As regular readers with long memories will know, my long-time coffee bean supplier is Coffee Charisma on Guildford’s North Street Market. I wrote about Trish and her excellent market stall not long after the Coffee Spot first started. Back then Trish supplied most of my coffee beans, with the exception of my espresso beans, which I got from London’s Algerian Coffee Stores. How things have changed!
Now my coffee comes from all over. Sometimes, it’s gifts from friendly roasters or suppliers (Leeds’ North Star Micro Roasters and the Press Coffeehouse subscription service being the latest examples: thanks guys). Other times I’ve been so impressed with a coffee that I’ve impulse bought a bag (for example, the Tiger Espresso Blend from Steampunk that I had at Monday’s Coffee Spot, Machina Espresso). There’s also the massive haul of coffee I obtained at the London Coffee Festival.
All of this is a roundabout way of saying that I don’t buy many beans from Trish these days. However, I do make a point of popping in to say hello as I wander by. Last Saturday I noticed that there was something different about the stall, so I strolled over and made a shocking discovery!
November 2019: I’ve learnt that Trish has returned to New Zealand and, as a consequence, Coffee Charisma is no more.
You can see what I found after the gallery.
Could it be possible, I asked myself? What was in those interesting orange-topped jars? Surely not! But it was. Coffee Charisma now stocks tea! However, take heart, dear readers. Trish is still selling her considerable range of freshly-roasted coffee beans. It’s just that she’s branched out into the other stuff.
At the moment the range is still quite small, with black teas such as a Russian Caravan blend and single estate offerings such as the Assam Tips from the Zaloni Estate. There are also green teas on offer (a Chun Mee Young Hyson) and herbal teas, such as the fantastically fragrant Sencha Green Orange & Passion Fruit. There’s also a decaffeinated Earl Grey for those who like their black tea without the buzz.
All Trish’s tea is available loose leaf in multiples of 100 grammes. It comes from well-known Oxford Tea and Coffee Merchants, Cardews of Oxford, which operates out of the famous covered market. Annoyingly, I managed to completely miss this during my last trip to Oxford!
I asked Trish about her latest venture and she explained that it had been in the pipeline for some time. She’d spotted a gap in the market, with no-one in Guildford selling loose-leaf tea and had had her eye on Cardews for a while. The good news is that she isn’t planning on scaling back her coffee operation any time soon, although the display of cafetieres, Aeropresses and stove-top mocha pots has had to make way for the tea.
So, if you want to get good quality, fresh loose-leaf tea in Guildford, you know where to go. And don’t forget to buy some coffee while you’re there! And pop next door for a cake from the ever-lovely Butter and Cream Cakes. In the meantime, I obviously need to up my coffee-buying game to nip this tea thing in the bud…
Don’t forget the original Coffee Charisma Coffee Spot, which includes the complete write-up and an updated gallery.
NORTH STREET MARKET • NORTH STREET • GUILDFORD • SURREY | ||||
www.facebook.com/pages/Coffee-Charisma/152387784808610 | +44 (0) 7812 467709 | |||
Monday | CLOSED | Seating | N/A | |
Tuesday | CLOSED | Food | N/A | |
Wednesday | CLOSED | Service | N/A | |
Thursday | CLOSED | Cards | No | |
Friday | 09:00 – 17:00 | Wifi | N/A | |
Saturday | 09:00 – 17:00 | Power | N/A | |
Sunday | CLOSED | Mobile | N/A | |
Chain | No | Visits | Original: 6th October 2012 | |
Update: 12th July 2014 | ||||
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