Press Bros. Coffee was recommended by my old friends at Neighbourhood Coffee when I visited Liverpool two weeks ago. Founded by three brothers who, in 2018, bought a converted Piaggio coffee van, Press Bros. began life in the Baltic Market (where the Piaggio is still going strong). Three years later, in October 2021, Press Bros. opened its first bricks and mortar store on Lark Lane in Aigburth, south of the city centre and a stone’s throw from Sefton Park.

Press Bros. has come a long way from the Piaggio van, with Lark Lane, the subject of today’s Coffee Spot, offering a lot more than coffee. There’s an all-day brunch menu, sandwiches and cakes, along with tea and a range of draught and canned beer, plus wine and cocktails. When it comes to coffee, Neighbourhood provides a bespoke house blend on espresso, where it’s joined by a guest espresso, which changes every month. There are also a couple of filter options, which are matched to a specific preparation method. For June, this was Neighbourhood’s Born Sipping, a naturally-processed coffee from smallholders in the Konga region of Ethiopia (AeroPress) and the Las Guerreras, a Mexican single-origin from Girls Who Grind (V60).

You can read more of my thoughts after the gallery.

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Press Bros. Coffee is in the leafy suburb of Aigburth, which is well connected by both train and bus to the city centre. At the northern end of Lark Lane, on the corner with Sefton Grove, it occupies part of the ground floor of a lovely building with a distinctive corner tower, which stands directly above Press Bros. door. This is on the corner at 45° to both Lark Lane and Sefton Grove and leads you into the front half of Press Bros., where you’ll find the counter.

This runs down the back wall, starting opposite the door. To your left, there’s a gap between the counter and the windows looking out onto Lark Lane, allowing room for a six-person window-bar, plus a further four bar chairs along the short side of the counter. There’s more seating to the right of the door, where three two-person tables occupy the windows opposite the counter. There’s also limited outdoor seating, with a pair of narrow, tall wooden tables on the pavement on Sefton Grove, one with a backless bench, the other with a pair of benches.

From the outside, you’d be forgiven for thinking that’s all there is to Press Bros, particularly as there’s appears to be a door to the right of the windows. However, appearances can be deceptive, with the door no more than a decorative feature. Inside, Press Bros. extends further along Sefton Grove, occupying that was clearly once a separate room to the right, the party wall having been knocked through, leaving a small stub on either side.

A padded sofa-bench now stands where the door would have been, home to a four-person table, which ends against the stub of the old party wall. The sofa-bench continues under a large window on the other side of the stub, continuing all the way to the back wall. In all, it house five two-person tables, which can be pushed together to form sets of four or six. Finally, against the opposite wall, another padded sofa-bench runs from the door through to the toilets and kitchen to the back wall, home to a further three two-person tables. If you need either an AC or USB outlet, you’ll find these underneath all the sofa-benches.

You order at the counter, where you’ll find the drinks menu on the wall behind, along with full printed menus (with food, beer and wine) on the counter top. I can’t really speak to the beer, wine or cocktails, since I came for lunch and some coffee, ordering the avo toast from the all-day brunch menu. This was excellent, a single slice of very crunchy toast, topped with a generous helping of smashed avocado and cherry tomatoes.

When it came to the coffee, I was spoilt for choice, passing on the filter options to try the espresso, my head turned by the La Marzocco KB90 espresso machine and its twin Anfim grinders at the far end of the counter. The barista described the house blend as “balanced” and the guest espresso as “more complex” which settled it for me. The guest, the Karin Hernandez, is a washed coffee from Guatemala, roasted by Girls Who Grind (sometimes, as is the case for June, the guest filter and espresso are the same roaster). This was served in a classic black cup and was indeed complex, with some lovely, fruity notes.

Press Bros. also sells a selection of retail beans from Neighbourhood Coffee and the guest roaster, where my eye was drawn to a small, purple bottle, the Yenni Esperanza from Colombia, which promised tasting notes of cinnamon. Intrigued, I bought a bottle (just 100 grams) which I’ve been enjoying at home through my coffee sock all this week. As yes, it does taste of cinnamon!

Liked this Coffee Spot? Then check out the rest of Liverpool’s speciality coffee scene with the Coffee Spot Guide to Liverpool.

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