Category Archives: Coffee Spot

What type of Coffee Spot it is

Steam Yard

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"Steam YARD coffee co, stay in/take away, FOOD: PASTRIES & DOUGHNUTS"Nothing beats a local recommendation, so when Morrell, head barista at Sheffield’s Tamper, said I should try Steam Yard, literally just down the street from Tamper’s Westfield Terrace branch, I was very tempted. Then I got an e-mail from the owner, Nick, saying I should pop by and that decided it. I mean, it would be rude not to, wouldn’t it?

Steam Yard is located in Aberdeen Court, just off Sheffield’s Division Street, and might be the perfect location for a coffee shop. Aberdeen Court is a fairly small space, lined by two-storey brick-built buildings on three sides, which Steam Yard shares with an alternative clothing store (Rocky Horror) and a tattoo parlour. It’s that kind of place.

You enter Aberdeen Court via a pair of steel gates, tattoo parlour to the right and Rocky Horror on the left. Steam Yard itself occupies the ground floor at the back of the court, with a generous array of outdoor seating, screened off from the rest of the courtyard by a large planter.

As well as a lovely setting, Steam Yard is serious about its coffee, with a house-blend from Yorkshire roasting power-house, Grumpy Mule, and regularly-rotating guests occupying the second grinder.

July 2015: Steam Yard has switched its house-blend to Square Mile.

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Bond Street Coffee

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The coffee menu at Bond Street Coffee, complete with origin, processing method and tasting notes for each of the four coffees on offer (two espresso, two filter).Brighton‘s Bond Street Coffee is the latest venture for old friend of the Coffee Spot, Horsham Coffee Roaster. It was set up towards the end of 2014 with co-owner and manager, Chris, who I first met a couple of years ago when he worked at Coffee@33. I’ve also known Bradley, the man behind Horsham Coffee Roaster, for a similar length of time, so I confess to being slightly biased. However, several people, including the barista at my first stop of the day, Café Coho, and Mike, the manager of The Flying Coffee Bean in Guildford, told me good things about Bond Street Coffee, so I suspect it’s more than just bias on my part.

Bond Street, unsurprisingly, exclusively serves Horsham Coffee Roaster coffee, highlighting and showcasing Bradley’s output. There are two espresso and two filter options, all single-origins, which rotate on a regular basis. While I was there, there was an Ethiopian on both espresso and filter, with a Peruvian as the other espresso option, and a Rwandan on filter, all of which were washed (for the uninitiated, washing is the processing method, whereby the coffee bean is extracted from the coffee cherry). There’s also decaf, although it’s less well advertised.

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Jolliffes (Nest Update)

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A tray full of cupcakes, freshly delivered to Jolliffes in BrightonWhen I first went to Brighton, I came across Nest, a lovely, cosy spot in Brighton’s North Laines. Back then I wrote that Nest was the “sort of place that put the lounge into coffee lounge: a relaxed, chilled-out space where you could easily end up spending all day without quite meaning to”. On my return last month, I was wandering the Laines, as you do, when I thought to myself, “ooh, Nest should be down there”. So down I went, only to discover that Nest was no more and, in its place, was Jolliffes.

The good news, for those of you who liked the original Nest, is that not much has changed from the original concept. It’s still a great place to come and spend time, lounging around with your coffee and cake. The roaster has been changed, from Has Bean to the local Redroaster, but the cakes are still both locally-sourced and excellent.

I was there only three weeks after the new owners took charge, so expect a few more changes to the décor as they spruce things up, but as far as I’m aware, there are no plans for any radical changes.

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Cafe Coho, Queens Road

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The back room at Cafe Coho with the morning sun streaming in through the window.Café Coho is a chain in the strictest sense of the word (there are two of them). Queens Road is the second of the two, very handily placed just a stone’s throw from Brighton Station and around the corner/down the street from the likes of Coffee@33 and Taylor Street Baristas. Despite this stiff competition, it more than holds its own, being a lovely spot, the décor full of brick and wood. As a bonus, on the day I was there, it was flooded with sunshine.

The coffee is from Union Hand-roasted, with a decaf option, but unlike many places in Brighton, there’s no guest roasters or pour-over. There is, however, a comprehensive breakfast/brunch/lunch menu, with a lavish array of cake and pastries. I ‘d only come in for an early-morning coffee before starting a day of café-hopping, but I made the mistake of sitting in the sun-filled room at the back, which is by the stairs down to the kitchen… After a constant stream of breakfasts coming up the stairs (plus harassment on twitter), I finally cracked and ordered poached eggs on toast (I’d have had the Eggs Florentine, but I’d already had one breakfast that day before setting off!).

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Curators Coffee Gallery

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The Curators Coffee sign.I haven’t been to the original Curators in the City. The closest I got was walking past while thinking “wow, that’s small!”. In contrast, the second Curators, Fitzrovia’s Curators Coffee Gallery, is palatial in size. This comparison holds when considering the other Coffee Spots in Fitzrovia, where it vies with the likes of the tiny Mother’s Milk, through the (fairly small) Kaffeine, all the way up to the (not very big) Attendant and Workshop. Curators is so (comparatively) big that there’s a basement, and you all know my opinion of that!

Coffee-wise, Curators more than holds its own, the space giving it the freedom to offer a wide range of coffee. There’s a La Marzocco Strada dispensing the house espresso from Nude, alongside a regularly-rotating guest from various roasters (Nude included). At the other end of the counter, a neat row of Chemex (assuming the plural of Chemex is Chemex) awaits the call, each with its own scales and brass pouring kettle. There’s a choice of two filters, again from various roasters, with Nude and Square Mile predominating, ground by an EK43, modestly kept in a purpose-built niche amongst the shelves of coffee kit on the wall behind the counter.

February 2016: I’ve now (finally) rectified my oversight and visited Curators Coffee Studio, the original Curators.

March 2019: Sadly Curators Coffee Gallery has closed its doors for good. It will be sadly missed.

September 2019: Good news! Kiss the Hippo has opened its second branch on the old Curators’ site! You can see what I made of it when I visited a month after it opened.

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Ants Pants

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The text "Ants Pants Cafe" over the date the cafe was established: 2004In the grand scheme of Philadelphia’s suddenly booming speciality coffee scene, Ant’s Pants is something of a wizened old establishment, having been around since 2004 (although even that pales into insignificance compared to the likes of Anthony’s Coffee House). It proudly states its Aussie inspiration, going as far as to use Toby’s Estate coffee (Aussie-owned, Brooklyn roasted).

The Aussie heritage also shines through in the emphasis on food; breakfast is served all day (well, until closing time, which is four o’clock) and there’s table service, a novelty in American coffee shops. This puts it more on a par with an American diner, particularly with the emphasis on the food, albeit with better coffee than your average diner.

If all this is too much for you, Ants Pants is conveniently split into two, the front part being much more traditional coffee shop, with a four-seat window bar and the counter down the right-hand side. The second part is at the back, down a short corridor past the kitchen, where you’ll find all the tables (notwithstanding the pair out on the sidewalk).

Except that by the time you read this, there’ll also be an outdoor greenhouse at the back with more seating…

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Ground Coffee, Kemp Town

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The word "ground" with the "g" and "d" replaced by portafilters.On my first visit to Brighton, I made it all the way to Hove to visit its branch of Ground, the second branch of this local chain (if chain is the correct term for somewhere with just two branches). However, I failed to get east of the centre and so it was only on my return that I finally managed to track down the original Ground in the delightful Kemp Town. After all that, I’m pleased to say it was well worth the wait!

Compared to the Hove branch, the original Ground is quite a bit smaller, and, as a result, much more intimate. It also benefits from being on a south-facing corner, so, unlike its Hove counterpart, it’s flooded with light on a sunny day.

There’s a relatively straight-forward espresso-based menu, complimented by bulk-brew filter and tea from Canton Tea Co. A decent range of cake is joined by toast and a selection of three sandwiches for the more savoury-minded. Currently the coffee is from Union, with North Star guesting on filter, but all that is about to change, with Ground due to move over to North Star for all its coffee as a prelude to roasting its own.

January 2016: Ground has now started roasting its own coffee under the name Pharmacie.

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Bluestone Lane, Manhattan

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A flat white from Bluestone Lane in a classic grey cup, with tulip motif latte art.Since my last visit to America, I’ve been spending a lot of time at Beany Green in Paddington, where many flat whites have been consumed. So, after a week in America without a decent flat white (and, in general, without even a sniff of one), I finally had to admit defeat. So, one snowy Saturday morning, I headed downtown to very nearly the tip of Manhattan, to seek out Bluestone Lane, a self-professed Aussie coffee shop.

The first task was to find Bluestone Lane, since while the address is 30 Broad Street, the actual entrance is on New Street, a narrow lane south of Wall Street, squeezed between Broad Street and the even broader Broadway. However, once you’ve found it and gone through the correct set of (three) doors, you find yourself in a little slice (with the emphasis on little) of Australian coffee heaven.

There are flat whites and long blacks on the menu (plus bulk-brew for American sensibilities), with the likes of avocado on toast, banana bread and toast with vegemite, plus Lamingtons in the cake selection. The coffee’s all the way from San Francisco’s Sightglass, which I guess is at least on the way to Australia!

April 2018: Bluestone Lane has now spread across America, with a series of coffee shops and brunch-style cafes, as well as roasting its own coffee. See what I made of the Rittenhouse Square cafe in Philadelphia when I visited last month.

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Climpson and Sons Café

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The front of the Climpson and Sons Café, with the recessed door offset to the right and with wooden benches on the pavement in front of the windows.Located between Cambridge Heath and London Fields stations on the suburban line out of Liverpool Street, and just a stone’s through from the Climpson and Sons roastery (at Climpson’s Arch), the Climpson and Sons Café on Broadway Market is a lovely little spot. The most sensible approach is from London Fields Station, from where you can head directly across the open, green space that is London Fields, heading south until you hit Broadway Market, a delightful street of local shops, cafes and restaurants, several of which spill out onto the pavements. Trust me, this is a much more picturesque approach than wandering the streets from Cambridge Heath…

Coming from London Fields, you’ll find Climpson and Sons a few doors down on the right. It’s not a huge spot, roughly square in layout, with the counter taking up the back third of the store, the front two-thirds given over to seating. Unsurprisingly serving Climpson and Sons beans on espresso and filter, there’s also a comprehensive range of beans for sale. A decent cake selection is joined by breakfast and lunch menus until three o’clock. Impressively, given how busy it is, Climpson and Sons still manages to serve food at the weekends.

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Rival Bros Coffee Bar

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Two bare-chested men, dressed as old-fashioned pugilists, but each holding a large coffee cup in their hands.On my first visit to Philadelphia in 2014, I missed Rival Bros who, back then, were a roastery with a growing reputation and a coffee truck that wasn’t open at weekends. Naturally, I was there for the weekend. Two months later, having waited until I was safely out of town, Rival Bros opened its first (and so far only) shop on the corner of 24th and Lombard Streets.

It’s a brick-built building in a residential part of south Philadelphia, on the end of a row of two-/three-storey terrace houses. In many ways the setting, on a sunny March afternoon, couldn’t be lovelier. The exterior brickwork is painted grey and white, while the interior has white-washed walls with dark grey woodwork and ceiling. Windows, glass doors and plenty of lights make it a wonderful, bright spot.

The focus is firmly on the coffee, allowing Rival Bros to showcase its output. There’s a blend (Whistle & Cuss), single-origin (Ethiopian) and decaf on espresso, the Revolver blend (which I’ve previously had as espresso) on bulk-brew and a choice of four single-origins through the Chemex. If you’re hungry, there’s a small range of bread-based goodies, including toast and toasted sandwiches, plus cake, of course.

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