Category Archives: Equipment Sales

Coffee Spots which also sell equipment such as grinders, kettles, scales and home espresso machines.

Dispatch Coffee, Le Plateau

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A lovely cortado is a ceramic bowl at Dispatch Coffee on Boulevard Saint Laurent in Montréal.Is it a coffee shop? Show room? Retailer? Actually, Dispatch Coffee is all of these and more. It’s also a coffee truck, or it was. When I first came to Montréal in 2013, several people mentioned a coffee truck (Dispatch), but I didn’t have time to visit. Fast forward 5½ years and Dispatch has a roastery/café in Mile End, a coffee counter at McGill University and a beautiful coffee shop/showroom on Boulevard Saint Laurent, the subject of today’s Coffee Spot.

Dispatch roasts its own coffee, all single-origins, at its Mile End location, emphasising fresh, seasonal coffee, all available to buy in-store. When I visited, there were six different origins, one of which was a decaf. One of these, plus the decaf, is available as espresso, another as batch-brew and any of them can be had through the Aeropress. The espresso and batch-brew options change regularly, the staff putting on two or three bags at a time, then moving on when they’re done. This means that they can easily have two different espressos on each day, although the batch-brew changes more slowly, maybe just once a day. There’s also a small selection of cakes, pastries and pre-prepared salads if you’re hungry.

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Ue Coffee Roasters True Artisan Café & Store

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An Ethiopian Aramo, made through the Chemex, served in one of Ue Coffee Roasters' excellent cups.Today’s Coffee Spot, Ue Coffee Roasters True Artisan Café & Store, in Witney, has the longest name of any coffee shop I’ve visited. Ue is, to my knowledge, the UK’s only wood-fired roaster, a rare breed which includes Speckled Ax in Portland (Maine). I first came across Ue back in 2014, when I visited Oxford for a feature in Caffeine Magazine. Based in nearby Witney, I came out to see the roastery, but back then there wasn’t much of a coffee scene in the town itself.

Fast forward 3+ years and how things have changed. Witney boasts several places worthy of a visit, including Eden Café and Coffeesmith, which were joined, in December 2016, by Ue’s True Artisan Café & Store. Unsurprisingly, the café serves as a showcase for Ue’s considerable output, with a house-blend and guest on espresso, and multiple single-origins (eight while I was there) on filter, through Aeropress, Chemex or V60. There’s also a range of loose-leaf tea from sister company Jeeves & Jericho, with a selection of sausage rolls and cake if you’re hungry. All of the coffee and tea, plus loads of gear, is available to buy, which covers the “store” part of the name.

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Tandem Cafe & Roastery

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A light bulb in the shape of a tandem bicycle from the wall of the Tandem Coffee Roasters Roastery Tandem Coffee has undergone many changes since I first visited its cafe & roastery on Anderson Street in 2015 at the start of my coast-to-coast train journey from Portland (Maine) to Portland (Oregon). Back then, Anderson was just a dirt road, the neighbourhood was very much up-and-coming and Tandem occupied a squat, two-room building, housing both cafe and roastery. These days, the neighbourhood is almost unrecognisable, packed with new shops, restaurants, bars, breweries and, of course, ever-present throughout, there’s Tandem.

The cafe now occupies both rooms, the roastery having moved to a second single-story brick building behind the first. These days, the counter is in the old roastery space, directly ahead as you enter, seating arranged around the walls and at the counter’s far end. Meanwhile, there’s more seating in the second room to your left, while you can also sit outside at a pair of picnic tables. Tandem’s concise espresso menu features a daily single-origin and decaf, while there are two/three single-origins on pour-over through the SP9/V60 (which can be had hot or iced). Alternatively, there’s batch brew, featuring either the Time & Temperature or West End Blues blends, cold brew and tea, plus a small range of cakes/pastries.

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Machina Espresso, Brougham Place

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The window Edinburgh's Machina Espresso, showing off some of the wares, including cups, grinders and espresso machines.Machina Espresso might just be the perfect coffee shop. Set a little back on a wide pavement on Brougham Place in Edinburgh’s west end, it’s not a huge place, with just enough room for a few tables, a counter and multiple displays for coffee equipment. However, there’s an atmosphere about the place that just feels right, a certain calm that even an intransigent toddler (who was swiftly taken home by an indignant parent) couldn’t ruin.

Machina Espresso started life in Lock-up Coffee, a city-centre, weekend pop-up run by Ben Wylie, a barista at the late, much lamented Freemans Coffee. Back then, Machina Espresso was just an equipment supplier, but in November last year it moved into its current premises to become a fully-fledged coffee shop. The equipment is still here: (very) shiny espresso machines from Rocket and Expobar; compact grinders, great cups, tampers, pouring kettles… Everything, in fact, that you need to make great coffee at home.

However, if you can’t wait, Machina Espresso will happily serve you coffee (and cake). During my visit, the espresso was from nearby Steampunk Coffee and London’s Nude Espresso, with three single-origins on filter (all made through the Chemex). Spoilt for choice!

May 2017: Machina Espresso, as well as opening a second shop, is now roasting its own coffee!

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