In recent years, listening bars have become one of the most talked-about hospitality trends in cities like Tokyo, London and New York.
The concept is simple: customers can sit back and relax in a café or bar and enjoy music through high-quality sound systems.
It isn't a new idea. Listening bars originated in Japan in the 1950s, where listening to music with friends took on an almost religious characteristic. Customers entering the bars were expected to remain completely silent, immersed in sound.
Now, the movement has reached Brussels - and things here are a little more relaxed, as Jens Crabbé, founder of Mok Coffee, a Belgian roastery explained in a chat with The Brussels Times.
Thirteen years after opening his first café in Leuven, Jens has launched Mok Studio, a hybrid space on Rue Saint-Laurent that blends two obsessions: exceptional coffee and exceptional sound.
The result is a venue designed not for speed or volume, but for attention, intention, and immersion. “This place is not made to make money,” Jens Crabbé says. “It’s for people who want a different experience: sit down, enjoy the coffee, enjoy the music.”
Jens Crabbé is the founder and owner of Mok Studio. Credit: handout
The rise of listening bars
For years, listening bars have captivated music lovers abroad, drawn by their warm lighting, analogue sound, curated vinyl, and a meticulous approach to acoustics. But in Belgium, the format barely existed.
“It doesn’t really exist here,” Crabbé explains. “This is, I think, the first listening bar oriented toward the music system, almost like you are in a cinema. But instead of watching a movie, you’re listening to music.”
A music curator Cyriel Lemmens from the Luisterbaar collective selects the records - mostly jazz, UK jazz, some classical, occasional hip-hop - and monthly open-deck Sundays will invite guests for different special events.
It's almost like you are in a cinema. Credit: Tijs Vervecken
'The coffee menu at Mok is like a wine list'
But Mok Studio is not only about sound. It is, above all, a temple of specialty coffee - with a philosophy as precise as the audio setup. “The coffee menu at Mok is like a wine list,” Jens says.
Mok offers Eugenioides, a near-extinct Colombian varietal from the legendary Inmaculada farm. The beans retail at €1,000 per kilo — and at Mok, a cup costs €28. “It’s super expensive…something you’ve never experienced before,” Jens says. “It doesn’t taste like usual coffee.”
For him, serving such coffees is not about luxury, but exploration, giving customers access to flavours otherwise unreachable in Belgium. “We’re gonna have coffee that many shops don’t have,” he adds. “We try to offer something different, more exotic.”
You can try some very special coffees at Mok. Credit: Tijs Vervecken
A space built deliberately off-trend
What sets Mok Studio apart is not only what it offers, but where it is: one of Brussels’ least visited streets. “This is one of the top five least visited streets in Brussels,” Crabbé says. “Most people opening coffee bars would look for the busiest location.”
He chose the opposite. “This place is not made to make money. Of course I want to break even. But I want to give something back to my customers.” Mok Studio also sits inside the lobby of a major Belgian record label called Pias.
The calm contributes to the atmosphere: a place where people come on purpose, not by accident. “People who come here know what to expect. It makes the place more magical.”
At Mok Studio, people come on purpose. Credit: Tijs Vervecken
Why people come and why they’ll keep coming
If you ask him why someone should visit Mok Studio instead of another specialty café in Brussels, Crabbé doesn’t hesitate: “This is the coffee shop I would want to go to myself.”
“There’s a big selection of coffee to try, exotic coffees. And we take our time to make the coffee - you can see the whole process.” But above all: “It’s a sound experience you can’t find anywhere else. It’s not something you have in your house.”
In a city where cafés increasingly compete for visibility, volume, and Instagrammability, Mok Studio offers something more intimate, more focused - and more radical: A listening bar, a coffee laboratory - and a passion project.
