The Story
Friedhats was founded in 2016 by Lex Wenneker and Dylan Sedgwick, two friends whose paths converged through Amsterdam’s coffee scene. Lex, now recognized around the world thanks to his multiple victories as Dutch Barista and Brewer Champion, as a kid did not want to become a barista. He dreamed of becoming a lawyer, or a pro-climber.
His coffee journey began around 2010 when he fell in love with espresso while brewing on a manual lever machine at home. By 2011, he founded De Espressobus, an old school Citroen HY food truck that he travelled around in, brewing coffee at festivals and events. Around the same time, Lex started roasting his own coffee and he opened a coffee roaster and espresso-bar in Amsterdam, Headfirst Coffee Roasters.
Dylan Sedgwick’s journey began differently. Originally from New Zealand, he travelled to many places and through many jobs (including a degree in Human Resource Management) until he stumbled upon Amsterdam, where he was dreaming of a career in music and sound production. It was early 2014 when Dylan got his first cafe job, working for Headfirst Coffee Roasters, where he met Lex.
After a while, Headfirst closed its doors only to let Lex and Dylan start a new crazy dream: open a brand new roastery called Friedhats. Friedhats, which is an anagram of Head First, opened in 2016 to great anticipation.
Meanwhile, Lex established himself as one of the world’s elite baristas — winning Dutch Barista Championships in 2015, 2016, and 2018, finishing 6th at the 2016 World Barista Championship, and achieving second place at the 2018 World Barista Championship in Amsterdam. He is twice a finalist at World Barista Championship and he won second place at World Barista Champion 2018 in Amsterdam.
In September 2018, Friedhats opened its first cafe - FUKU - located in Bos en Lommer in the west of Amsterdam.
Sourcing & Relationships
Friedhats sources coffee through a dual approach: all coffees are sourced directly from the producers and from trusted importers around Europe.
Despite the industry trend of promoting direct trade as inherently superior, Friedhats procures most of its coffees from importers, explaining that “the problem with direct trade is that it requires a lot of work and effort, and it is not necessarily more beneficial than buying from importers. We can’t buy all lots and all producers’ coffees at once by ourselves and this reduces the benefits for the producers as well.”
Their approach emphasizes long-term relationships: “We try to choose the same people to work with as much as possible. We connect with the producers and if we like what we see, we buy the same coffees from the same farm every year because the producers also influence the taste of the coffee.”
Notable partnerships include Cafe Granja la Esperanza, which “has been one of our favourite producers for Super Special coffees for years. Their ability to produce such complex, high quality cups across their farms is no easy feat.”
Sustainability at Friedhats is treated as “a process for us not a buzz word without any substance. That means we are not perfect and we admit that, but we are always searching for better solutions to make our products have less impact on the environment and everything living in it.”
They source coffee based on flavour, roasting it to accentuate its natural characteristics.
Roasting Philosophy
Friedhats maintains a distinctive roasting philosophy rooted in personal expression rather than mass appeal. As Lex explains: “We wanted to continue what we were doing at Headfirst, where we roasted coffee the way we liked it. The safe option would be to roast coffee that everyone likes, but we always wanted to put something from ourselves into the coffee.”
This philosophy extends to their business approach: “We don’t want to get so caught up in marketing that we neglect the quality of our coffee. The reason our products are selling well is our products themselves are ‘promoting sales’ and it’s not because of the success in our marketing.”
As a micro roastery based in Amsterdam, they focus on “sourcing and roasting the best, most interesting coffee we can find,” with an emphasis on “roasting it to accentuate its natural characteristics.”
Friedhats Coffee in Amsterdam is known for its bold, variety-focused roasts and innovative packaging, setting them apart in the specialty coffee scene. Their roasting style accommodates both filter and espresso preparations through their omni-roast approach.
The roastery works with innovative processing methods, including extensive fermentation processes like EF2, where “Sebastian begins with the cherries fermenting openly for 24 hours before moving into sealed grainpro bags for 50 hours, kept below 22 degrees for the duration of the fermentation, before being dried on raised beds. This processing helps deliver the signature cane sugar sweetness and syrupy body of this Gesha.”
What to Try
Friedhats is particularly renowned for their Gesha offerings, with their “Super Special Sampler Box” featuring “three different Geshas from three different origins.”
Their Colombian Gesha from Las Margaritas farm represents the pinnacle of their craft — “sitting at 1570 - 1850 masl in Valle del Cauca” with “boozy, funky, tropical” characteristics that make it clear “this isn’t your mother’s Gesha.”
Their Panama Geshas are equally impressive, offering “fruity, floral, candy like finish” that showcases “extremely high quality Gesha’s.”
The Sudan Rume holds special significance at Friedhats — Lex remembers first tasting it years ago: “I was cupping some coffee’s for competition, and this coffee was just astonishing… One of those varieties stood out. Sudan Rume.” They describe it as having “extreme bright floral and herbal notes of this super clean natural coffee.”
Their Colombian Geisha has been particularly well-received, with reviewers noting it as “outstanding” with “many tropical characters, a midpalate funk that is pretty watermelon, and a restrained jasmine rose.”
Friedhats’ distinctive bottle packaging serves both functional and aesthetic purposes — their bottles are “meant to be reused, refilled, and recycled,” while featuring “fun, eye-catching design packed with colourful illustrations.”
Uniquely, their labels highlight only “Country and variety” rather than the typical extensive coffee details, reflecting their confidence in the coffee speaking for itself.
At their FUKU cafe, they serve “Super Special, competition grade coffees” including “experimental processes, Gesha varieties and more funky/boozy flavours than you can handle.”