The Story
Lot Sixty One was founded in 2013 by Adam Craig and Paul Jenner, two Australian childhood friends who relocated to Amsterdam after establishing successful cafés in New York City, including the acclaimed Culture Espresso in NYC’s fashion-garment district.
After spending 15 years in NYC where he set up and ran 3 coffee bars, all recognized in the New York Times as ‘one of the best’, Adam decided it was time for a new adventure and moved to Europe with his wife.
Adam chose Amsterdam’s Kinkerstraat in the multicultural Oud West area because the shopping street reminded him of Brooklyn.
They settled their specialty coffee roastery in the up-and-coming Kinkerstraat, which has arguably come into its own within the city – largely thanks to their much-needed boost to Amsterdam’s coffee culture, rapidly growing the Amsterdam third-wave coffee scene.
By 2017, the roasting operation moved to its own location in an industrial unit in Amsterdam’s old lumber harbour, while the original Kinkerstraat location became primarily a café, though they also opened a second branch inside Urban Outfitters on Kalverstraat.
Sourcing & Relationships
Lot Sixty One made a decision about 2-3 years ago to have relationships with producers who practice “poly farming” that cultivates a variety of produce, believing that “the beauty of poly farming is you can regenerate the soil by growing a variety of crops such as coffee, palm trees, and cacti in one place” with complex stories and good partnerships with producers based on trust, stating “we believe that sustainably sourced coffee is good coffee.”
The roaster has developed a Responsible Purchasing Policy that ensures they pay specific attention to the entire coffee supply chain from cultivation, sourcing, picking, processing, all the way through to shipping, with all coffee being Direct Trade where farmers are paid a premium high price for their efforts in growing superior, high quality, ethical, organic and sustainable coffee.
Their sourcing starts with buying the best quality green beans fresh from the current harvest season, which are hand roasted on their Probat roaster to celebrate the unique flavours of the coffee produced by the farmer.
In 2020, they made investments in structuring their business to maintain their underlying sustainable principles, conducting a circularity assessment, upgrading logistics and process systems, and becoming a certified B-corp as a small specialty coffee roaster inherently focused on giving back to the community.
Roasting Philosophy
Lot Sixty One hand roasts beans on their Probat roaster to celebrate the unique flavours of the coffee produced by the farmer, rejecting the approach of “pushing a button and serving a cup of coffee to a customer” – instead their baristas deliver world class drinks on a consistent basis as educators, innovators current with all brew methods.
They focus on doing what they do brilliantly and with love for their craft, roasting a refined selection of coffee that comes from ethical sources from farms characterized by ecological and social sustainability, with their goal being to realize the vision by following the desire to discover and be the best.
The original café featured a commanding view of their 12kg Probat coffee roaster, described as “a beautiful piece of German engineering that a lot of other specialty coffee shop owners would trade their grandmothers in for.”
LOT61 positions itself as far more than just a coffee shop and roaster – they are educators, innovators and specialists in reducing the carbon footprint from seed to cup, with their mission being to be a circular coffee brand in every aspect of their business, using reusable/recyclable products and natural resources.
What to Try
Lot Sixty One offers the “Fiver” blend for €5 consisting of 2 single origin coffees (historically Brazil and Ethiopia), and the “Super Fluity” which plays around more with fruity notes offering both a single estate espresso and filter roast.
The café offers single origin offerings with all coffee roasted in the shop, plus excellent espresso with a selection of two different beans to choose from.
Besides fine espresso drinks, they offer several filter options including cold brew, with Tokyo-style slow drip brewers standing drip-ready on the shelf.
Their house-blend is recommended for milk-based drinks, delivering a lovely, smooth coffee that’s nothing too challenging but ideal for starting the day.
Popular offerings include flat whites that consistently delight customers, and their homemade chocolate chip cookies that some consider among the best they’ve ever had.
The founder specifically highlighted the Chemex as something he wanted people to come in for, positioning Lot Sixty One as the first in Amsterdam to focus on this brewing method.