Monthly Archives: September 2012

Welcome to Brian’s Coffee Spot

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Hello everyone and welcome to Brian’s Coffee Spot, a twice-weekly blog celebrating great coffee and, perhaps more importantly, excellent places to drink great coffee. And eat cake. Mustn’t forget the cake.

If you want to know about the Coffee Spot, check out the About pages. There’s no obligation to wade through them all though. If you just want to dive straight in, go for it! There are three great coffee spots already on the site:

For the first couple of weeks, I’ll be posting more than once a week, just to get everyone going, but after that things will settle down to a post a week [Famous last words! Three months in and I’m resigned to the fact Brian’s Coffee Spot is a twice a week blog. Even posting twice a week, I’m still finding great Coffee Spots faster than I can write about them!].

Please feel happy to share the Coffee Spot on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ and spread the word.

Thanks for stopping by,
Brian.

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To A Tea

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From the menu of "To A Tea" with the slogan "Take Time for Tea"You’ve got to love the attitude of the owner, Stas Leonidou, and the whole ethos of To A Tea. Anyone who is prepared to have three different hot water boilers, each set to a different temperature, so that he can brew the perfect cuppa depending on the type of tea, has to be admired. And I don’t even drink the stuff.

To A Tea is my kind of place. Forget that he’s got the emphasis wrong (tea, not coffee), forget the cakes (they’re excellent by the way), forget the friendly atmosphere, the comfortable chairs, the superb staff. Anyone who takes this much care and shows this much passion about what he does deserves to succeed.

Well, actually that’s not entirely true. If you showed this much passion and then made lousy tea, you’d deserve to fail, but To A Tea does everything right, including the coffee. Go there, drink the tea and coffee, eat the cake, make the business thrive. Oh, and tell Stas that he needs to open a branch in Guildford!

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Abriachan Campsite and Cafe

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The sign at the entrance to the Abriachan Campsite and CafeThis is easily the weirdest (in a nice way) café I’ve ever been to. Halfway between Drumnadrochit and Inverness on the Great Glen Way, the Abriachan Campsite and Café is a welcome stop-off point for hikers and cyclists. I love what the owner, Sandra, is trying to do and she deserves everyone’s support, although I appreciate that the basic facilities might not be for everyone. If you’re a hiker or mountain-biker though, you really shouldn’t mind, and it’s not every day you get to share your coffee with hens and a pig!

If you’re doing the northern section of the Great Glen Way, you really should stop by and say hello. If you’re not, you really should consider walking it, just for the pleasure of popping in and enjoying the fine coffee and warm welcome. You can even stop by if you’re in the area in your car, just as long as you don’t mind hiking a couple of kilometres from the nearest parking. It really is worth it!

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Boston Tea Party, Park Street

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A latte with a fern-leaf motif in the milkThe Boston Tea Party on Park Street, Bristol, is the original Boston Tea Party and, for me, the original coffee shop. I’m sitting on the second of the four terraces in the garden at the back of the café as I type, revelling in the late summer afternoon sun, but I’d be equally happy upstairs on a sofa or at one of the little tables. In my mind’s eye, I’m always here, writing a postcard on the terrace or chatting the afternoon away, putting the world to rights in the upstairs lounge.

There’s a background hum of chatter from the other tables and the gentle clink of cutlery. There’s a mother and daughter catching up over a pot of tea, schoolgirls giggling over a couple of smoothies, two teachers talking business over a latte, a father and his friend stopping by for coffee with baby in tow. And me, blogging over my coffee and cake…

I’ve always felt this special affinity for the Boston Tea Party, a feeling that’s not easy to put into words. However, read on and I will try…

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Brian’s Coffee Spot Goes Live, Friday, 14.15

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The good news is that Brian’s Coffee Spot goes live on Friday, 28th September at 14.15 (British Summer Time). For those of you who organise your lives by a proper time standard, that’s after the afternoon repeat of the Archers on BBC Radio 4!

Until then, the posts will remain password protected. So, if you want to see who’s going to be in the Coffee Spot, you can get a sneak preview by scrolling down or casting your eyes to the “Recent Posts” list on the right.