Category Archives: Sandwiches

Coffee Spots serving sandwiches and similar options

200 Degrees Coffee Shop

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The award-winning 200 Degrees Coffee Shop in Nottingham, which won the Best Coffee Shop For Out Of Office Working at the 2015 Coffee Stop AwardsI came to Nottingham in 2013 for the Ashes Test Match at Trent Bridge. Back then, a search for good coffee in Nottingham drew a blank. Two years later, I returned, during which time Nottingham had reinvented itself. Leading the way, or so it seems to me, is 200 Degrees, first with its roastery, now with its awesome flagship award-winning café right in the city centre.

“Flagship” is a term that is often misused, but this is a real gem and could easily be a flagship for speciality coffee in Nottinghamshire and perhaps the East Midlands as a whole. Set in the gorgeous surroundings of the Old Flying Horse Inn, it reminds me of The Barista’s, Chester in setting, with its panelled wood and exposed brickwork in the long, low-ceilinged main room. You can also sit outside, where up-turned crates, masquerading as tables, flank either side of the door, watching the trams rumble by.

The coffee, naturally, is roasted in-house at the roastery down by the Trent. On espresso there’s house-blend, guest (blend or single-origin) and decaf, while one of two single-origins is on hand-pour (V60 or Aeropress). You can also buy all the beans to take home with you.

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Quarter Horse Coffee, Birmingham

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The Quarter Horse Coffee logo: a profile of a knight from a chess set, surrounded by an oval with the words "Quarter Horse Coffee" written around the outside.Quarter Horse Coffee opened its Birmingham café/roastery in February 2015, having moved from its original home in Oxford (which is now Peleton Espresso). Located on Bristol Street, a few minutes’ walk south of the centre, it underwent a major remodelling during the summer of 2020, making the most of the enforced shut down due to COVID-19. This saw the roastery, which had been in an open area on the left, enclosed in its own room, while the café on the right expanded its seating, even though the actual space is slightly smaller. This post is all about the café, by the way, while the roastery has its own Meet The Roaster feature.

Bright and spacious, Quarter Horse has a simple, extremely effective décor, being predominantly white, which, along with high ceilings, an uncluttered layout and windows front and back, make it feel even brighter and more spacious than it is. The coffee is all roasted on-site, with the house-blend and a second option on espresso, plus a single-origin on pour-over through the Marco SP9 automated brewers. There’s an all-day light food menu and plenty of cakes, while from Wednesday to Sunday, a full brunch menu is available from 10:00 – 14:00.

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Leyas

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A chalkboard inside Leyas on Camden High Street, offering coffee, breakfast, lunch and cakes.I can see why fellow-blogger Matt (aka The Gladieater) likes Leyas so much. It’s a delightful spot on Camden High Street, within sight of the famous Mornington Crescent tube station. It has an interesting layout, with a split level. This could be a nightmare, but Leyas has used this to great effect: there’s a small group of tables on street level as you come in, then steps lead up to the counter and down to a lovely basement. It reminds me of a smaller, cosier version of the Boston Tea Party on Bristol’s Whiteladies Road.

Leyas regularly rotates its roasters, with a different option on espresso, pour-over (V60) and decaf. Sometimes they are all from the same roaster, and at other times it’s a different roaster for each. While I was there in November, Alchemy was doing the honours on espresso, Nude on pour-over and Square Mile on decaf. On my return in June it was Mission Coffee Works and now it’s the turn of Assembly.

However, Leyas isn’t just coffee. There’s an impressive selection of cakes, a massive range of sandwiches and salads, plus extensive breakfast and lunch menus, the food all made in the kitchen at the back.

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Notes, King’s Cross

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Note's slogan on the wall at King's Cross: Coffee for Early Birds, Wine for Night Owls.Notes was always more than just a coffee shop, mixing coffee by day with wine and small plates of an evening, in surroundings that spoke of elegance. For a while, there was Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden and various coffee barrows. Then, two years ago, along came a roastery and now, within the space of a year, four new stores, with a heavily over-subscribed foray into crowd-funding to fund further expansion (albeit at the expense of Covent Garden and all but one barrow).

King’s Cross/St Pancras, just north of King’s Cross, between Noble Espresso (now Craft Coffee) and Caravan, is the first of the new Notes that I’ve visited (I’ve since between to both the Canary Wharf and Crossrail Place locations). Smaller (and hence more intimate) than the original Notes, you can sit downstairs, opposite the counter, or upstairs in the cosy mezzanine. Alternatively, try the great selection of outdoor seating on the secluded Pancras Square.

With coffee roasted at the nearby Notes Roastery, there’s a single-origin (which changes every couple of months) and decaf on espresso. Another single-origin is on filter, available either as a V60 or bulk-brew. This changes every few days, Notes rotating through its selection of single-origins as each bag runs out.

July 2020: Notes has now reopened, although the upstairs seating is currently closed due to COVID-19. See what I made of it when I visited in August.

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Look Mum No Hands! Mare Street

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A flat white, with lovely latte art, in a classic white bowl cup, with the Look Mum No Hands! logo on the frontSlowly but surely, London Fields, beyond trendy Shoreditch on the commuter lines out of Liverpool Street, is becoming a coffee destination. Long-time home to stalwarts Climpson and Sons on Broadway Market, and more recently, with the roastery under the railway arches, it’s been joined in recent years by Terrone, at Netil Market, and the latest arrival, the well-regarded Silhouette. It’s also where London coffee-and-cycling giants, Look Mum No Hands!, chose to open its second permanent branch on Mare Street.

For those familiar with the original Look Mum No Hands! on Old Street or the South Bank Pop-up (back again for another summer), the branch on Mare Street will hold no surprises, serving up the same winning menu of Square Mile coffee, craft beer, substantial food (when the kitchen’s not closed!) and bikes. There are fewer bikes than at Old Street, the emphasis here slightly more on the coffee, beer and food. There’s also less outside seating, the selection limited to a little bench outside the side door and a pair of picnic tables on the broad pavement out front. However, to compensate for these minor shortcomings, the interior’s even bigger than the substantial Old Street and the pace more relaxed.

January 2016: Look Mum No Hands! has had to close as the landlord has redeveloped the building.

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Pavement Coffeehouse, Gainsborough

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A plain white mug with the words "Pavement Coffeehouse" in black, The logo is completed by a drawing of an arm and hand holding a coffee mug, the arm bent to mimic the curve of the mug's handle.As much as I liked the original Pavement Coffeehouse on Boylston, which I visited last year, in comparison, I adored the Gainsborough branch. Both are in Boston’s Back Bay and are, in fact, just ten minutes’ walk from each other, albeit on different branches of Boston’s Green Line. Along with the equally close Render Coffee, they make the neighbourhood a go-to area for great coffee.

All the Pavements serve Counter Culture coffee. At Gainsborough, different beans, which change every two months or so, are available on espresso, bulk-brew and hand-pour, plus there’s a decaf option too. During my visit, they were all single-origins: a Bolivian Nueva Llusta on both espresso & bulk-brew, with a Kenyan Muthonjo on Aeropress (there’s usually a Chemex option on hand-pour as well), while the decaf was Peruvian.

The food is similar to Boylston: bagels and lunch/breakfast sandwiches, plus salads and cake. However, in terms of layout and atmosphere, Gainsborough and Boylston are like chalk and cheese. While Boylston is long, thin and very hectic, Gainsborough is square (in shape) and much more relaxed. There’s probably not much to choose between the two in size, but Gainsborough feels bigger and is certainly more spacious.

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Tamper Coffee, Westfield Terrace

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A decaf espresso in a classic, black cup (with white interior), served at Tamper's Westfield Terrace branch, Sheffield.The original Tamper Coffee, on Sheffield’s Westfield Terrace, opened three years ago, heralding, along with Upshot Espresso and Marmadukes the arrival of speciality coffee in the Steel City. There’s not much to Westfield Terrace and, while it’s bigger than it looks on the inside, that’s only because it looks really tiny from the street. However, don’t let that put you off. Powered by London-based, Kiwi-inspired roasters, Ozone, Tamper packs in the sort of coffee experience you’d expect at a much larger place.

There are two blends (a bespoke house-blend exclusive to Tamper, plus a guest) on espresso, along with decaf, and a choice of three single-origins. These are offered as an espresso, split shot (single-shot espresso plus piccolo) or hand-brewed filter, available through a variety of methods: V60, Aeropress or Syphon for one/two (as long as it’s not too busy).

If that wasn’t enough, there’s a decent selection of food as well. Although the menu’s necessarily limited (the kitchen, at the back of the store, is in keeping with rest of Tamper, ie, tiny!), it includes breakfast, various lunch options (sandwiches, pies and soup of the day) plus, at weekends, brunch through until three o’clock. And there’s cake too!

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Either/Or

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The sign hanging outside Either/Or in Portland. The words EITHER/Or on a wooden board.

One of the many things I like about Portland’s coffee scene is that it’s not just confined to the centre. There seems to be good coffee all over the city, especially east of the Willamette River. Such is the case with Either/Or, which was not on my original list. However, it was independently recommended to me by baristas from both Case Study Coffee Roasters and Coava Coffee Roasters as the place to go in Portland. Although quite a way south of the centre, it’s not the sort of recommendation you can ignore, so I hopped on the Number 70 bus down to the Sellwood-Moreland neighbourhood.

What I found was a delightful little place that was well worth the trip. Either/Or is something of a rarity in an American market where café/roasters seem to be the established model. It’s a genuine multi-roaster establishment, regularly rotating beans from local roasters Roseline and Heart, plus Seattle’s Kuma Coffee.  Denver’s Huckleberry Roasters and Oregon’s Bespoken Coffee Roasters occasionally make appearances too. While coffee’s clearly the primary focus, with two tasting flights (see Slate Coffee Roasters) on offer, it also helps that Either/Or is one of the nicest spots I’ve been to in a while.

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La Colombe, Fishtown

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A cup of filter coffee from La Colombe's new cafe in Fishtown, Philadelphia, served in one of La Colombe's distinctive cups.Continuing a theme of slightly larger places doing more than just coffee, the Coffee Spot celebrates its return to America with a standout from my previous trip in March. Regular readers will already be aware of my affection for La Colombe, with visits to branches in Philadelphia’s Dilworth Plaza and NYC’s Lafayette Street.

La Colombe is something of a home-grown Philly coffee hero, starting out in Fishtown, an old industrial area north of the centre, where La Colombe still roasts its coffee. Since my first visit in March 2014 and my return a year later, La Colombe has opened a flagship new store in Fishtown itself, converting an old warehouse into a go-to location for breakfast, brunch and, of course, coffee.

It’s a large, rambling, high-ceilinged space with multiple seating options and a rum distillery at the back. And why not? All the food is cooked in an open-plan kitchen behind the counter, reminiscent of Caravan, King’s Cross and Paddington’s KuPP, although unlike those two establishments, La Colombe’s kitchen closes at four o’clock. All the bread’s baked here too!

The coffee is, of course, excellent, with espresso, bulk-brew and hand-pour filter, supplemented by beer and wine. And cake, naturally.

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Café Zee

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The front of Cafe Zee on Ealing's New Broadway. The roaster can be seen at the back through the door.Café Zee is a recent addition to Ealing’s coffee scene, joining such established players as Munson’s and the Electric Coffee Company. It arrived in July 2014, opening a few weeks before Artisan, which is just across the road on the busy New Broadway, a few minutes’ walk from the station.

From the street, the sumptuously-appointed Café Zee catches the eye and it looks even better inside. Inspired by the Art Deco cafés of Latin America, it really does have a beautifully-done interior, the sort of elegance I’m used to seeing in the likes of Notes on St Martin’s Lane or Paris’ Angelina.

The other thing that catches the eye is the bold pronouncements of artisan coffee, roasted on the premises, which, I must admit, threw me a little. This kind of elegance is not something I normally associate with a café-cum-roaster (somewhere like Glasgow’s Papercup Coffee Company more readily springs to mind). However, head right to the back of the café and there you’ll find a modest 6kg Giesen roaster, surrounded by sacks of green beans.

However, there’s a lot more to Café Zee than mere elegance and freshly-roasted coffee, including a pretty decent menu and an exceptional cake selection!

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