The Nine Streets is the part of Amsterdam everyone pictures and few can name. Nine little lanes, four canals, a wall of boutiques and a coffee on every corner. The trouble is the corners are not equal. This is our honest pick of the best cafes in the Nine Streets Amsterdam, from the place that takes coffee far too seriously to the one with the viral cake. We run a bakery here, so we walk these streets daily and we send friends to all of these.

We are Ruma (formerly De Beste Lekkernij), a Mediterranean bakery and coffee shop on Herenstraat, right where the Nine Streets meet the Singel. We are biased about one stop on this list. Everywhere else, we are just telling you where we actually go.

A quick map of the Nine Streets

De 9 Straatjes is not nine streets in a row. It is three parallel streets, three blocks each, crossed by the four grand canals: Singel, Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht. The lane names trace the old tanning trade: Reestraat, Berenstraat, Wolvenstraat, Huidenstraat and the rest. It all sits inside the UNESCO canal belt, tucked behind Dam Square and a short walk from the Anne Frank House. Small, dense, walkable. You can do the whole loop on foot in an afternoon, cafe stops included.

Getting here is easy. From Amsterdam Centraal it is a ten minute walk down the Singel, or a short tram ride to the canal belt. There is no metro stop inside the Nine Streets and you would not want one. The pleasure of the place is that it is too small and too pretty to rush through, so leave the bike at the rack and go on foot. Set your map to Wolvenstraat if you want the dead centre, or to us on Herenstraat if you want to start with cake.

The best cafes in the Nine Streets, one walk at a time

We have ordered these the way you would actually meet them on a stroll, not by a ranking nobody asked for. Start at the Singel end, where we are, and wind toward the Prinsengracht.

1. Ruma (formerly De Beste Lekkernij), for the viral cake and a calm coffee

Start with us, because most people walk straight past the best thing in the bag. Ruma is a Mediterranean bakery on Herenstraat, handmade every morning. The headline is trilece, a Turkish three-milk sponge soaked slow until it sits between cake and custard, finished with a thin caramel top. It has pulled over 600 million views online, which sounds like noise until you taste it cold and understand the fuss. Order it with a flat white and take the window. Beyond trilece we do baklava soaked in honey, simit, Dubai-style pistachio cannoli and a rotating run of flavours. See the full menu before you come, or just trust the counter.

Where: Herenstraat 24A, the Singel edge of the Nine Streets. Open daily, 8am to 7pm.

2. Screaming Beans, for serious coffee

If you care about the cup more than the cake, this is the one. Screaming Beans is the neighbourhood's specialty coffee name, a narrow spot where the espresso has real character and the flat white is the order to make. It is small and it can be dim inside, which is part of the charm. Coffee first, conversation second. If you take your beans seriously, this is the address to remember.

3. Pompadour, for coffee and proper cake

Pompadour on Huidenstraat is the old-world choice: a patisserie, chocolaterie and tearoom that feels like a Vienna cafe wandered into the canal belt. Marble tables, a window full of pastry, chocolates worth the detour. If your idea of a Nine Streets afternoon is a slice of cake and a hot chocolate that takes itself seriously, sit here for an hour.

4. Pluk, for the photogenic brunch

Pluk is the one you have seen on a feed: bleached herringbone floor, white walls, a marble counter loaded with cake and fruit. Downstairs is the concept shop and the queue, upstairs is a small cafe doing bowls, salads, sandwiches and fresh juices. Bright, busy, easy on the eye. Good for a daytime sit when the sun is out, less so for a quiet word, because it fills fast and does not take bookings. Come early or come patient.

5. Cafe 't Smalle, for the canal-side seat

Just past the western edge, on the way to the Anne Frank House, Cafe 't Smalle has one of the prettiest floating terraces in the city. It leans more brown cafe than coffee bar, which is the point. Get a seat on the water, watch the boats, and let the afternoon go slow. This is the photo people take home.

6. A traditional Dutch koffiehuis, for the unfussy stop

The Nine Streets still keep a few proper old koffiehuizen, the kind with filter coffee, fresh apple tart and a view over a bridge. They are not chasing a trend and that is exactly why you go. When you want a quiet sit and a simple slice rather than a queue, ask a local which corner one is open. The canal-bridge ones are usually the keepers. Filter coffee, fresh apple tart, a view of the boats, and nobody filming their order. Some afternoons that is the whole point of the Nine Streets.

How to choose your cafe in the Nine Streets

There is no single best cafe here, only the best one for what you are after. A rough guide:

The five-minute Nine Streets coffee crawl

If you only have an hour, do this. Start at Ruma on Herenstraat with a trilece to share. Walk down toward Berenstraat and Wolvenstraat for the best of the boutiques. Stop at Screaming Beans for a serious espresso, then cut to Huidenstraat for cake at Pompadour. If the weather holds, finish on the terrace at Cafe 't Smalle near the Prinsengracht. Four very different cafes, all within a short walk, none of them a tourist trap.

For more sweets along that route, our guide to the best desserts in Amsterdam covers the wider city, and if you are pairing this with a museum visit, see the best dessert spots near the Anne Frank House, which is a five-minute walk from here.

When to go, and how to find us

The Nine Streets are busiest at weekends and on sunny afternoons, when the terraces fill and the shop queues build. Come on a weekday morning if you want the streets to yourself and a window seat without the wait. Most boutiques open around ten, but the cafes are going earlier, which is the quiet hour worth catching.

Ruma sits at Herenstraat 24A, on the Singel edge of the Nine Streets and a short walk from Amsterdam Centraal, Dam Square and the Anne Frank House. We are open daily, 8am to 7pm. Plan your visit, or if you cannot make it in, order across Amsterdam and bring the Nine Streets to your sofa.