MOK Coffee

Jens Crabbé was twenty one, a two time Belgian Cup Tasters Champion with more drive than formal training, when he scraped together enough savings to open a specialty bar and microroastery in Leuven back in 2012. He left school early, worked bar jobs, found coffee through classes, and became the first roaster in Belgium to run his program on Cropster software, a Probat UG22 doing the actual roasting. The Brussels flagship followed at the end of 2016, a former art gallery on Rue Antoine Dansaert turned into a bright, roastery adjacent bar.

Allegra has ranked MOK among the best coffee shops in the world and one of the top specialty roasters in Europe and the Middle East, credentials that get it described locally as something close to the godfather brand of modern Belgian specialty coffee. Roasting itself still happens back at the Leuven operation rather than in this room, but the beans are sold here both by the cup and in bags to take home.