Yearly Archives: 2013

Le Lapin Pressé

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Le Lapin Pressé, café + grillcheeserie.Montréal is experiencing a coffee boom: several of the Coffee Spots I visited during my brief stay had opened within the last 18 months. Not Le Lapin Pressé, though: by the time you read this, it will have celebrated its fourth birthday, making it one of the more established players on the scene. However, like many of my Montréal Coffee Spots, it came highly recommended. Starting with Jovan the Poet, who button-holed me in Café Myriade to tell me that I must go there, Le Lapin Pressé kept turning up in people’s lists of places I had to go. So, naturally, I went.

As well as its reputation for excellent coffee, Le Lapin Pressé is also known for its grilled-cheese sandwiches. Having tried both, I can confirm that the reputation is well earned: indeed, that’s pretty much all Le Lapin Pressé does. Well, that and tea/soft drinks for those who don’t like coffee, and salad/soup to go with the sandwiches. But really, in the grand scheme of things, it’s very firmly focused on coffee and toasted sandwiches and I admire somewhere that knows what it’s doing and pursues excellence in it to the exclusion of everything else.

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Coffee & Co

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Some of the lovely seating upstairs at Coffee & Co.Cheltenham does not immediately spring to mind when thinking of top-quality coffee. However, that perception is slowly changing down in Montpellier, a short stroll southwest of the town centre. First there was the short-lived No.5 The Brew Rooms and now there is Coffee & Co which, since November 2012, has been steadily establishing itself as the place to go for great coffee.

Set in an old town house, which has since been converted into offices, Coffee & Co has taken over the lower two floors and set about creating a wonderful place to sit and drink coffee. The closest in feel I can think of is the upstairs lounge of the Boston Tea Party on Bristol’s Park Street back in the day when you really could sit there all day nursing a single cup of coffee. Coffee & Co is more formal, with tables predominating over sofas, but it still manages to create that feel of relaxing in someone’s home rather than sitting in a coffee shop.

None of this would matter if the coffee wasn’t up to much, but fortunately Coffee & Co has paired with London roasters, Union, to provide first-class coffee to match the first-class surroundings.

May 2015: I’ve heard that Coffee & Co has been turned into an Italian Restaurant, which is a shame since it was a lovely space to drink coffee.

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Look Mum No Hands South Bank Pop-up

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An espresso in one of the lovely Look Mum No Hands mugs. Sadly if you want one of these for real, you'll need to go to the Old Street store, not the pop-up on the South Bank.In another new venture for the Saturday Supplement, I present the first ever Saturday Short. Saturday Shorts are Coffee Spots in their own right, but for which I can’t justify a full write-up.

This first Saturday Short comes courtesy of Look Mum No Hands!, something of a legend on the London coffee scene, if only for its interesting name (it’s up there with Bristol’s Didn’t You Do Well in those stakes). I’ve long wanted to try it out, but have never had the time/reason/excuse.

So, imagine my surprise and delight when, on a whim, I decided to walk across the Hungerford Bridge (which connects Waterloo and Charing Cross Stations) on the Parliament rather than the St Paul’s side.  Cutting across to the other side of the bridge I spotted an interesting-looking coffee stall nestling under the bridge itself… And the rest, as they say, is history…

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Café de Flore

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Classic Cafe de Flore cup, with green writing on white china, from 2009.Café de Flore is a grand café in the old style, which, together with near neighbour Les Deux Magots, is a fixture of Paris’ Left Bank. Situated on the Boulevard Saint-Germain, Café de Flore dates back to 1885 and provides a taste of café life from early to mid-20th Century Paris. Popular with tourists and locals alike, it is, for me, part of something quintessentially Parisian, the stereo-typical grand café par excellence. Fortunately for me, Café de Flore actually lives up to my (potentially exaggerated) expectations.

The coffee is good and there’s a range of food from breakfast through lunch to dinner, along with a range of pastries. If coffee’s not your thing, there’s tea, hot chocolate, soft drinks and a very impressive array of drinks from the bar, including a whole page on the menu dedicated to champagne (this is, after all, France). The only potential downside is the price: for a city with a reputation for being on the expensive side, expect to pay twice as much in Café de Flore as you would elsewhere in Paris. Of course, you’re paying for the experience and that little touch of class, which, for me, is well worth it!

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Pumphrey’s Brewing Emporium

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The Pumphrey's Coffee sign: 'Pumphrey's Coffee Served Here'Pumphrey’s, the coffee and tea merchants, is something of a legend in the North East and in Newcastle in particular. A family firm which can trace its roots all the way back to 1750, it’s still going strong. As well as wholesale roasting and distribution, Pumphrey’s has a retail arm, Pumphrey’s Brewing Emporium, right in the heart of Newcastle’s Grainger Market.

Regular readers will know that I have a thing for markets. So you can imagine my delight on not just finding a market, but on finding one with a top-notch Coffee Spot in it as well. Newcastle, I think I love you!

Pumphrey’s Brewing Emporium sells coffee beans and all manner of coffee equipment, as well as tea and other hot beverage sundries. Not only that, but it also dispenses coffee wisdom to those who wish to learn it and, to top it all, you can get a great cup of coffee, either from the espresso machine or brew bar. What more could you ask for? A bright, sunny day? In Newcastle? Yes, I had that too!

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Small St Espresso: Update

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The exterior view of Small St Espresso on a rainy December day in BristolIn another new development for the Coffee Spot, today’s Saturday Supplement is an Update Spot. This is where I go back to an existing Coffee Spot to see what’s changed. Now, of course, I could just update the original post, but chances are, no-one would notice. Or I could re-post the whole thing, which I feel would be cheating. Hence the Coffee Spot Update.

The subject of the first ever Update Spot is Bristol’s Small St Espresso. When I made my first visit back in December 2012, it had only been open for a few days. Things were still bedding down, and changes were promised, so I was keen to see how things had shaped up in the last four months.

April 2017: I’ve been at it again and there’s a new Coffee Spot Update for Small St Espresso, which now has more seating in a cosy alcove off the main shop.

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Black Market

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Black Market, proudly serving coffee from Parisian roasters, Coutume.Black Market is probably my favourite of the third-wave coffee places that I visited in my recent (and far too short) trip to Paris. It effortless marries third-wave coffee with the look and feel of a traditional French bar/café in the streets of the 18th Arrondissement. After my recent rant about attitudes to Parisian coffee, it’s good to see somewhere combining new and old so well.

The coffee, from Parisian roasters Coutume, is made with as much love and care as any I’ve seen and the menu is commendably short, with just espresso, café long (espresso with hot water; think Americano/long black), noisette (espresso with a small amount of milk; think cortado/machiatto) and café au lait (espresso with more milk; think small cappuccino/flat white).

The interior is similarly uncomplicated, with wooden furniture blended with plain walls and a tiled floor. I really enjoyed it, although some might find the music annoying. Although mellow, it was quite loud when I was there. On the other hand, apart from the barista, I had the place to myself for a large part of my stay, so it added something to the atmosphere and didn’t feel that intrusive.

February 2014: Sadly Black Market has closed, which is a real shame. However, the owners, Youssef & Baptiste, have now opened Fragments, Paris, their new venture in the La Marais.

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Full Court Press

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A cup of filter coffee from Full Court PressThe latest in the recent explosion of speciality coffee shops in Bristol, Full Court Press, or FCP Coffee, burst onto the scene on 1st May. I gave it a day to settle down and then went in to see what all the fuss was about.

Bristol has a number of top-notch coffee shops that would grace any city in the country and FCP has leapt right in there with them. Reminiscent of (the sadly now closed) Didn’t You Do Well in both decor and coffee attitude, owner Mat has created something special here. From the moment you walk through the door, you know you are going to get some special coffee. Two white boards on the walls behind the large counter list the four beans available, along with tasting notes and preparation methods. Unusually, FCP has no preferred roaster, and while that may change when things settle down, currently each of the four beans is from different roasters and regularly change.

While I was there, Chris, from Small Street Espresso came in and while he sat at the back chatting with Mat, barista Dave gave me a tour of the premises and a quick demonstration of the art of making coffee (see the gallery).

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Good Coffee in Paris?

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Un Cafe at the legendary Cafe de FloreI worry when I hear people say that they can’t find good coffee in Paris, since I’ve never had a problem in that respect. After all, Paris has a café (and coffee) culture that in many ways long predates that of the UK or the US. What I suspect I’m hearing is “I can’t find coffee that I like” or “I can’t find the coffee that I’m used to”. The simple fact is “coffee I like/am used to” isn’t necessarily synonymous with “good coffee”.

So, I’m going to use this Saturday Supplement to try something new for the Coffee Spot, a discussion piece, looking at the coffee scene in Paris as a matter of taste and perspective. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that while you can get good coffee in Paris, you can also get bad coffee, often shockingly bad coffee. However, Paris has a wide and varied coffee scene, from the little bars with an espresso machine, through the bistros and pavement cafés all the way to the grand cafés of the Left Bank and the upmarket Salons de Thé. And, recently added to the mix, third-wave coffee.

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Ten Belles

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The Ten Belles Coffee MugTen Belles, just off the Canal St Martin, in a lovely part of the city, is a fairly recent addition to the Paris coffee scene, having opened in September 2012. However, serving Has Bean coffee in distinctly British/North American surroundings, it is most definitely not a traditional Parisian café. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, just don’t come here expecting table service, stuffy waiters and café crème: Ten Belles wouldn’t be out of place in the heart of London or New York.

A small place, with a clever mezzanine section above the kitchen to provide additional space, Ten Belles is proving a hit with the ex-pat crowd judging by the amount of English spoken and the accents on display during my visit.

Ten Belles has a commendably limited (and typical for Paris) espresso range: espresso, melangé (with hot water; close to a long black/Americano), noisette (with steamed milk; close to a macchiato or cortardo) and cappuccino. All come as double shots, the size determined by the drink. There’s also Aeropress and Chemex options, filter coffee, tea, hot chocolate (all in really nice Ten Belles mugs) and Luscombe soft drinks to reinforce the British link.

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