Category Archives: Bars

Coffee Spots which have bars serving a wide range of alcohol, rather than those focusing on wine (see Coffee & Wine) or beer (see Coffee & Beer)

Federal Café & Bar

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Detail from the A-board at Federal Cafe & Bar, proudly proclaiming the serving of "Brinner" of Friday evenings.I swear that the good people of Manchester were waiting for me to leave…  I’d been visiting for the inaugural Cup North back in 2014 and no sooner had I left, than it seemed a slew of new coffee shops opened, led by Federal Café & Bar, which, by the way, does what it says on the tin. By day, it’s a café, while by night, it morphs into a bar, although, as I discovered, the staff will happily serve you coffee long into the night (and, I suspect, alcohol during the day).

The coffee side of the equation is handled by Kiwi transplants, Ozone, supplying the Hodson blend and decaf on espresso, with a couple of single-origins on pour-over, impressive when you consider the (lack of) available space. There’s a small selection of wine (five) and beer (four), plus loose-leaf tea, hot chocolate and soft drinks.

Federal’s other main strength is food. This is prepared on-site in an impressively compact kitchen which takes up half of the (not very much) space behind the counter. There are decent breakfast (until noon), lunch (from noon) and brunch (all day) menus, plus, on Friday/Saturday nights, one of the greatest inventions ever, Brinner!

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Tilt

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Details of the new (to me, at least) A-board from outside Tilt in Birmingham, promising craft beer, speciality coffee and pinball.To the best of my knowledge, Tilt, which opened its doors on Birmingham’s City Arcade in November 2015, is just one of two speciality coffee-and-pinball places in the UK, the other being Chiswick’s Chief Coffee, which opened slightly before Tilt. Mind you, Tilt’s not just coffee-and-pinball. It’s coffee-pinball-and-craft-beer, with up to 18 different draught beers. Oh, and there’s wine. And spirits. And cocktails. And cider. Not to mention twelve different loose-leaf teas and five types of hot chocolate. In fact, the only thing that’s really limited is the food, where there’s a choice of just two cakes. You even have more choice of floors (three) than you do of cake!

Tilt, by the way, is very serious about its coffee, with owner, Kirk, bringing in coffee from roasters around the world. There’s a concise espresso-based menu, featuring a guest single-origin, but the real treat is the Frozen Solid Coffee Project, where Kirk takes a bag or two of coffee, weighs it out in doses and then vacuum packs and freezes it. The coffee is ground from frozen and made using a Kalita Wave filter, allowing Tilt to offer a staggering range of single-origins (26 at the time of writing).

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Slipstream

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The A-board outside Slipstream in Washington DC, which poses the question: "How do we take our Coffee?". The answer, of course: "seriously, very seriously".I went to Washington DC with no great coffee expectations, but then found the amazing Peregrine Espresso, a lovely little coffee shop that would grace any city. That, honestly, would have sent me home happy, but just six blocks further along 14th Street is the amazing Slipstream.

It’s not just that the coffee here, from Michigan’s Madcap, is excellent (which it is). Slipstream is also, by speciality coffee shop standards, huge. With a good range of loose-leaf tea. And with decent breakfast, lunch and dinner menus, all the food being prepared on-site in the kitchen behind the counter. And, as befits a place that’s open well into the night, there are cocktails from a fully-stocked bar.

However, I’d been drawn by the coffee, which Slipstream amusingly (and accurately) splits into “Quick Coffee” (espresso and bulk brew) and “Worth the Wait”, hand-filtered single-origins using the Modbar. There’s a choice of four of these, plus decaf, and they change on a weekly basis. They’re also all available as espresso, where they’re joined by the house-blend, Madcap’s Third Coast. If that wasn’t enough, there’s another blend, Six-One-Six, on bulk-brew filter, plus a rotating seasonal coffee.

And the service was exceptional: coffee-heaven in an amazing setting.

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Soho Grind

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The Soho Grind logo from the back wall of Soho Grind: the word Soho written in black script over GRIND in red capitals.Grind, which started with the original Shoreditch Grind, is a growing London chain of espresso bars by day and cocktail bars by night. Soho Grind was the second, and has since been joined by four others. For six months last summer, there was also the pop-up Piccadilly Grind, the only one I’d visited up until now.

Soho Grind’s a lovely spot: a long, narrow espresso bar upstairs and, in the evenings, a cosy basement which serves as cocktail bar/restaurant with full table service. There’s coffee, Grind’s own bespoke espresso blend, roasted down in Hove by the excellent Small Batch, plus tea and soft drinks. In the evening, there’s wine, a small selection of bottled beer, and cocktails, including a very fine Espresso Martini, one of the few alcoholic drinks I actually enjoy.

In keeping with its siblings, Soho Grind has a small range of (very good) cakes and sandwiches during the day, and a menu of small plates with an Italian theme in the evening. These are tasty, but not particularly filling. I had an excellent crostini with roasted red peppers, rocket and shaved pecorino, which I supplemented with some very moor-ish toasted almonds from the nibbles menu.

January/May 2017: Grind is now roasting its own coffee. You can see what I made of it at London Grind (January) and Exmouth Market Grind (May).

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KuPP

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The KuPP logo in red neon.KuPP is the latest addition to the area around Paddington Station, joining the likes of Beany Green in bringing speciality coffee to this part of London. KuPP, which opened at the end of March, is half-way down Paddington Basin, on the opposite side from Saint Mary’s hospital. All things to all people, KuPP is a Scandinavian-inspired bar, restaurant and coffee shop. Obviously, I’ll be focusing on the coffee shop, but having lunched there, I can also pass comment on the food. As to the bar, I shall leave that to those more qualified than me to judge. It looks impressive though!

KuPP occupies what, in coffee shop terms, is an enormous space. Think Caravan, King’s Cross size, but with a more interesting layout. The bulk of KuPP is devoted to a large dining area, with fully-retractable windows that join it up to the outside seating along the quayside. Next to that, there’s a well-stocked bar and, at the far end, a (comparatively) small but beautifully-appointed coffee shop.

The coffee’s a bespoke blend, roasted by Bristol’s Extract Coffee Roasters. There’s a standard espresso-based menu, a second option on bulk-brew filter, plus tea from Canton Tea Co and Kokoa Collection’s hot chocolate.

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The Attic Gallery Coffee Bar

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Thumbnail - The Attic (DSC_9395t)There’s a first time for everything. The Attic, or to give it its full name, the Attic Gallery Coffee Bar, occupies the floor above Monday’s Coffee Spot, Harlequin Coffee and Tea House, making this the first time that I’ve done two Coffee Spots in the same building. The churlish might argue that since they’re owned by the same person, the lovely Gordon (who doubles as head barista), and even share a website, they’re actually one Coffee Spot, spread over two floors.

I beg to differ: Harlequin and The Attic are very different places and cater to very different customers. Both serve Has Bean coffee, but that’s where the similarity ends. While Harlequin is a speciality coffee shop masquerading as a traditional tearoom, The Attic employs no such subterfuge. In fact, I’d go as far as to describe it as coffee-geek paradise. Serving excellent food. And craft beer (and now gin & tonic too).

If you’re not really a coffee geek and are just looking for superb coffee in relaxing surroundings, then The Attic, with its comfortable sofas and lovely atmosphere, ticks those boxes too. However, just make sure you come on the right days: it’s only open Thursday to Saturday!

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The Java Room

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The Java Room: cafe, music, espressoWhen I originally started the Coffee Spot, the intention was to write about places where I liked to have coffee. Although it’s evolved a lot since then, this original motivation is still very much at the heart of the Coffee Spot. On that basis, I present today’s Saturday Supplement, The Java Room. Located in a small plaza on Littleton Road in Chelmsford, you might be mistaken for thinking that this represents my first foray into Essex, but this happens to be Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Confusingly, the New England version of Chelmsford is in Middlesex County. Go figure, as my American friends would say.

The Java Room offers pretty standard coffee-shop fare. There are no flat whites and piccolos here, no single-origin beans or micro-lots, just large lattes, cappuccinos and espresso, along with bulk-brewed filter coffee and various iced and blended beverages. Where the Java Room really scores is in its atmosphere. It’s a lovely spot, the perfect, small town, neighbourhood coffee shop, friendly, relaxed and welcoming. I’m kicking myself for having been to Chelmsford many, many times and not discovering it before last year.

March 2015: Correction. I popped in one Monday in March (since I was literally passing by) and there are indeed flat whites to be had at The Java Room. Naturally, I had to have one and it was very fine.

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The Marwood

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The Marwood, tucked away in an alley of Ship Street, BrightonRight in the heart of Brighton’s Lanes, tucked away in a corner next to Café Coho, is The Marwood. It is perhaps the most Brighton-like of all Brighton’s many and varied coffee shops. To call it quirky would be an understatement: The Marwood is quite possibly the most eclectic place I have visited since I started the Coffee Spot.

I first ran across it as a showcase for Google Maps new “walk-through” feature. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to go there! Of course, quirky can be a double-edged sword: if quirky is used as a gimmick, then it rapidly gets stale. Similarly, quirky without good coffee wouldn’t amount to much either.

Fortunately, The Marwood puts its money where its mouth is, with a classic espresso from Southampton roasters, Mozzo. There’s no third-wave experimentation here, no pour-overs or fancy preparation methods. In fact, the coffee is probably the most straightforward aspect of the whole place. Although it describes itself as a coffee house, The Marwood also does food and serves wine, spirits and bottled beer, as well as offering a variety of different spaces in which to hang out.

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Bar des Arts New Coffee Menu

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Bar des Arts shiny new brew bar, complete with ceramic filters.Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending the launch of the new coffee menu at my favourite Guildford Coffee Spot, Bar des Arts. If you’ve been following the Coffee Spot, you’ll know that this has been the result of lots of careful planning by Sara and her team, in consultation with new roasters, Horsham Coffee Roasters.

I’ve been along for the ride, offering my opinions (at Sara’s request, I hasten to add!), sticking my camera in at inopportune moments and generally documenting the whole process. So it was great to be able to go along on Saturday morning for the start of what will hopefully be a new era, not just for Bar des Arts, but for the whole Guildford coffee scene.

October 2015: Sadly Bar des Arts closed at the start of the month. I’m not sure what, if anything, will take its place.

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South End Buttery

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My cup of coffee surveys the bar at the back of the South End ButteryBoston’s South End Buttery is an excellent bakery/café that, until this visit, I had tabbed exclusively as a breakfast spot. Its breakfast offerings aren’t as extensive as some other establishments; mostly egg sandwiches on biscuit (American, not British) or bagel, with hot oatmeal as an alternative. I usually opt for the egg sandwich on a biscuit which never fails to satisfy while leaving space for lunch and dinner later in the day!

If you come for lunch there’s the usual range of sandwiches prepared while you wait and some tasty pastries to tempt you throughout the day. The South End Buttery changes a little in the evenings and at the weekends. Brunch is served on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 to 15:00, while the bar (see below) turns into restaurant from 17:30 onwards, staying open until 22:00 (23:00 Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays).

Since I’ve only ever been there on weekday mornings I can’t really comment on the merits or otherwise of it as a dinner/brunch spot. One day I’ll visit on the weekend and let you know!

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