Enhance Your Mind in Coffeeshop Dampkring

Dictionary definition of coffee shop:
a small, usually inexpensive restaurant where refreshments and light meals are served.

The Dutch joined coffee + shop and the new word coffeeshop takes a completely new meaning. The Dutch coffeeshop is a licensed place that sells hash, cannabis and marihuana.

Tucked away in Handboogsteeg, a narrow alley off bustling Kalverstraat is Dampkring Coffeeshop, a haven of haze or a circle of smoke as the name suggests.

Dampkring translates as Earth’s Atmosphere, but this is not what the name refers to. Dampkring suggests people puffing away. The result is that the coffeeshop is enveloped in a haze of smoke.

Dampkring coffeeshop opened its doors in 1993 and is operated by the same folks as coffeeshop De Tweede Kamer known for its high quality dope and their ice hash. If you like Dampkring’s cosiness I would recommend you to visit Nieuwe Dampkring in Haarlemmerstraat as well, and enjoy the cosmo-lounge atmosphere.

Coffeeshop Nieuwe Dampkring

Dampkring is not touristy at all like the Bulldog or Grasshopper coffeeshops. If you want to meet the locals and a few tourists, this is your place because Dampkring is an all time favourite of both locals and tourists.

The interior is a feast of swirling shapes and stunning colours that stimulate your senses without the help of mind-enhancing stuff. The interior design caught the fancy of Hollywood producers who used Dampkring to shoot scenes for Ocean’s Twelve starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

If it is only the interior you want to see, just go in an order an espresso.

Dampkring
Handboogstraat 29
opening times: Monday – Sunday 10.00 am – 01.00  am

Nieuwe Dampkring
Haarlemmerstraat 44
opening times: Monday – Sunday 10.00 am – 01.00 am

Tweede Kamer
Heisteeg 16
opening times: Sunday – Thursday 10 am – 1 am, Friday and Saturday until 2 am

photo credit: personal collection