The 2017 Coffee Spot Calendar

A cappuccino in a classic white cup, sitting on a tree-stump table in the window, half in shadow from the sunlight.It’s that time of year again, when I announce the Coffee Spot Calendar, which will be my fourth calendar to date. As before, the calendars will be professionally-printed on glossy paper, each month featuring a landscape, A4 picture from one of my favourite Coffee Spots of the last 12 months. Except there’s a snag…

If you’ve been following my Brian’s Travel Spot series, you’ll know that I’ve been very, very busy this year, far too busy, in fact, to sit down and pick my 13 favourite photos (one per month plus one of the cover). However, I think I have an answer to my dilemma…

Last year, as well as my main Coffee Spot Calendar, I produced the first ever Coffee Spot Lighting Calendar, with help from my friend Sharon Reed, who chose most of the pictures. So that set me to thinking: why not crowdsource this year’s calendar? Crowdsource, by the way, not crowdfund: I’ll still print them and you can buy them, just as in previous years.

What I need you to do, dear readers, is to start nominating your favourite Coffee Spot pictures. They have to be landscape and from a Coffee Spot published between 1st November 2015 and 31st October 2016.

Full details of how to get involved are after the gallery, which shows the Coffee Spots that featured in this last year’s calendar, just to give you some idea of what I’m looking for.

  • The Cover: espresso through the looking glass. Toby at Box Office Coffee, Bridport.
  • January: absent friends, gathering for coffee outside Peña, Glasgow.
  • February: a beautifully presented espresso, plus glass of water, at Marmadukes, Sheffield.
  • March: the glorious tinned ceiling downstairs at One Shot, Philadelphia.
  • April: the soaring glass ceilings of the Victoria Quarter in Leeds, home of Opposite.
  • May: a lovely espresso in the spring sunshine at Greenstreet, Philadelphia.
  • June: the brew-bar, ready for action, at Ealing's Electric Coffee Company.
  • July: espresso extraction in action at Foundry Coffee Roasters, Sheffield.
  • August: caution, barista at work! Morrell in action at Tamper Coffee, Sellers Wheel, Sheffield.
  • September: a lovely flat white in the morning sun at Bridport's Soulshine Cafe.
  • October: a lovely counter, using 150 year old reclaimed wood, at The Milkman, Edinburgh.
  • November: this huge, communal table lives at Manchester's Pot Kettle Black.
  • December: artwork adorning the walls of the basement in Leyas, London.
  • The calendars, back from the printers, and looking great! Buy yours now!
The Cover: espresso through the looking glass. Toby at Box Office Coffee, Bridport.1 January: absent friends, gathering for coffee outside Peña, Glasgow.2 February: a beautifully presented espresso, plus glass of water, at Marmadukes, Sheffield.3 March: the glorious tinned ceiling downstairs at One Shot, Philadelphia.4 April: the soaring glass ceilings of the Victoria Quarter in Leeds, home of Opposite.5 May: a lovely espresso in the spring sunshine at Greenstreet, Philadelphia.6 June: the brew-bar, ready for action, at Ealing's Electric Coffee Company.7 July: espresso extraction in action at Foundry Coffee Roasters, Sheffield.8 August: caution, barista at work! Morrell in action at Tamper Coffee, Sellers Wheel, Sheffield.9 September: a lovely flat white in the morning sun at Bridport's Soulshine Cafe.10 October: a lovely counter, using 150 year old reclaimed wood, at The Milkman, Edinburgh.11 November: this huge, communal table lives at Manchester's Pot Kettle Black.12 December: artwork adorning the walls of the basement in Leyas, London.13 The calendars, back from the printers, and looking great! Buy yours now!14
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Here’s the deal. I need you to let me know your favourite Coffee Spot pictures, the ones you would like to see in the 2017 Coffee Spot Calendar. You can nominate just one or as many as you like. The pictures can be of coffee shops, cups of coffee, neat bits of furniture, lighting, whatever you like, as long as it is (vaguely) coffee-related. If you own your coffee shop, you can even nominate yourself.

However, all nominations must be for pictures that I have published on the Coffee Spot: you can’t send in your own photos! What’s more, the Coffee Spot in question must have been published between 1st November 2015 and 31st October 2016.

You can nominate photos by tweeting me, DMing or messaging on Facebook, in-boxing on Instagram or just use the contact form here on the Coffee Spot. If you’re really clever, you can also pin the pictures on Pinterest (but don’t forget to send me the link!). Now, here’s the important part. Unless you’re going down the Pinterest route, I’ll need you to tell me:

  • the name of the post that the picture appears in (the easiest way of doing this is to copy the link from the address bar of your browser)
  • which picture(s) you are nominating (the easiest way is to tell me the number of the image in the gallery, where 0 is the first image displayed, 1 is the second and so on. If you hover the cursor over the thumbnail above the gallery, your browser should show the number in the bottom left corner of your screen: thanks to Keith Beechener for pointing that out!)

As long as I get more than 13 nominations, I will make the final decision as to which ones go to print!

As in previous years, each calendar will cost £12.00, with a flat £2.00 postage and packing charge, regardless of how many you order. There will also be discounts for multiple purchases. If you think we’re likely to meet up in the near future, I’ll even waive the postage and hand your calendar over in person!

If you’re ordering from outside of the UK, then I’m currently looking at having one-off prints done and sent directly to you by the printer in your country which may well work out a lot cheaper. Watch this space!

In the meantime, what are you waiting for? Get nominating!


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