Calling Coffee...and Chocolate... lovers
 

Hello Everyone. My wife and I will be visiting Belguim and Netherlands for the first time. I'm addicted to coffee, she to chocolates.

We would like to ask for recommendation for the best place in either places to have coffee and best brand of coffee to bring home.

For my wife, what would you suggest for chocolates to bring home as presents (please, not godiva) and of course for daily consumption.

Many thanks.

I've never brought coffee back home, but I love Leonidas candy. I bring a box of chocolate covered orange peel and a box of coffee flavored chocolates for myself and one each for my sister. I stay in Delft and there is a shop there, also one in Nice.

Best brand of coffee to bring home?

I don't know, but if you learn a bit about coffee, buy fresh beans, grind them at home, and have a good coffee maker, you will never want for a good cup.

I love trying coffee from different countries, which can be bought online or in good coffee shops. Here is a company I just learned about, which stocks one of my favorites, coffee from Rwanda: http://www.ancoracoffee.com/detail.asp?sku=16rwd1

:-)

Chocolate, Belgium. It's difficult to prise the two apart. Don't worry, you'll be spoilt for choice.

Rob's Fine Foods carries a pretty good selection of coffee, but overall, we found the Belgium isn't the best place to buy coffee for home use. http://www.rob-brussels.be/index.cfm

Coffee in cafes...well that's another story with a much happier ending.

In Brussels, don't be surprised if you are offered cappuccino in two different ways: with foamed milk (the usual way, sometimes called cappuccino mousse au lait) or the more decadent way of a dark coffee topped with whipped cream. If you want to try the latter, nobody in Brussels does it better than Au Vieux St. Martin on the Sablon. You'll get a whole bowl of thick, homemade whipped cream topped with rich dark chocolate shavings. You put as much or as little of the whipped cream into your coffee as you like. Mmmmmm.....Toucan's on Chaussee de Waterloo also does a nice capuccino creme, served with a small slice of homemade pound cake.

The best "regular" cappuccino in Brussels, IMO, is served at Natural Caffe on Ave. Louise right by the Bailli tram stop. Good looking Italian guys dispense authentic cappuccinos.
http://www.naturalcaffe.com/

By the way, I think it's a crime in Belgium to be served a coffee without a little treat on the side...a square of chocolate, a cookie, a small slice of cake. If only other countries would adopt this law!!