Author Archives: Brian Williams

About Brian Williams

Author of Brian's Coffee Spot, you can read all about me in the "About Me" section of the blog (www.brian-coffee-spot)

Exploding Bakery Update

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Excellent Espresso in a Glass from the Exploding Bakery, Exeter.To start at the beginning, Exeter’s Exploding Bakery was always one of my favourite places and made a very early appearance on the Coffee Spot, being just the 20th place that I wrote about after I visited in 2012. Back then it was definitely a bakery that served coffee, with a couple of tables and an espresso machine tucked into a busy, thriving bakery, baristas and bakers sharing the space.

When I ran into the guys from the Exploding Bakery at the Caffè Culture Show in 2015, they excitedly told me about all the changes that they had made, leaving me itching for a return. However, Exeter isn’t somewhere that you casually pass by (not if you live in Guildford, anyway), so it wasn’t until January of this year, when I was on my way down to Torquay, that I had the opportunity to pop in and say hello the new-look Exploding Bakery.

September 2016: The Exploding Bakery has expanded once again, taking over the adjacent unit. You can still sit in the bakery and drink your coffee, but you’ll find the counter and most of the seating one door over to the right.

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Tradewind Espresso

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a line-drawing of an old-fashioned ship, slung under a large, Victorian balloon.I’d heard quite a lot of good things about Tradewind Espresso, both on twitter and on my previous visit to Bristol in September last year, when it had only just opened. Sadly there wasn’t time to visit, so on my next trip, I ensured that I’d set aside a chunk of my schedule to take the train out to Clifton Down and to allow for the short climb up the Whiteladies Road.

What I hadn’t appreciated is that Tradewind Espresso was opened by local roasters, Roasted Rituals, which is making a name for itself in and around Bristol, supplying the likes of The Crazy Fox and Playground Coffee. Like Tradewind, I’d also heard good things about Roasted Rituals, which only increased my curiosity.

I needn’t have worried. Everything I’d been told about Tradewind and Roasted Rituals was true, and then some. Tradewind occupies a beautiful location, with a gorgeous interior, table service, a great food menu (all cooked downstairs in the kitchen), lots of lovely cakes and a limited selection of beer/wine. As well as Roasted Rituals’ Highground seasonal blend and a single-origin on espresso, there’s a selection of single-origins through the V60, plus the option of a four-cup cafetiere.

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Speciality Coffee in Capsules?

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A shot of speciality coffee from an Nespresso-compatible capsule served by Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood at a talk at Modern Society.Not long ago, Caffeine Magazine ran a twitter poll, asking whether people would drink capsule coffee (for example, using an Nespresso machine) if it tasted better. Without much thought, I answered no (along with 72% of the 251 respondents) revealing, in the process, a whole host of (my) prejudice and presumption. At about the same time, I received an invitation from coffee roasters, Assembly: did I want to come to a talk on speciality coffee in capsules? Well, no. Given by Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood? Okay, let me reconsider that… Yes, of course I do!

For those who don’t know, Maxwell is the reigning UK Barista Champion, owner of Bath’s Colonna & Small’s and now a coffee roaster. He’s one of the British speciality coffee industry’s best-regarded figures and if he’s got something to say about capsules, then I want to hear it, regardless of my prejudice.

So, on Thursday night, I made my way to Modern Society, a general-purpose store on Redchurch Street in Shoreditch (which just happens to have what I believe is the UK’s only full Modbar installation) to hear Maxwell’s talk. Did he challenge my preconceptions and prejudice? Did he, in fact, change my mind on capsules?

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Uncommon Ground Coffee Roastery

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The word "Uncommon GROUND COFFEE ROASTERY" written in black inside a white circle on a black background.Uncommon Ground Coffee Roastery is in Cardiff’s Royal Arcade. Dating from 1858, it’s the city’s oldest arcade and is one down from the Morgan Arcade, home of the venerable The Plan, Cardiff’s original speciality-café-in-an-arcade. Mind you, it seems that every arcade has a coffee or tea shop these days. Perhaps the Welsh Assembly passed a new law. Or maybe people have realised that lovely Victorian Arcades deserve lovely coffee shops… Either way, the arcade makes an excellent setting for Uncommon Ground.

Don’t be put off by the name, by the way. Uncommon Ground’s a lovely coffee shop, its interior and layout doing full justice to its elegant surroundings. There is a roaster, or there was when I was there, the original plan being to roast in the back of the store. However, problems with the gas supply led Uncommon Ground to relocate the roasting off-site. With luck, the new roastery should be up and running next month. Until then, the coffee is being roasted by North Star in Leeds. There’s a bespoke espresso blend, plus a couple of single-origins through the V60. If you’re hungry, there’s a good selection of cake and a small selection of sandwiches, Panini and wraps.

August 2017: It took Uncommon Ground a little while longer than expected to get the roastery up and running, but I’m pleased to report that as of April this year, Uncommon Ground is roasting a house-blend on espresso, plus two single-origins on filter, with plans for more to come. I tried the Latumba from the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a V60 and it was excellent.

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Ox Coffee Update

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A beautiful Gibraltar (Cortado) from Ox Coffee.I was very taken with Ox Coffee on my first trip to Philadelphia in 2014. Back then it hadn’t long since celebrated its first birthday, but I was struck by its clean, simple looks and its dedication to serving excellent coffee with no frills: Stumptown’s ubiquitous Hair Bender blend on espresso, with two single-origins on bulk-brew filter. The major drawback was Ox’s size: if you wanted to sit in, there was the bench on the street outside, a simple L-shaped bench in the window inside and a narrow bar against the wall opposite the counter, with three bar-stools.

I was, however, given a sneak preview of the back room, which was large enough for another L-shaped bench and a table, but which had yet to open. I was also told of plans to open the garden at the back of the shop, which was enough to entice me back on my first day in Philadelphia on my return in 2016 to see if the plans had come to fruition.

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The Little Man Coffee Company

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The coffee bean choices chalked up on the board behind the espresso machine at The Little Man Coffee Company in Cardiff (two espresso, two filter).Down past Cardiff’s Catholic Cathedral, at the southern end of Charles Street, is The Little Man Coffee Company. From the name, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a tiny spot, but far from it. Spread over the ground floor and basement (yeah! basement!) of an old bank branch, it’s actually quite large, part of a sudden growth of Cardiff’s fledging speciality coffee scene, which, with one or two exceptions, is concentrated in the city centre. In fact, while only a five-minute walk from the likes of the venerable The Plan, Little Man Coffee represents an eastern outpost of this cluster.

Little Man Coffee joined the fray in October 2014 and from the outset had lofty ambitions, married to the sense of the achievable. A true multi-roaster from the start, Little Man usually offers two beans espresso, another two on filter, buying 10kg at a time from various roasters before then moving on. Although employing a wide variety of roasters, Little Man has a record of supporting local, Welsh roasters, such as the Welsh Coffee Company and Coaltown Coffee Roasters, as well as James Gourmet Coffee (technically in England). While I was there, both filters were from Cardiff-based roaster Lufkin Coffee.

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Butterworth & Son

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A lovely flat white in a Butterworth & Son cup, with particularly intricate latte art, made at the roastery with Butterworth & Son's What's Guat! blend.The subject of today’s Meet the Roaster is Butterworth & Son, a Suffolk roaster with a long pedigree and a name that’s as well known (locally) for its tea as for its coffee. Butterworth & Son was catapulted to fame in specialty coffee circles with the success that Howard Barwick had with its coffee in the 2012 UK Barista Championship (UKBC), another example of the beneficial impact of barista competitions on the industry.

These days, Butterworth & Son has a national (coffee) reputation, roasting up to 20 different green beans at a time on a new, 12kg Diedrich roaster. Predominantly, these go into espresso blends, but about 30% of the output is single-origin coffees, all of which is available to buy on-line.

Butterworth & Son hasn’t forgotten its roots, both in terms of product (tea still plays a major role in the company) and geography. As well as its roastery in an industrial estate in Bury St Edmunds, it has recently opened a café, Guat’s Up! (named after its bespoke espresso blend of two Guatemalan coffees) in the town and Butterworth & Son is committed to improving the quality of the local speciality coffee market.

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Brian’s Travel Spot: Back to New England, 2016

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A cappuccino in a classic, earthenware, tulip cup, sitting on a wooden window sill, bathed in sunlight.Welcome to the third and final part of the 2016 instalment of my occasional Brian’s Travel Spot series. Part I saw me flying out to Newark and sauntering around New York for a couple of days before heading down to Philadelphia. Part II covered my time in Philadelphia, Washington DC and my brief return to New York as I swung back north.

Part III sees me back in New England, where I started my coast-to-coast trip in June last year. I had a day in Providence, which I first visited last year and, like Philadelphia, has a great, unsung coffee scene. From there it was on to Boston for the end of my trip, before flying home. As I did last June, I flew with British Airways, while all internal travel was on Amtrak, a great way to travel in the US if you’re not in any particular hurry.

Highlights of this leg of the trip were discovering more of Providence, which, as well as having an excellent coffee scene, is a lovely, historic city, and seeing Boston’s speciality coffee scene finally starting to take off with three really excellent places opening in Downtown Boston in the last 12 months.

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The Bird’s Nest

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A classic espresso in a red cup on a green saucer.Another Shrewsbury gem, I discovered The Bird’s Nest thanks to the talented Cherie Jerrard. I’d come to see Cherie Did This, an exhibition of Cherie’s fascinating café illustrations at the Shrewsbury Coffeehouse. Afterwards, we met up for another tour of some of Cherie’s favourite Shrewsbury coffee shops.

The Bird’s Nest is in Shrewsbury’s Market Hall, which was built in 1965 (making it slightly older than me!) and is out of keeping with everything around it. However, its unappealing concrete exterior hides a delightful interior, particularly when you get to the back of the second floor, which is where you’ll find The Bird’s Nest, surrounded by market stalls.

It’s an interesting space, full of an eclectic mix of furniture. If I said it felt a little like sitting in a vintage store, I’d mean it in a nice way. The layout’s wonderfully confusing, with the kitchen in one corner, the coffee counter in the opposite corner and various other bits and pieces scattered around the edges. Not that any of this matters since there’s full table service. There’s a fairly standard espresso menu based around the Bon Bon blend from Hundred House, bags of cake and, if you don’t arrive after the kitchen’s closed, full breakfast and lunch menus.

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Northerly Coffee (Daily Press Update)

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The word "COFFEE" i white on black, over a stylised outline of a takeaway coffee cup, again in white on black.This time last year, the Coffee Spot made its first tentative steps into Brooklyn and the first place I published was the then Daily Press on Havemeyer Street, an oasis of calm at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge. I was therefore rather distressed to discover later that year that it seemed to have disappeared, both from the map (well, Google Maps) and from social media. I asked around, but didn’t find out very much, so on my return last month, I was determined to track it down and see what had happened for myself.

It was with some trepidation that I walked along Havemeyer Street, but I needn’t have worried. There was what I knew as Daily Press, in the same old spot, looking remarkably similar to how it had a year before. The name had changed, to Northerly Coffee, but stepping inside, everything looked very familiarly, right down to the sleek La Marzocco Strada on the counter at the back. It was the same warm, welcoming oasis of calm that I remember. There have been changes, however, and I was fortunate enough to run into Matt, the owner, who, over coffee, filled me in on the full story.

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