Ox Coffee

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Brian Williams

Ox Coffee is a lovely spot, which I visited on my first-ever trip to Philadelphia, becoming a firm favourite of mine. I try my best to pop in whenever I visit the city, calling in back in February 2016 to see the “new” back room/garden, and again in March 2018 to sample Ox’s coffee after it had started roasting.

With its stripped-back, clean looks, Ox wouldn’t be out of place in either New York or London. It brings to mind New York spots such as Gimme! Coffee or the Bluebird Coffee Shop, as well as London’s White Mulberries. This, by the away, is more of a commentary on the rents: most places in (central) London or New York just can’t afford the sort of floor space I regularly see in Philadelphia outside of the city centre!

Ox has a similarly clean, stripped-back menu, with just a selection of cake to accompany the coffee, which these days is roasted in-house. There’s a blend, Ox Coffee #1, on espresso, and another (Ox Coffee #2; you can see where this is going) on bulk-brew, which is joined by one of two single-origins (a Guatemalan while I was there). Finally, there’s a decaf, from Stumptown.

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Bean & Bud

Posted on June 26, 2014 by Brian Williams

Harrogate’s finest is Bean & Bud, although from the looks of it, Hoxton North could give it a run for its money, if only it wasn’t shut on Mondays (guess who came to visit Harrogate on a Monday?). A few minutes’ walk north of the train station on Commercial Street, Bean & Bud can best be described as bright and bold, the majority of the interior painted a bright red, in contrast to, rather than in sympathy with, the lovely wooden counter and flooring. What isn’t red is white, including the (fairly low) ceiling.

However, the draw of Bean & Bud is the outstanding tea and coffee. While I can’t speak to the tea, Fancy a Cuppa rates it, which is good enough for me. The coffee rotates on a regular basis, changing both beans and roasters with frightening speed. Don’t come back expecting the same cup of coffee you had last week!

The coffee is available as espresso (with varying quantities of milk) or filter (V60, Aeropress or Chemex). The week’s beans are up on the board, the idea being that you have a discussion with the barista about which bean you want and then how to take it.

September 2015: I’m delighted that Bean & Bud was short-listed for this year’s Lunch Business Awards Best Tea Experience.

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Box Kite

Posted on June 5, 2014 by Brian Williams

Box Kite is a relatively new player on the New York coffee scene, occupying a small, cosy spot on St Marks Place in the East Village, two blocks east from old favourite I Am Coffee and just across Tompkins Square from Ninth Street Espresso. Opening on January 1^st this year, Box Kite is, dare I say it, more European-style coffee shop than American, offering coffee and wine in the day, with food in the evening. This is all served with a touch of elegance that reminded me of the likes of London’s Notes and Fernandez & Wells.

Seating is very limited, both in the number of seats and in what’s available. While you can come to Box Kite for a romantic, candle-lit dinner, don’t expect to find yourself sitting at a table, gazing across at your loved one. Seating at Box Kite is strictly at the counter or on stools at one of two very small bars. That said, it’s the ideal place to sit and drink coffee!

I’m indebted to Lee Gaze for recommending Box Kite, which he said was so good he walked two miles in a blizzard to get to it. You can’t get better than that!

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Stumptown West 8th Street

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Brian Williams

Stumptown is, in US coffee circles (and beyond), something of a legend, both as a roaster and as the owner of some iconic coffee shops. On this year’s US trip, I thought it was high time I paid a visit. With branches in its home town of Portland (Oregon, not Maine), Seattle and Los Angeles on the West Coast, but just New York City on the east, the logical choice was NYC.

I made a beeline for Stumptown’s second NYC location on West 8^th Street, just north of Washington Square in Greenwich Village. Open since May 2013, it possesses quite possibly the most handsome interior of any coffee shop I’ve ever seen (although Intelligentsia in the lobby of the High Line Hotel gives it a run for its money). It consists of two connected spaces: a lavishly fitted-out espresso bar on the corner of West 8^th and MacDougal Streets and a smaller, more intimate brew bar, with its own door onto MacDougal Street.

The coffee, as one might expect, is all from Stumptown, with a quite bewildering array of eleven single-origin beans available, along with three blends and two decaf options (one blend and one single-origin). As far as I could tell, all can be had through any of six filter methods, as espresso or cold brew.

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Brew Oxford

Posted on May 22, 2014 by Brian Williams

The biggest issue I had with Brew was finding it. About as far north from the centre of Oxford as Quarter Horse is east of it on the Cowley Road, Brew sits on North Parade Avenue between Banbury and Woodstock Road. Not that Google was having any of it, refusing even to acknowledge that Brew existed (the good news is that Brew’s now made it onto Googlemaps!). In the end, I was indebted to Dan of Zappi’s Bike Café for showing me the way.

Brew, however, is well worth finding. Owned by Drew and Will, the people behind The Keen Bean Coffee Club, Brew is a delightful little space, one of the most beautiful settings for a Coffee Spot that I’ve come across. As the name suggests, Brew’s focus is on filter coffee, rather than espresso, although that doesn’t stop it from having an iconic Elektra cylinder espresso machine gracing its counter-top.

Brew acts as a showcase for local Ue Coffee Roasters, carrying a full range of its beans for sale, three of which are available through the V60 filters on the counter. These rotate on a regular basis, a new bean coming on every six weeks or so.

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Daily Goods London

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Brian Williams

A big motivation for publishing some of my Saturday Supplements on Wednesdays is to get through my backlog of places such as today’s Saturday Short, Daily Goods London. I visited it in January, but, until now, hadn’t found the time/space to squeeze it into the Coffee Spot. This is a shame, since it’s a lovely little place that doesn’t need much squeezing, one which continues my love affair with small Coffee Spots.

Located inside Kinoko Cycles on London’s delightfully-named (and delightful) Golden Square, Daily Goods is another marriage of coffee and cycling that’s quite common these days (eg Oxford’s Zappi’s Bike Café, Shoreditch’s Look Mum No Hands and, just around the corner, Rapha Cycle Club). Unlike the others, which are more akin to coffee shops, Daily Goods is perhaps best described as a coffee counter or concession, occupying a small counter space inside the much large Kinoko Cycles.

Update: Daily Goods has now moved south of the river to Camberwell and its own coffee shop. Full details are on the Daily Goods website.

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Vice Coffee Inc.

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Brian Williams

My (far too short) weekend in Dublin accidentally turned into a very 3FE-dominated affair. As well as 3FE itself, my second stop, Brother Hubbard, uses 3FE and so, as it turns out, does my third stop, Vice Coffee Inc. Or at least it did when I was there: Vice regularly rotates its roasters and, during my visit, 3FE was sharing the grinders with London’s Square Mile.

Vice is a coffee bar situated inside The Twisted Pepper on Middle Abbey Street, just north of the river. Don’t be put off by the exterior, where it looks as if Vice is no more than a small collection of wooden tables in the lobby, served by a La Marzocco espresso machine. I actually walked past once because the La Marzocco was clearly not in use, but the second time I ventured inside and discovered that Vice has actually installed itself in the bar at the back.

Vice serves both espresso, from a Nuova Simonelli behind the counter, and filter coffee through Aeropress or V60 from a little filter station at the opposite end of the counter. There’s also tea from Cardiff’s Waterloo Tea. And cake, of course. And toasted sandwiches.

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The Keen Bean Coffee Club

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Brian Williams

The Keen Bean Coffee Club (aside from possibly having the best-ever name for a Coffee Shop) is just short stroll along Oxford’s Cowley Road from Monday’s Coffee Spot, Quarter Horse Coffee. As well as this close physical proximity, the two coffee shops almost share a birthday, Keen Bean having opened just two weeks before its near neighbour in 2012.

Typical, isn’t it? You wait ages for a decent coffee shop, then two come along at once! A lot like buses…

Keen Bean is one of that new breed, a coffee shop sharing premises with another business, a model pioneered by bookshops. In this respect, it’s like Zappi’s Bike Café, another star of the Oxford coffee scene, although Keen Bean’s inside a record store rather than a bike shop. Whereas Zappi’s was always planned as an integral part of the bike shop, Keen Bean approached the record shop, Truck Store, which was already well-established on the Cowley Road.

Serving coffee from local roasters, Ue Coffee, Keen Bean manages to pack a lot into a relatively small space, with a comprehensive espresso menu, individual pour-over coffee, tea and hot chocolate! Kean Bean is owned by the same people behind the recently-opened Brew.

September 2015: It’s all change on the Cowley Road. I’m aware that Brew no longer owns Kean Bean, which, I believe, is now operated by the Truck Record store itself. I’m hoping to get back for an update at some point…

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Brew Lab: Update

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Brian Williams

Continuing from last week’s update on Wild & Wood Coffee, I present another of my Coffee Spot Updates, this time from my recent trip to Edinburgh. I first visited Brew Lab during my Coffee Spot tour of Edinburgh in December 2012. Back then, Brew Lab had just opened and it had a real impact on me. With its emphasis on filter coffee and various brew methods, each chosen for a specific bean, I felt the sort of sense of confusion when looking at the menu that someone who wants a “white coffee” must experience in a modern coffee shop…

When I returned at the end of April, a mere 16 months later, I was keen to see what had, and hadn’t, changed at Brew Lab. Well, the answer, much as it had been with Wild & Wood, was “very little”. The Slayer was still there, looking very sexy on the counter (although it’s since been replaced by a Black Eagle), Brew Lab was as busy as ever, and the interior still looked as if the decorators had downed tools and walked off mid-job…

However, there have been a couple of significant changes and one of them is quite important…

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Quarter Horse Coffee, Oxford

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Brian Williams

When visiting Oxford, don’t be seduced by the colleges’ gleaming spires in the centre. Oxford is a town that rewards exploring, particularly when it comes to coffee. Head east over the river and, after a short stroll, you’ll find yourself on the lively Cowley Road where there are two outstanding Coffee Spots, The Keen Bean Coffee Club and, just before it on the right, Quarter Horse Coffee.

Set up by co-owners, James and Nathan, Quarter Horse has been serving fine coffee to the Cowley Road for just over 18 months. Arriving at a time when Oxford was in danger of becoming a one-roaster town, Quarter Horse brought London’s Square Mile to Oxford (although it now roasts its own beans). Quarter Horse also started doing filter coffee (bulk brew, betraying Nathan’s American origins, and Aeropress) and continues its coffee education/evangelism with regular events such as monthly cupping classes.

In the same vein, Quarter Horse offers a Flight Test, a chance to taste the same bean as a straight espresso and in milk. I wish more places would offer this as an option since I often try an espresso and then wonder what it would taste like in milk (or vice-versa if I had it as a piccolo).

January 2017: With the move to Birmingham and to roasting its own coffee, the original Quarter House in Oxford has been taken over by Peloton Espresso. Expect an update as soon as I can get back to Oxford!

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Category Archives: Coffee Shops

Ox Coffee

Bean & Bud

Box Kite

Stumptown West 8th Street

Brew Oxford

Daily Goods London

Vice Coffee Inc.

The Keen Bean Coffee Club

Brew Lab: Update

Quarter Horse Coffee, Oxford