Text Jolien van Gaalen

koffieTcacao Magazine is always on the lookout for the hottest coffee, tea and cocoa spots.
Today we focus on: Coffee Together, Spijkerboorsteeg 18, Deventer (Netherlands).

Owners Tseard Ettema and Ton van Bussel have known each other for fifteen years. They both worked in the retail business and once a year they went on a trip looking for the latest trends in retail. Years ago on one of their trips they came across Starbucks.

Tseard: "If we are ever going to start something new, it will definitely be something to do with coffee!" An opportunity arose in 2013 and Tseard and Ton decided to go for it.

Raw industrial look

Their adventure began with a coffee barista course in Nijmegen. "We thought, no sweat, let’s just do this course and start our business, but during the course found out that it really is a profession." They passed their exams in June 2013 and opened their coffee bar in the Spijkerboor Lane.

Tseard: "We have deliberately chosen this place, because it is not surrounded by the better known shops and restaurants. Everything is so uniform in those areas and we like to consider ourselves to be different. Keywords for Coffee Together are: atmosphere and ambiance.

When it came to the interior, Tseard and Ton were quick to agree: most of all it should have a raw industrial look. Grey tables, visible tubes along the walls and an oak bar with a grey counter.
 

Take a book, leave a book

Inside the coffee bar you'll find a bookcase with the description: Take a book, leave a book.

The idea is that books are in constant rotation instead of slowly falling apart in an old cupboard. Once a month a mini-barista workshop is held by the Coffee Together team and on shopping nights Tseard and Ton organise painting and/or singer-songwriter nights.

Ton: "We always try and bring something new and are always active and in movement; that’s what it’s all about."
 
Machine: Faema Eblema
Grinder: Quamar
Coffee: Ten Have, Coffee Beans
Tea: van de Goede
Chocolate: Chocolatemakers, including the chocolate milk
Pie/cake: Ekoplaza , Thee met een taartje
Milk: Friesche Vlag
Soy: Alpro, lactose free also available
Specialty: Americano