What is a coffeeshop in Amsterdam?

Amsterdam is famous for its so-called coffeeshops. Of course we’re not talking about actual coffee shops: they’re more like a store for weed or a cannabis store. And believe us, it causes confusion in both coffee shops and coffeeshops in Amsterdam. 

Sure you can buy coffee at a coffeeshop in Amsterdam, but getting weed at a coffee shop? They would stare at you in amazement. Yet the link between these two is easy to make. So why are coffeeshops in Amsterdam called that way? 

Coffeeshops in Amsterdam: More than just a place for coffee.

Coffeeshop or weedshop? 

 In 1970s Amsterdam, cannabis was actually bought in coffee shops or living rooms where you could also drink coffee. In everyday language these places were called coffeeshops. Because of the policy of tolerance, they were eventually able to go public with their ‘menu’. And the name just sticked. 

It’s just like the word café. Café is the French name for coffee house and a similar situation applies here. Since the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, cafés have been mainly associated with alcoholic beverages, while the word café in French literally means ‘coffee’. Et voila! 

Want to know more on the history of weed in Amsterdam and the Netherlands? Check it out!