What is the best coffeeshop in Amsterdam?

In 2021, we ran a tournament on the r/AmsterdamEnts subreddit to understand what the most popular coffeeshops were on the subreddit. This would also give us an easy way and democratically decided answer to the famous "what's the best coffeeshop?" question.

The process

1. We opened up a poll where people could write what their favourite coffeeshops were. We had 78 unique coffeeshops suggested.
2. We grouped the coffeeshops into polls of 4-5 grouped by vicinity (the closest coffeeshops would compete against each other).
3. The winners of that vote were voted on again in the semi-finals.
4. The winners of the semi-finals were voted on again in the finals.

Overall we had several thousand votes, and the final was voted on 633 times (although, 288 of those just wanted to see the results).

The winners

1. Boerejongens Coffeeshop Bij/West* – a relatively new coffeeshop on the scene, having only opened in 2007, but one that has garnered a huge fanbase over the years. They have become popular for their focus on service, with well-dressed budtenders and a classy interior, Boerejongens give a true 'dispensary' vibe. Well known for their hash blocks, and tasty edibles, Boerejongens isn't one to miss.
2. Grey Area Coffeeshop – founded by a couple of American expats 25 years ago, Grey Area has become a well-known go-to for some of the finest cannabis in Amsterdam. Having won the Cannabis Cup several times for their signature buds and hash, and with a star-studded list of patrons including Snoop Dogg, B-Real, Woody Harrelson to name a few. We recommend the Silver Bubble, but ask the bud-tender for tips and they'll be happy to help.
3. Katsu Coffeeshop – having been in the business for 28 years, Katsu Coffeeshop is beloved by tourists and locals alike for its chilled out atmosphere. This is a coffeeshop you can be happy to relax in with some coffee, a joint and hang with friends or make new ones.
4. Tweede Kamer Coffeeshop – Tweede Kamer Coffeeshop shares its name with the room that the Dutch House of Representative use to debate. Despite that, the debates you'll be having here are a lot more fun. With a classy smoking area, and top-notch Amsterdam Genetics strains, you can't go wrong with this coffeeshop.

*Note: the 4 Boerejongens branches came up a lot in the vote, because of this we grouped Bij/West together to represent the chain in the rest of the competition, since this was the branch which received the highest number of votes in the quarter finals. We grouped Bij/West because they are close to each other, and have essentially the same strains and service.

The map

To make things easy, we collated all of the 78 coffeeshops onto a custom Google Map. You can see all of the shops categorised by the latest stage they got to in the competition, as well as the position they finished in for the top 4.

The best coffeeshops of 2022?

We are hoping to do another tournament again in 2022, however while tourism is slow due to coronavirus it wouldn't make sense to run the poll at the moment. We will revisit this again later in the year if tourism is able to return to near its normal level.