Category Archives: Coffee & Wine

Coffee Spots which have an emphasis on wine as well as coffee.

Coffee and Riot

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A washed Colombian espresso from Rebel Bean, served in a classic white cup at Coffee and Riot in Prague.I’m still missing the warm, winter sun of Arizona, so today’s Coffee Spot takes us back to last summer and Prague, when Amanda and I visited Coffee and Riot, a lovely little place in the backstreets of the Nové Město (New Town). Occupying two small rooms on the ground floor of a tall, old building, it’s combines the traditional Central European café/bar with speciality coffee.

That means that was well as serving coffee from Rebel Bean (on espresso) and guests (on filter), there’s a wide range of alcohol, including beer, cider, wine, cocktails and gin, served late into the evening (10 o’clock each night except Sundays). There’s also a selection of food, including toast, cakes, quiche and a range of sandwiches.

Coffee and Riot uses Rebel Bean as its house roaster, with a single option on espresso, which changes every few weeks. This is joined by a guest roaster on filter, which can come from anywhere in Europe, although when we were there, it was The Naughty Dog from nearby Jilove u Prahy. There’s a choice of V60 or Aeropress, with the beans all available in retail bags, the roaster changing when Coffee and Riots gets through its current stock.

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Press Coffee, The Roastery

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My cortado, made with the La Esperanza Colombian single-origin, roasted on-site and served in a glass, on a wooden tray, with a glass of water at the side.My first speciality coffee experience in Phoenix was the chance discovery of Press Coffee in the Scottsdale Quarter on my very first visit in 2016. Since then, I’ve had a soft spot for Press, visiting its locations on the Waterfront in Old Scottsdale and in the Skywater Apartments in Tempe. The number of Press locations has varied over the years, but currently stands at eight, which includes the new roastery. This opened in July last year in north Phoenix, just off SR51, one on the main routes north out of Phoenix.

Although I have a soft spot for Press, I would be hard-pressed to describe its locations as anything other than utilitarian. Not The Roastery, however, which is magnificent, occupying a standalone building with a large outdoor seating area, a mezzanine level above the counter/kitchen and the roastery at the back.

The coffee offering is very familiar: the Twitch blend, single-origin and decaf on espresso, two options on batch brew and up to six single-origins on pour-over through the Kalita Wave. Add to that a selection of tea, beer, wine and spirits, plus a concise all-day food menu and a range of cakes, and you have something for (almost) everyone.

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Pauseteria

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A lovely flat white from Pauseteria, served in a glass on a small, metal tray, and made with an Ethiopian single-origin roasted by Candy Cane.Even in a city like Prague, with its excellent speciality coffee scene, it’s rare to find top quality coffee in the tourist-centric heart of the city. Fortunately, Pauseteria is an exception to this rule, located right in the heart of Prague’s old city, making it a near-essential stop for any coffee lover doing the usual tourist sights. Opening in April 2018, Pauseteria occupies a large, vaulted central room, with a smaller room off to each side.

In keeping with a typical Czech café, there’s full table service (and very attentive it is too), along with an interesting, all-day breakfast/brunch menu, backed up with a wide range of cakes, baked fresh every day. Naturally, there’s a small selection of beer and wine, along with soft drinks and tea. And then, of course, there’s the coffee, drawn from a regularly-rotating group of Czech roasters, with two options on espresso and another on filter, available as either batch brew or through the V60.

Amanda and I liked Pauseteria so much that we visited twice, once for breakfast on a busy Sunday morning, Amanda’s first full day in Prague, and again for coffee and cake on Friday afternoon, our final day in the city.

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Head Shot Coffee, Palackého

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A V60 of a Kenyan single-origin served by Head Shot Coffee in a carafe on a wooden tray, with the cup of the side, along with a glass of water.Head Shot Coffee is a chain of precisely two coffee shops, both of which are in within spitting distance of each other in Prague’s Nové Mĕsto. I escaped to both locations for afternoon coffee during the week I spent working in Prague earlier this year. Of the two, Palackého, which opened in 2017, a year after the original, was the one I favoured. A bright, open space bordering onto the delightful Františkánská Zahrada (Franciscan Gardens), there’s a sheltered courtyard with four outdoor tables, while the L-shaped, window-lined interior has another six tables.

Head Shot uses Prague-based Respekt, supplemented by various guest roasters. During my visit, there was a single-origin Colombian on espresso, served from a standard menu (including iced options), plus pour-over through the V60 and batch brew. Both filter options used the same Kenyan single-origin while I was there, again from Respekt.

If coffee’s not your thing, then in keeping with many Czech coffee shops, there’s a small selection of soft drinks and wine. Meanwhile, if you are hungry, there’s a range of cakes and pastries, which are more aligned to the offerings of a Central European cake shop than a traditional western coffee shop (think cheesecake over brownies).

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Fuglen Asakusa

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A Norwegian waffle, which I had for breakfast at Fuglen Asakusa, topped with a poached egg, spinach, salsa and avocado.Japan’s speciality coffee scene is an interesting blend of homegrown roasters/coffee shops, plus a generous sprinkling of overseas names. Perhaps the most intriguing of these (for me, at least) is Fuglen, the Norwegian design company, which first opened its doors in Oslo in 1963. These days, Fuglen blends vintage design with coffee (daytime) and cocktails (evening) from its Oslo café/bar, a recipe which, since 2012, it has successfully copied in Tokyo, with a small and perpetually busy café/bar in Shibuya.

This was followed, in 2014, by a roastery/coffee shop (since relocated to larger premises) and, in September last year, by a much larger café/bar in Asakusa. Spread over two floors, it opens from first thing in the morning until last thing at night, offering breakfast, lunch, cakes, coffee and cocktails, all within a setting heavily influenced by vintage Norwegian design.

All the coffee’s roasted in-house, with a seasonal single-origin espresso, plus multiple filter options, available as pour-over (through the V60), Aeropress or batch-brew. There’s also a tasting flight, with an espresso, batch-brew and your choice of beans through the Aeropress. I visited twice, once in October 2018, a month after it opened, and a year later in November this year.

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Curio Espresso and Vintage Design

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Details of the sign from outside Curio Espresso and Vintage Design in Kanazawa.I did really well when I visited Kanazawa as part of the first of this year’s two Japanese trips. I’d chosen my hotel largely for its proximity to the castle (which I could see from my window), little realising that it was surrounded by a clutch of excellent coffee shops, one of which, Curio Espresso and Vintage Design, was visible from the other side of the hotel.

I was originally put on to Curio by Happy Cow, a site for finding vegetarian and vegan restaurants, which resulted in my heading to Curio for breakfast on my second day in Kanazawa. I then discovered that it had excellent coffee, serving an espresso-based menu using a bespoke house-blend from Kanazawa roaster Hiroyuki Arinobu of Ally Caffe. There’s also beer and wine for those so inclined.

Run by married couple Sol (Seattle) and Yuko (Kanazawa), Curio Espresso and Vintage Design is a friendly, welcoming place, beloved by locals and visitors alike. The food and coffee have a definite Seattle influence, while the vintage design part of the name (along with the “Curio” of the title) come from the décor, full of vintage items originally bought by Sol and Yuko to furnish their home!

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Unlimited Coffee Bar

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Detail taken from a bag of coffee from Tokyo's Unlimited Coffee Roasters.Unlimited Coffee Bar is almost directly under Tokyo’s famous 643m tall Skytree, which, since 2012, has been Japan’s tallest structure and the world’s tallest tower. Located just across the canal, opposite the Skytree’s southwest corner, it’s an ideal stopping off point for coffee (or lunch/dinner) either before or after taking in the magnificent views across Tokyo from the Skytree’s two observation decks. I’ve visited twice, once during my around the world trip last year, and again earlier this week on my current trip, both times calling in for coffee after a trip up the tower.

In contrast to the soaring tower, Unlimited Coffee Bar, an offshoot of Unlimited Coffee Roasters, is a much more modest affair, at least in terms of its physical extent, occupying the ground floor of a small, three storey building. The unlimited part refers to the coffee, with a selection of five or six single-origins, all roasted in-house, two of which are available on espresso, three on cold brew and all on pour-over via Aeropress, Silverton dripper or V60. Various tasting flights are offered, along with coffee cocktails, while all the beans are available in retail bags. Finally, for somewhere so small, there’s an impressive food menu.

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Brother Hubbard North

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A latte art heart in my cortado, made with the Farmhand house-blend, at Brother Hubbard North in Dublin.I visited Brother Hubbard on my first trip to Dublin in 2014. Back then, it was a relatively small place, with a reputation for excellent food as well as really good coffee. So good, in fact, that after going there for breakfast, I returned for coffee later in the trip. 5½ years on, Brother Hubbard has added a second branch (Brother Hubbard South) while the original, reborn as Brother Hubbard North, has changed beyond (almost) all recognition. It’s now a takeaway joint, coffee shop, retailer and restaurant, with an on-site roastery, Farmhand, thrown in for good measure.

Normally, this would be a Coffee Spot Update, but with all the changes, I’ve gone for a complete re-write, leaving the original as is. These days Brother Hubbard serves a bespoke house-blend from in-house roaster, Farmhand, along with a single-origin on batch brew. There are grab-and-go goodies from the takeaway counter to the left, or you can sit in and enjoy breakfast, brunch or cake with your coffee. Finally, in the evenings, there’s a small but innovative dinner menu five nights a week. The space, by the way, is huge, with a long, thin indoor seating area, outdoor terrace and magnificent dining room.

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First Draft Coffee & Wine

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A lovely flat white in a class white cup on a black saucer, made with an El Mirador single-origin from Guatemala, roasted by Roasted Brown and served at First Draft Coffee & Wine in Dublin.A quiet, residential street in Portobello, south Dublin, is not, at first sight, where you’d expect to find one of Dublin’s top coffee shops. It’s certainly not somewhere I would have found without the tip-off I received from Roasted Brown, whose roastery I (briefly) visited at the start of my current trip to Ireland.

First Draft Coffee & Wine is a fairly small spot, although it’s got as much seating inside as yesterday’s Coffee Spot, 3FE Sussex Terrace, in about a quarter of the space. It pretty much does what it says on the tin, serving coffee in the mornings through to the early evenings (seven or eight o’clock), with a magnificent selection of wine from noon onwards, and a small evening menu after five. There’s also a very tempting selection of cakes and pastries, while you can buy both coffee beans and bottles of wine to take home with you.

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Ozone Coffee Roasters

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A lovely Kenyan Githaka AB Estate V60, roasted and served at Ozone in Shoreditch, the coffee presented on a tray, with a short mug next to the carafe.Ozone Coffee Roasters first opened its doors on Leonard Street in 2012, making it (in the UK at least), as old as the Coffee Spot. That said, Ozone, which started in New Zealand, where it has a roastery and two coffee shops, is approaching its 21st birthday. Back in the UK, Ozone bought fellow roasters, Has Bean, this time last year (although the two still operate as separate brands) and a second coffee shop, this time in Bethnal Green, is opening shortly.

Meanwhile, the original on Leonard Street, a stone’s throw from Old Street roundabout in the heart of Shoreditch, is still going strong, serving excellent coffee and food all day, from breakfast all the way through to dinner. It’s also still roasting in the basement on a 22kg vintage Probat, where there’s additional seating, available from morning to mid-afternoon.

When it comes to the coffee, there are two seasonal espresso blends, Brothers (which goes in milk-based drinks) and Empire (for espressos, long blacks and Americanos) and several single-origins which change on a monthly basis. These can be had on espresso, V60, Aeropress, Syphon and cold brew, with a different one on each. There’s also a daily batch brew.

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