to keep it hot. Not that keeping things hot in Vietnam was ever a problem...

In beautiful Delft, this place had a sign advertising itself as the "lekkerste" coffee in Delft. Although this kind of advertisement does not necessarily equate with good coffee, we thought we'd give it a go.

On ordering at the bar, first impressions were good. The shots looked nice and the milk smooth. The coffee's we received were good. The milk, although not shiny, was smooth; and the shot was ok, though slightly overdone.

First impressions of this place point towards decent coffee, as we noted in the preparations. So another visit will probably occur soon.

In a phrase: hopefully a good find.

Headed for the Grote Markt again, hoping for a nice cup at De Zwarte Ruiter. Unfortunately it was closed on Monday morning. So we tried the place opposite: De Boterwaag. Seating was either outside in the shared sunny courtyard or inside. Inside is a big open old factory type thing with high ceilings. Looked cool.

The coffee, thankfully after setting our minds on a good cup, was very nice. The coffee was strong and nice, but maybe a little over-extracted. The milk was silky smooth as well. Its amazing what good milk can do.

In a phrase: well worth a return.

De Klap is a Cafe/Restaurant situated outside the main city centre. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, it has both inside and outside dining areas. The coffee was nice and strong and the milk ok. Nothing extremely special about the experience but it was decent enough to plan a return.

In a phrase: nice setting, average coffee but better than most.

A place that does its milk right. De Zwarte Ruiter is set in a nice sunny (if the weathers good) courtyard in the centre of The Hague. The coffee was ok, not fantastic, but nice. The milk was smooth, silky and shiny. Yay! Not much froth on the Cappucino but from the first cup at this place it'll be worth returning.

In a phrase: silky milk, a decent cup and worth returning.

If you have the time check out this footage of Gwilym Davies, the World Barista Champion 2009. This video is from his set at the UK Barista Championships. Be warned, it goes for 20 minutes.

Click here to watch.

We were watching some vids on latte art. Ahhh shiny milk and a beautiful looking coffee.

Dudok is a classy looking establishment in the centre of the city. Regularly attended by the politicians and so forth that frequent Den Haag. With this in mind we were expecting near our best cup. Unfortunately it looked very average. The coffee itself tasted ok, but not fantastic. The milk, on the other hand was once again frothed up like dishwashing water. Not a great coffee experience.

In a phrase: expected more.