Yearly Archives: 2016

Outpost Coffee Roasters

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A stylised bear with very short legs sitting in a rocking chair and drinking a cup of espresso. The bear is wearing a smoking jacket, (small) top hat and a monocle and is smoking a pipe.Nottingham’s speciality coffee scene has come a long way since I first visited 2½ years ago, coming away disappointed. Now there’s a flourishing café scene, led by the likes of 200 Degrees, Wired Café Bar, The Pudding Pantry and, out in Beeston, Greenhood Coffee House. However, a good coffee scene needs local roasters too, and Nottingham is now blessed with both 200 Degrees Coffee Roasters and, more recently, Outpost Coffee Roasters.

Although a new name to the speciality coffee world, Outpost brings a wealth of experience in its founders, Greg and Alex. Greg has a long and distinguished history in coffee roasting, having owned Café Boutique, while Alex used to manage The Bean, a family-run coffee shop in Beeston (Alex’s mother still owns it). Greg wanted to take things to the next level and start roasting speciality coffee, while Alex wanted to branch out from the role of barista/shop manager. Together with Liz, who does the all-important admin, they make the perfect team.

Outpost has a training facility/espresso lab in a lovely first-floor space on Stoney Street, in Nottingham city centre, while the roasting takes place in an industrial estate on the city’s outskirts, using a 10kg Petroncini from Italy.

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Origin, Charlotte Road

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A glass Kalita Wave Filter sitting on a glass Kalita carafe which itself is on a pair of black Acaia scales. The ground coffee has been put in the filter paper, ready for brewing.Once upon a time, it was quite hard to get Cornwall’s Origin Coffee Roasters in London, with Selfridges being your best option, along with Artigiano Espresso. These days there’s also the likes of Jika Jika on Euston Square and now, there’s Origin’s own café on Charlotte Road in Shoreditch (where else?). This is very much a flagship café, designed to showcase Origin’s considerable range of coffee, particularly the single-origins. It also doubles as Origin’s London training base, with a large training room in the basement below.

It’s not a huge space and it’s remarkably uncluttered, leaving the focus firmly on the coffee, something which is reinforced by reversing the normal order of things on the counter. A typical coffee shop puts the cake/food first so that customers will file past it on their way to order, hopefully tempting them as they go.

At Origin, the cake is tucked away at the far end of the counter and the prime spot, clearly visible through the window, is the filter bar. Here pour-over coffee is prepared in full view of anyone who wants to sit and watch, as well as anyone wandering past on the street outside. Now that’s a statement!

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Mother’s Milk Update

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A flat white in a glass from Mother's Milk as seen from above with a simple tulip motif.The original Mother’s Milk was on Little Portland Street, one of a growing number of speciality coffee shops in Fitzrovia, an area once the sole preserve of Aussie legends, Kaffeine. Mother’s Milk joined the likes of Attendant and since opening, Workshop, Curators Coffee Gallery and several others have moved in. But now Mother’s Milk has moved… all the way to Little Portland Street! That’s right, Mother’s Milk has upped sticks and headed east, all the way across Great Portland Street, shifting from No 12 to the far more excitingly-named No 22-23.

Many of the Mother’s Milk hallmarks remain from the original: Will and James are still behind the counter, while the delightful Victoria Arduino lever espresso machine is still on it, the coffee’s still from Munich’s JB Kaffee and it’s still frustratingly hard to find unless you know where it is!

The original Mother’s Milk at least had windows onto the street, but was confusingly called Rosalind’s Kitchen (which is why I walked past three times one my first visit). The new premises are a great improvement, but are in the back of a communications agency called Exposure, the only real clue to Mother’s Milk being the A-board outside.

January 2016: Bad news. Mother’s Milk has announced its closure with immediate effect.

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Silhouette

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A flat white, seen from above, with tulip pattern latte art in a white cup on a white saucer.Silhouette joined a growing number of speciality coffee shops and roasters in the Hackney area, opening in February last year. Located just off Mare Street (close to the now-closed and sadly missed Look Mum No Hands!) it’s close to the likes of Climpson and Sons and others at London Fields (with the roastery just around the corner) and Terrone at Netil Market.

Silhouette itself is a delightful little spot, south-facing and on a corner, so it catches the sun, both from the generous windows at the front, as well as from the equally-generous windows along the west-facing side. Inside, the focus is on the coffee, where Silhouette offers both espresso and pour-over (using the Kalita Wave), filling its hoppers with whatever takes the fancy of owners Lee and Syirin (Syirin had just returned from a trip to Berlin, so the shelves held a smattering of bags from the likes of Five Elephant and Concierge (a new one on me).

Silhouette also does loose leaf tea, hot chocolate, cold-pressed juices and smoothies. There’s a menu heavy on toast/bagels, things on toast/bagels and salads. With a nod to Syirin’s Malaysian heritage, Silhouette also runs monthly Malaysian Supper Clubs on a Saturday evening. Continue reading →

2016 And All That

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An espresso, made by my Rancilio Silvia espresso machine, in a classic white cup and saucer from Acme & Co., New Zealand, distributed in the UK by Caravan Roastery.So, that’s the Coffee Spot Awards done. As ever, it was fun and a chance to look back at 2015. However, it’s a new year and I want to look ahead to see what 2016 will bring. The simple answer to that, at least in the short term, is more of the same.

I’ve been writing the Coffee Spot for over three years and for the last 2½ years, I’ve supported it by working three days a week as a contractor. However, that came to an end in December. I’ve mixed feelings about this. On the plus side, I won’t miss the early starts or the 3½ hour round-trip commute (although a lot of Coffee Spot posts got written on the train ride to/from Waterloo). On the downside, the considerable drop in income may prove to be problematic…

For a long time, I’ve joked that the Coffee Spot is a five-day-a-week job, which, combined with a three-day-a-week job, didn’t leave me much time for anything else. There’s a lot more I’d like to do with the Coffee Spot, but that all takes time, time I don’t have if I’m also working. So, what am I going to do about it?

June 2016: Quick update (more details at the end of the post): I got another contracting job, so I’m back to the old 3+5 ≠ 7 conundrum.

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Coffee Spot Awards 2015: Winners

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An espresso, made by my Rancilio Silvia espresso machine, in a classic white cup and saucer from Acme & Co., New Zealand, distributed in the UK by Caravan Roastery.Happy New Year to all my followers old and new! As we get 2016 underway, here are the winners of the fourth annual Brian’s Coffee Spot Awards. As before, there are 20 Awards, celebrating all the wonderful Coffee Spots I wrote about during 2015. The shortlists for all 20 Awards were announced between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve and now we have the winners!

Before we go on, I know I’ve said this before, but a big thank you to everyone who’s visited the Coffee Spot, followed me on Twitter, liked my Facebook page, +1ed me on Google+ (not many of you in that category!) and liked my pictures on Instagram. While I do this for the love of coffee, it means a lot to me that so many of you take the time to read and comment on my writing. Without you, it really would be pointless.

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