Yearly Archives: 2013

Lunch Business Awards: 2013

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Thumbnail - Lunch Business AwardsRegular readers will know that back in June I was in Attendant when I ran into Maria Bracken, Deputy Editor of Lunch Business. The short story is that Maria got me to nominate various Coffee Spots for the 2013 Lunch Business Awards (if you’re interested, you can read the long story here). Although the Awards remit stretches much further than just the humble coffee shop, two categories fell very much within my remit: Best Tea Experience and Best Coffee Experience.

I got my thinking cap on and ended up nominating a host of places. Fast forward a couple of months and the shortlists were published. In the Best Tea Experience category, I was delighted to find North Tea Power shortlisted, along with Harris & Hoole, and Edinburgh’s Eteaket. However, the best was still to come as the Best Coffee Experience shortlist was Cafe Boscanova, Flat Caps Coffee & Freemans Coffee, all places I’d nominated!

Fast forward another month or so and I found myself at the London Art House in Islington for the awards ceremony, which took place on Thursday, 26th September, as part of the Lunch! Show.

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Coffee Fix

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The Coffee Fix logo on the front window.It was a day for finding great coffee in unexpected places. Having run into About Coffee in Colne that morning, I called in on Coffee Fix in Gatley on the way back that afternoon. Neither were chance encounters, having come across both on twitter, but neither location immediately springs to mind when thinking of where to find excellent coffee.

A friendly, neighbourhood café with top-notch coffee (roasted by James of Coffee Circle in Manchester), excellent cakes, lovely breakfast and lunch menus (all made on the premises), Coffee Fix has something for everyone, breaking my rule that you should do one thing and do it well. Instead, Coffee Fix does everything and does it to an excellent standard, especially the coffee, which is as good as anywhere I’ve been in a year of Coffee Spotting. Coffee Fix offers a full range of espresso and filter coffee, including V60, Aeropress and cafetiere.

In fact, the only thing I can think off that would improve it (in my opinion) is a move about 150 miles south so I don’t have such a long drive when I want to visit.

Or I could move nearer to Manchester… It’s a tempting thought!

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About Coffee

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About Coffee's pleasing exterior on Church StreetColne is a Lancashire mill town surrounded by beautiful countryside. That much I knew from visiting five years ago. It also has a surprising amount of history, which I didn’t know about, and, as I discovered on my recent trip, it’s got a cracking coffee shop, About Coffee.

You might ask what was I doing in far-off Colne… Well, I might have been there to hike in the amazing hills, but actually I was wearing my other hat (the one I use to make the money I need to zip around the country, hunting down Coffee Spots) and was there for a business meeting. I’d deliberately arrived an hour early, which just enough time to nip into About Coffee, which I’d heard about on twitter.

As it turned out, it was an hour well spent. About Coffee is a delightful café as well as a coffee and tea merchant. It’s got a great range of coffee (and tea), lovely homemade cakes, friendly staff and a toilet in the basement that you have to go out of the shop, down some steps and through what looks like a blast door to get to. I ask you, what more could you want?

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The Coffee Spot is One!

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The Coffee Spot CupToday’s Saturday Supplement marks a very special occasion: the Coffee Spot is one year old! Exactly one year ago today, at 14.15 on Friday, 28th September 2012, the Coffee Spot was launched with great fanfare. I can’t be too sure how many people actually visited the Coffee Spot that day since I wasn’t really paying attention, but I’m sure it wasn’t that many! Fast forward to today, 123 posts, 107 Coffee Spots and over 31,000 views later, and the Coffee Spot is doing quite well, in no small part to you, dear readers.

The whole point of the Coffee Spot is to share the love of great coffee and great places to have coffee. Without you, my readers, there would be no sharing, so thank you one-and-all, whether you’ve read every single Coffee Spot since the launch or whether you just dip in and out when you feel like it. This special Saturday Supplement, a review of the year gone by, is dedicated to each and every one of you.

And, by way of saying thank you, I have a very special competition (with prizes!) at the very end of the post!

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The Barista’s, Chester

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The logo of The Barista's, ChesterI’d describe The Barista’s in Chester (the apostrophe leaving me asking “the Barista’s what?”) as an old-fashioned coffee shop (“old-fashioned” meaning a mere 10 years ago!). Set in the bottom of an old building on Chester’s historic Watergate Street, it’s a lovely, relaxing place, with bare stone and brick walls belying the age of building (it dates from the 17th century, if not earlier).

As a venue, it’s worth it just for the experience, especially if, like me, you appreciate old buildings. There are also a couple of tables outside on the pavement; on a sunny day, I can see sitting outside being a great option, the pedestrianised Watergate Street making a very pleasant backdrop.

The Barista’s serves Has Bean, so you know that the coffee’s going to be more than just run-of-the-mill. In fact, The Barista’s achieved the unique distinction of serving me a Has Bean espresso which I drank without pulling a face! There is, as they say, a first time for everything!

Add to that a fairly typical coffee shop range of cake, sandwiches, Panini, soup and a less-than-typical selection of flatbreads and you have a credible alternative to the coffee chains in the heart of Chester.

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Bold Street Coffee

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The exterior of Bold Street Coffee, proudly proclaiming itself, on Bold Street, LiverpoolGiven the somewhat trying day I’d had, there was something reassuring about stepping into Liverpool’s Bold Street Coffee. It’s not what I’d call relaxing (think loud and busy) or even particularly comfortable (think plastic chairs over sofas), but it was indisputably my kind of place. One end of the counter was buckling under the weight of the interesting cakes, the other held an Aeropress brew bar, while in the middle, the bright red La Marzocco made a certain statement…

There’s also something about the way that the staff carry themselves which makes a statement: we know coffee, we’re passionate about coffee. I could write an essay on what it is that distinguishes (at a glance) those staff who have this passion and knowledge from those who are merely competent but indifferent and still not capture it. However, whatever it is, the two guys in Bold Street had it.

If tea is more your thing, then you’re in luck, since Bold Street carries a range of Waterloo Teas. If you’re looking for something more substantial than cake, then your luck’s also in, since Bold Street has decent breakfast (until 12:00, 16:00 at weekends) and lunch (12:00 until 16:00) menus too.

May 2018: Some bad news and some good news. Bold Street Coffee was forced to leave its eponymous home in January, although there’s currently a pop-up at Santa Maluco on Castle Street. The good news, however, is that Bold Street Coffee has a chanced to get back to where it belongs, in its original home at 89 Bold Street, but this time in an expanded space! To do this, Bold Street Coffee needs to raise £30,000 through its Kickstarter campaign, which runs until 27th June. There are some awesome rewards, so get pledging now!

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Ground Coffee, Hove

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An A-board outside Ground Coffee, Hove saying Hello, Bonjour, Ciao, Hallo, Guten Tag, Dia Duit, Hola, G'DayGround Coffee Houses is a chain of precisely two. Business partners Matthew and Rick founded the original in Kemp Town, Brighton, four years ago, going on to open this branch on Church Road, Hove, two years later.

Ground appears to believe in keeping things simple with a straightforward layout and minimal décor (particularly in contrast to somewhere such as The Marwood), perhaps so that it doesn’t distract from the coffee, which seems to be the focus. It’s a busy place with a bustling, convivial atmosphere, background music adding to the hum of conversation. If coffee’s not your thing, there’s loose-leaf tea as well as sandwiches and cake.

Ground gets its house blend from Union Hand-roasted, a particular favourite of mine, while taking espresso and filter beans from regularly rotating guest roasters. A fairly regular guest is one of my favourite local small batch roasters, Horsham Coffee Roaster. While I was there, Ground had an impressive number of its offerings squirreled away under the counter. Bradley, the man behind Horsham Coffee Roaster, was most insistent that I paid Ground a visit once he knew that I’d be going to Hove. How could I refuse…?

December 2015: I’ve learnt that the Hove branch has now closed.

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The Marwood

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The Marwood, tucked away in an alley of Ship Street, BrightonRight in the heart of Brighton’s Lanes, tucked away in a corner next to Café Coho, is The Marwood. It is perhaps the most Brighton-like of all Brighton’s many and varied coffee shops. To call it quirky would be an understatement: The Marwood is quite possibly the most eclectic place I have visited since I started the Coffee Spot.

I first ran across it as a showcase for Google Maps new “walk-through” feature. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to go there! Of course, quirky can be a double-edged sword: if quirky is used as a gimmick, then it rapidly gets stale. Similarly, quirky without good coffee wouldn’t amount to much either.

Fortunately, The Marwood puts its money where its mouth is, with a classic espresso from Southampton roasters, Mozzo. There’s no third-wave experimentation here, no pour-overs or fancy preparation methods. In fact, the coffee is probably the most straightforward aspect of the whole place. Although it describes itself as a coffee house, The Marwood also does food and serves wine, spirits and bottled beer, as well as offering a variety of different spaces in which to hang out.

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Angelina, rue de Rivoli

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The Mont Blanc from AngelinaAngelina is something of a Paris institution, a grand Salon du Thé which exudes class, even more so than the venerable Café de Flore. From its shop on the rue de Rivoli, on the north edge of the Tuileries Gardens, it’s been serving the folk of Paris (and its fair share of visitors too: judging by the accents, faces and amount of English being spoken, Angelina is a major tourist draw) with exquisite cakes, artery-clogging hot chocolate and fine coffee since 1903.

While you might go to Café de Flore or its neighbour, Les Deux Magots, for the coffee, the people watching or the general ambience, with Angelina, you are definitely paying for the elegant surroundings and the (quite possibly literally) to-die-for patisserie such as the legendary Mont Blanc or the signature hot chocolate, l’Africain.

If you can’t get to the rue de Rivoli (or can’t get in!) there are other branches around Paris (plus one in Lyon and nine in Japan!). Alternatively, rue de Rivoli has a takeaway counter (useful for the budget-conscious). I’ve only tried the branch in the Louvre, which, while serving the same excellent fare, doesn’t quite have the same class as the rue de Rivoli original.

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Café Mila

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The downstairs at Cafe Mila, bathed in sunlight.Café Mila, just off Godalming’s historic High Street, is a wonderful spot. I’m embarrassed to confess that it’s taken me so long to discover it: after all, from my house it’s only a couple of hours’ stroll away across the Surrey hills, then down along the River Wey (or 10 minutes by train if you’re in a hurry). Nor can I plead ignorance; my friends in the area have been telling me to go there for a while now.

Café Mila will be celebrating its second birthday in October. Set up by South-African Steve and his wife Jane, what makes it so special is the combination of its setting (a courtyard just off the High Street) and the warm, welcoming atmosphere created by Steve and his cheerful staff. You can usually find Steve on the premises and I was also fortunate enough to meet Jane.

It helps that the coffee is good, while the cakes and food, all baked/made on the premises, are excellent. I liked it so much that I visited twice, once with a friend for Sunday brunch (which was excellent) and then again one afternoon the following week for a more extended visit.

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