Caffeènation

Belgium's first specialist coffee company, the hiply named Caffènation is the domain of Rob Berghmans, who has few Belgian equals in the art of roasting and preparing. Antwerp's other celebrated coffee house, Normo [see entry], once used Berghmans's beans. This mothership in Mechelsesteenweg, opened in 2012 just south of Antwerpen Nationale Bank, combines hippy and buzzy, while a tiny and more conveniently central outpost can be found at Hopland 46 (continuation of fashiony Schuttershofstraat), immediately next door to the lovely spot where in 2003 Berghmans started his business but vacated owing to the loss of garden access in the property's new lease. Dozens of shops and food establishments across the city serve this coffee. And there's a branch in Amsterdam.