Walsall’s first and (for now) only speciality coffee shop, The Table opened at the start of April. I visited a few weeks later, when COVID-19 precautions were in full swing, restricting The Table to outside seating only. However, like The Old Roastery Coffee Shop in my hometown of Guildford, which I visited around the same time, you had to go inside to order, providing a glimpse of the lovely interior. And, like The Old Roastery, I vowed to return once the indoor seating was open to see what I was missing out on.

Since The Old Roastery is on my doorstep, I didn’t have long to wait, popping in four weeks later for a catch up. However, The Table had to wait a bit longer. My opportunity came on Saturday while driving up to North Wales with Amanda after her early morning arrival at Heathrow. Eschewing the usual crawl on the M6 around Birmingham, we took a detour to Walsall and The Table.

Other than the newly-opened interior, The Table has changed its house espresso (still from Odd Kin Coffee Roasters), added a pour-over option and expanded its food offering, with a simple breakfast menu and a range of sandwiches.

You can see what else I found after the gallery.

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The first thing I noticed was the absence of any outside seating! Fearing some artefact of arcane planning laws, I was relieved to learn that, anticipating rain, the staff simply hadn’t put the tables out that morning! As I noted on my first visit, The Table occupies part of a much larger building on the corner of Lower Hall Lane and Caldmore Road and, once inside, goes back a lot further than you might first expect.

The entrance is on the Lower Hall Lane side, opening onto a small hallway which leads to the left, depositing you in the front, right-hand corner of the main room. The counter is straight ahead, although you’re actually at the side, where you’re greeted by the cakes. Moving around to your left, you come to the front of the counter where you order before finding a seat, your coffee being brought out to you.

Turning around, you find yourself facing the seating. This is well spaced out, with a three-piece suit to your left in front of an old fireplace, separated from the counter by waist-high planters. There’s a two-person table directly ahead of you, under the window in the left-hand wall of The Table, while a long, padded bench runs down the wall to your right, housing a four-person table, flanked by a pair of two-person tables.

However, there’s more. An opening in the wall just beyond the counter leads to a second room, which is designed for laptop use, while carrying on through another opening in the next wall, is a third room. This is available for meetings, groups, etc but otherwise provides even more seating. As well as the openings that connect the three rooms, there are further window-like openings in the walls, so you can see from one space to another, giving The Table a real sense of interconnectedness, although it does mean that noise bleeds from one area to all the others.

Returning to the middle room, this is long and thin and stretches off to your left, with a single window at the far end. Set up for laptop working, there’s a two-person table against the wall on your left as you look down its length, with a long bar against the right-hand wall. Seating six in three bays of two, this has a mix of chairs and tall stools, plus plenty of power outlets.

The far room provides more tables and a second three-piece suite. There’s a two-person table against the back wall, directly ahead of you as you enter. Looking to your left, towards the two windows at the far end, are a pair of five-person tables, one against each wall. Beyond these, the three-piece suite sits under the right-hand window, with a four-person table under the window on the left.

Amanda and I had already eaten at Espresso Farm, otherwise we’d have had lunch. Instead we settled for coffee and cake, sharing a slice of Biscoff Banana Loaf, which was delicious and very chocolatey. Amanda had a flat white, served in a HuskeeCup, which The Table is now using for many of its drinks. Since my last visit, The Table has replaced Odd Kin Coffee Roasters’ single-origin Colombian with a blend (also from Odd Kin) as the house espresso. The change was so recent that the information card wasn’t up on the grinder and I forgot to take a picture of the bag, so can’t tell you much about it, except that it made for a very rich, smooth flat white.

I tried out the new pour-over option, made using the V60 with a natural Nicaraguan, again from Odd Kin. This was rich and fruity, evolving even more fruity notes as it cooled, the perfect way to mark my return.

You can read more about The Table in my original post from my visit in April.

December 2021: The Table was a runner-up for the 2021 Most Passionate About Coffee Award.

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