Category Archives: Laptop Friendly

Coffee Spots with power, free wifi and/or a tolerant attitude to us laptop users.

Coffee & Fandisha

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A miniature Jebena, the traditional Ethiopian coffee pot, on a table at Liverpool's Coffee & FandishaI must confess, the tag line “where coffee meets popcorn” didn’t initially inspire me. Really? Coffee and popcorn? However, Coffee & Fandisha came highly recommended, and, since I’d made the journey to Liverpool’s Baltic triangle (admittedly only a 15-minute walk from the centre), I thought I’d better go in…

So, what is Coffee & Fandisha? The clue’s in the name, “Fandisha” being Ethiopian for popcorn. It transpires that popcorn’s a traditional element in the Ethiopian coffee ceremony, consumed while waiting for the coffee to stop you getting hungry. Hence, Coffee & Fandisha, “where coffee meets popcorn”.

Coffee & Fandisha’s an interesting mix of Ethiopian tradition, modern third-wave coffee and old-fashioned Liverpudlian hospitality. Occupying a single-storey, open-plan brick building, Coffee & Fandisha’s a cosy, welcoming place. There’s a bespoke blend of Ethiopian coffee on espresso, roasted by London’s Ethiopian Coffee Company and served, naturally enough, with complimentary popcorn.

If you don’t fancy espresso, there’s a single-origin filter (V60/Chemex), the roaster rotating between Neighbourhood Coffee, Casa Espresso or Nude Espresso. There’s also loose-leaf tea, Kokoa Collection hot chocolate, wines and spirits, while if you’re hungry, you can choose from the breakfast, brunch and lunch menus, or feast on the decent cake selection.

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The Crazy Fox

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A drawing of a very smug-looking fox in a circle on a black background, with the words "Coffee Bar" above and "The Crazy Fox" below.Regular readers will know of my love affair with Victorian Arcades. So, imagine the scene. I’m walking through Bristol’s lovely St James Arcade (previously known as The Arcade), connecting the Horsefair with Broadmead. With its high, vaulting, glass ceilings, it’s very beautiful, and I find myself bemoaning the fact that such a glorious arcade isn’t graced with a great coffee shop. And then, what should I come across, but The Crazy Fox?

In fairness, Mark Taylor had given me the heads-up on twitter about The Crazy Fox and I’m sure I recall Girl in Bristol tweeting about it. However, they’d both said it was on Broadmead (which it is), and, for whatever reason, I’d not connected that with the Arcade. Hence my surprise.

The Crazy Fox spreads over two floors, a bright and spacious spot with plenty of seating. As much as I like small Coffee Spots, it’s great to find a Bristol Coffee Spot with plenty of space that isn’t a Boston Tea Party. Serving a house-blend and single-origin on espresso, plus batch-brew filter, all from Bristol’s Roasted Rituals, The Crazy Fox also has Kokoa Collection hot chocolate, soft drinks, bottled beer/cider and wine, plus sandwiches, soup and cake.

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Slate Coffee Roasters, Ballard

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The sign from the window of Slate Coffee Roasters in Seattle: the words 'SLATE COFFEE ROASTERS', one word per lineI wrote about Slate Coffee Roasters last summer: I’d been so impressed with the amazing coffee tasting flight that I wanted to write about it there and then. So I did. Today it’s finally the turn of Slate itself, which occupies a rather unprepossessing building in Ballard, in suburban Seattle. Although from the outside it might not seem like much, it’s worth the trek, since Slate’s possibly the best coffee shop I’ve ever visited (since my visit, two more branches, Pioneer Square and University District, have opened).

It’s also a remarkably small spot. There’s a pair of tables outside, one for either window, and another table at the pavement’s edge, along with a couple of benches. Inside, there’s a pair of window-bars or you can do what I did and perch at either end of the counter on a bar stool.

The real draw is, of course, the coffee, which is all roasted in-house, and served from a pared back menu which puts the focus firmly on the coffee. There’s also a small selection of cakes and savoury snacks. Slate is all about speciality and, in everything it does, it tries to be special, from the coffee to the service.

June 2019: My visit to Slate was one of my personal Coffee Spot highlights. I’m therefore deeply saddened to learn of reports of mistreatment of the staff.

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Playground Coffee

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The front of Playground Coffee, with the door to the right, window to the left and with a table and two chairs in front of the windowThere are a few games cafés dotted around the country, but Bristol’s Playground Coffee is the only one I know of that serves speciality coffee. Similarly, while Bristol has some excellent speciality coffee shops, this is the only one doubling as a games café. And it has swings. You really can’t go wrong when there are swings involved.

With a house espresso blend from local Roasted Rituals and  a regularly-rotating guest, Playground has the speciality side of things nailed. There’s also filter through V60, Aeropress, Chemex and Syphon, with beans from various guest roasters (the clothes line strung above the counter provides a who’s who of roasters which have graced Playground’s grinders). There’s also tea, hot chocolate and a small selection of cake.

I can’t comment on the games, save to say that there seemed to be a good selection on offer to borrow/play. Overall, Playground’s a small, cosy spot with a friendly, quirky atmosphere. This was aided by the lovely Francesca, who’d previously worked for Playground and the likes of Brighton’s Café Coho. She was minding the store for a week while the owners were on holiday in Berlin and it’s clear that they left things in good hands…

December 2016: I popped back to say hello and discovered that Playground now has a drinks licence and stays open until late each evening, serving wine, spirits and its very own coffee-infused gin! It’s also moved over to be a full multi-roaster, with two single-origins on espresso, usually chosen to offer contrasting tastes, from a rotating cast of roasters.

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Iris & June

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A black circle with the words "Iris&June" written in white inside itI’ve been meaning to get to Iris & June for a long time. It had already been on my list for ages when I ran into the owner, Jodie, at the True Artisan Café at last year’s London Coffee Festival. I was so embarrassed, I rashly promised to pay Iris & June a visit. With this year’s London Coffee Festival rapidly approaching, I thought I’d better pull my finger out! The problem is, the area around Victoria Station, where Iris & June calls home, just isn’t somewhere I go very often. So, when some friends suggested meeting up in Pimlico on Monday evening, I seized my chance with both hands!

Iris & June is one of those coffee shops where the focus is just as much on the food as it is on the coffee. However, whereas a lot of coffee shops would be happy with a decent espresso and maybe some batch-brew filter, Iris & June puts as much effort into its coffee as many a dedicated speciality coffee shop. Ozone’s Empire Blend is on espresso, but it’s the pour-over where Iris & June really shines, with three single-origins from Ozone & guests, available as V60, Aeropress or bulk-brew.

July 2020: Iris & June has reopened with pretty much its full service offering. You can see what I made of it when I visited in August.

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Wyndham Tea

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The Waterloo Tea sign, hanging outside Wyndham Tea, Waterloo Tea's branch in Cardiff's Wyndham Arcade.Wyndham Tea is the third of Cardiff’s well-respected Waterloo Tea chain. Most unexpectedly for the Coffee Spot, I’ve actually visited them all in the order that they opened, starting with the original out in Pen Y Lan and continuing with Washington Tea in Penarth. Wyndham Tea is Waterloo Tea’s first foray into the city centre and, pleasing enough, is on the Wyndham Arcade, one arcade down from Uncommon Ground and two down from The Plan.

What you get with Wyndham Tea is everything you’ve come to expect from Waterloo Tea: a fantastic range of over 60 excellent loose-leaf teas, superb coffee (espresso and pour-over) from an ever-changing cast of roasters, fabulous food, all prepared on-site and a range of delicious cakes (now all baked on-site in the kitchen upstairs). All of this is in Waterloo Tea’s classiest setting yet, spread over two floors and spilling out into the arcade itself, where the pink and gold sofas make it hard to miss.

Best of all is that Waterloo Tea has now moved to full table service, reinforcing its notion of a “slow setting”, somewhere where you’re encourage to sit and linger; comfort, with a touch of class.

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No 12 Easton

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Coffee * Provisions * Deli | No 12 | EastonNo 12 Easton is a little off the beaten track, although it’s not that far off the beaten track. On the eastern side of the M32 and a few minutes’ walk from Bristol’s Stapleton Road station, I was first put onto it by twitter’s Bristol Café Watcher. Occupying an interestingly-shaped corner of the High Street, No 12 is a little bit of everything: coffee shop, café, deli, grocer, off-licence and community hang-out space.

If I’m honest, I had my doubts. I’m firmly in the “do a few things and do them well camp” and was worried that the coffee wouldn’t be up to much. However, I should have more faith in Café Watcher: No 12 serves some excellent coffee and, talking to owner Chris, there are aspirations to do a lot more, although perhaps not at No 12 itself.

As it is, No 12 serves a standard espresso-based menu using a cast of rotating roasters. During my visit, Extract was in the hopper, the roastery literally located on the other side of the motorway. There’s a selection of loose-leaf teas (with cups for one, pots for two or more), cake, an innovative hot food menu, and well-stocked deli and grocery counters.

April 2017: No 12 now has a little sibling, 25A Old Market. See what I made of it when I visited in March.

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Exploding Bakery Update

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Excellent Espresso in a Glass from the Exploding Bakery, Exeter.To start at the beginning, Exeter’s Exploding Bakery was always one of my favourite places and made a very early appearance on the Coffee Spot, being just the 20th place that I wrote about after I visited in 2012. Back then it was definitely a bakery that served coffee, with a couple of tables and an espresso machine tucked into a busy, thriving bakery, baristas and bakers sharing the space.

When I ran into the guys from the Exploding Bakery at the Caffè Culture Show in 2015, they excitedly told me about all the changes that they had made, leaving me itching for a return. However, Exeter isn’t somewhere that you casually pass by (not if you live in Guildford, anyway), so it wasn’t until January of this year, when I was on my way down to Torquay, that I had the opportunity to pop in and say hello the new-look Exploding Bakery.

September 2016: The Exploding Bakery has expanded once again, taking over the adjacent unit. You can still sit in the bakery and drink your coffee, but you’ll find the counter and most of the seating one door over to the right.

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Uncommon Ground Coffee Roastery

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The word "Uncommon GROUND COFFEE ROASTERY" written in black inside a white circle on a black background.Uncommon Ground Coffee Roastery is in Cardiff’s Royal Arcade. Dating from 1858, it’s the city’s oldest arcade and is one down from the Morgan Arcade, home of the venerable The Plan, Cardiff’s original speciality-café-in-an-arcade. Mind you, it seems that every arcade has a coffee or tea shop these days. Perhaps the Welsh Assembly passed a new law. Or maybe people have realised that lovely Victorian Arcades deserve lovely coffee shops… Either way, the arcade makes an excellent setting for Uncommon Ground.

Don’t be put off by the name, by the way. Uncommon Ground’s a lovely coffee shop, its interior and layout doing full justice to its elegant surroundings. There is a roaster, or there was when I was there, the original plan being to roast in the back of the store. However, problems with the gas supply led Uncommon Ground to relocate the roasting off-site. With luck, the new roastery should be up and running next month. Until then, the coffee is being roasted by North Star in Leeds. There’s a bespoke espresso blend, plus a couple of single-origins through the V60. If you’re hungry, there’s a good selection of cake and a small selection of sandwiches, Panini and wraps.

August 2017: It took Uncommon Ground a little while longer than expected to get the roastery up and running, but I’m pleased to report that as of April this year, Uncommon Ground is roasting a house-blend on espresso, plus two single-origins on filter, with plans for more to come. I tried the Latumba from the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a V60 and it was excellent.

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The Little Man Coffee Company

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The coffee bean choices chalked up on the board behind the espresso machine at The Little Man Coffee Company in Cardiff (two espresso, two filter).Down past Cardiff’s Catholic Cathedral, at the southern end of Charles Street, is The Little Man Coffee Company. From the name, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a tiny spot, but far from it. Spread over the ground floor and basement (yeah! basement!) of an old bank branch, it’s actually quite large, part of a sudden growth of Cardiff’s fledging speciality coffee scene, which, with one or two exceptions, is concentrated in the city centre. In fact, while only a five-minute walk from the likes of the venerable The Plan, Little Man Coffee represents an eastern outpost of this cluster.

Little Man Coffee joined the fray in October 2014 and from the outset had lofty ambitions, married to the sense of the achievable. A true multi-roaster from the start, Little Man usually offers two beans espresso, another two on filter, buying 10kg at a time from various roasters before then moving on. Although employing a wide variety of roasters, Little Man has a record of supporting local, Welsh roasters, such as the Welsh Coffee Company and Coaltown Coffee Roasters, as well as James Gourmet Coffee (technically in England). While I was there, both filters were from Cardiff-based roaster Lufkin Coffee.

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