Experiences – Life – Inspiration 🇨🇭🇯🇵

One fresh mint tea and a cappuccino for 9.60 Euro.

It caught me off guard. My mother and I were walking through Delft on a drizzly grey day and we decided to sit down for something warm. Nothing fancy. Just two simple drinks. When the bill came, I stared at it longer than I expected.

I knew inflation had hit the Netherlands, but I never actually felt it until today. I have been away for more than two years and somewhere inside me the prices from the past were still alive. The old mental map where a cappuccino had its place and a mint tea had its place and that was it. Stable. Familiar.

But today the numbers finally reached me.

The drinks were generous. A tall glass filled with fresh mint. A cappuccino with a soft cloud of foam. And yet the price felt heavier than the cup in my hand. Almost ten Euro for two warm drinks in Delft, not Amsterdam and not a crowded tourist spot. Just an ordinary café on an ordinary Tuesday.

On the walk back I wondered if I had missed something big. Had the Netherlands slipped into hyper inflation while I was gone? It felt like I had stepped out of the story for a moment and returned to find the plot moving ahead without me.

Later I looked it up. The reality is less dramatic but still real.

The big shock came in 2022 when prices rose by around ten percent. The highest in decades. After that things cooled down, but they never truly settled. In 2023 the inflation rate was about four percent. In 2024 a little above three. And even now in late 2025 it sits just over three. Not enough to call it hyper inflation. But enough to notice it in everyday life, especially when you leave for a while and return with old memories tucked into your pocket.

The hospitality world felt it even more. Cafés and restaurants faced higher energy bills, rising wages, and more expensive ingredients. So they adjusted their menus to survive. Year after year, a little here and a little there. And when you add it all up over two or three years, the price of a simple coffee no longer feels so simple.

So no, the Netherlands is not falling apart. But it has quietly changed. And today I felt that change in the most ordinary moment. A glass of mint tea on a rainy day in Delft. A cappuccino with my mother. A small reminder that life moves, prices rise, and sometimes you only notice it when you return after a long time away.

Have you ever had that experience? Coming back to a familiar place and seeing how much it shifted while you were gone?