First up today, the 2021 Coffee Spot Award shortlist for “Best Roaster/Retailer”, which was won last year by Quarter Horse Coffee Roasters. Initially, this award was only open to retailers, but in 2014, I expanded it to include roasters, who now dominate the award. Contenders have either appeared in the Meet the Roaster series or are cafe/roasters which I’ve visited during the year.

Although the Coffee Spot is mostly about places to have coffee, I still drink the majority of my coffee at home (actually, with the amount of travelling I now do, I’m not so sure this is true…), so those wonderful people who provide me with my coffee beans need a mention. The problem, as with all these awards, is knowing where to draw the line for the shortlist. I’ve visited lots of coffee shops/roasters this year, but I’ve made a decision, by-and-large, to stick to either roasters I’ve written about as roasters or coffee shops where the beans are roasted on site.

Continue reading →

Welcome to the final 2021 Coffee Spot Awards shortlist of the day, the “Best Cake” Award, won in 2020 by Bean & Cole. Despite what it says on the tag line, the Coffee Spot’s not all about the coffee. After all, what would a cup of coffee be without a decent slice of cake to go with it? So, cake plays a major part in the Coffee Spot and this Award celebrates the Coffee Spots which excel in the cake department.

This is another of my favourite Awards and I was treated to some absolutely fantastic cake this year, with a strong showing from various bakery/cafés this year alongside some excellent coffee shop cakes.

Continue reading →

Coffee Spots come in all shapes and sizes, but for some reason I have a real soft spot for small Coffee Spots. Last year the “Smallest Coffee Spot” Award was won by Over Under Coffee, West Brompton.

This year I have once again been blessed by some very small Coffee Spots, serving some very fine coffee. As in previous years, this Award is entirely subjective: no Coffee Spots were measured during the judging process! This is one of the few Awards where I could have filled the shortlist over again: the world seems full of lots of really lovely, small, Coffee Spots. Note that I have excluded places where there’s no physical coffee shop to go inside.

Continue reading →

We’re halfway through the 2021 Coffee Spot Awards, so it must be time for the shortlist for the “Best Espresso” Award, which was won in 2020 by Quarter Horse Coffee. When it comes down to it, I still tend to judge a Coffee Spot by the quality of its espresso. Of course, this is entirely subjective and down to taste. I would never knock a place that made a good espresso just because it wasn’t to my taste.

This award is for those Coffee Spots which served me the best and most memorable espressos of the year. I started the Coffee Spot as a confirmed Italian espresso drinker with my palette evolving and expanding over time. This year I had some very different espressos, leading to this being one of the most hotly contested of this year’s Awards.

Continue reading →

We kick off the third day of the 2021 Coffee Spot Awards with the shortlist for the “Coffee Spot with the Best Outdoor Seating” Award, celebrating all those wonderful Coffee Spots with excellent outdoor seating. This was won last year by Carbon Kopi.

To qualify for this award, it’s not just a case of sticking a couple of tables or chairs on the pavement outside your coffee shop. Too often, what could be a lovely spot is marred by traffic noise, or cramped conditions, or just being in the wrong place. The best outside seating is often away from the road and passing pedestrians and offers shelter from the wind, rain and/or sun (although rarely all three at once!).

Fortunately, there are plenty of Coffee Spots which do exactly that and this is another award that I could have filled many times over, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic has led to many coffee shops improving their outdoor seating.

Continue reading →

The last of today’s 2021 Coffee Spot Awards shortlists is the “Best Saturday Supplement” Award, won in 2020 by Trying Eugenioides at Terremoto. The Saturday Supplement is a place where I can write about coffee, coffee-related events, places which I liked but which didn’t really fit into the category of a Coffee Spot and frankly, anything else that takes my fancy! This Award recognises the best of this year’s Saturday Supplements.

Just so we’re clear on this, the Award is not about my writing (that would be far too self-serving). It’s about the actual subjects that I’m writing about, which this year included coffee (which, despite being the Coffee Spot, I don’t usually write about!), coffee equipment and a coffee book, all of which makes the comparison a little tricky, but that’s my problem!

Continue reading →

Today’s third shortlist is for the “Best Coffee Spot near a Railway Station”, although it should really be called “Best Coffee Spot at or near a Railway Station”, except that was a bit of a mouthful, even for me. This was won in 2020 by Gourmet Coffee Bar & Kitchen, Crewe and rewards those Coffee Spots serving great coffee to travellers on rail networks around the world.

When you’re desperate for good coffee, railway stations are rarely the best places to be. But what if there was a great Coffee Spot just outside the station (or even in the concourse!) or a few minutes’ walk away and you didn’t know about it? Then this award is for you!

This year, for whatever reason, has been particularly good for Coffee Spots near stations, so much so that I could have filled the shortlist two times over, although two thirds of the shortlist is from London, which reflects my limited travel options this year!

Continue reading →

Continuing the Coffee Spot Awards’ second day is the shortlist for the 2021 Coffee Spot Awards, the “Best Filter Coffee” Award, which was won last year by Pair Specialty Coffee & Tea. One of the great journeys that I’ve taken with the Coffee Spot is realising the amazing range of flavours in a good pour-over or batch brew, which has opened my eyes to a whole new world of coffee.

To give you an idea of how far I have come since starting the Coffee Spot, I initially owned a cafetiere and an espresso machine and either drank my coffee at home with milk (cafetiere) or as espresso. Now I have mulitple pour-over filters, a Clever Dripper, an AeroPress, dedicated grinder for filter coffee and a gooseneck kettle. I drink my filter coffee black and if I have to put milk in my coffee to make it drinkable, then I’m drinking the wrong coffee! This award celebrates those Coffee Spots which continue to help me on my journey of discovery.

Continue reading →

Kicking off the second day is the shortlist for the 2021 Coffee Spot Award for “Coffee Spot with the Best Lighting”. This was won last year by Ue Coffee Roasters at The Old Smithy.

Lighting in coffee shops has long held a fascination for me, with most of the galleries containing a shot or two of an interesting light-fitting. This Award celebrates those Coffee Spots with particularly outstanding lighting.

Continue reading →

The last of today’s 2021 Coffee Spot Awards shortlists is the “Best Neighbourhood Coffee Spot”. In 2020 this went to Little Yellow Pig and it celebrates those Coffee Spots which are firmly rooted in, and which serve, their local communities. Unsurprisingly, the shortlist contains some of my favourite Coffee Spots of the year, which are often slightly off the beaten track.

In previous years, this Award has had quite a wide geographical spread, but 2021 saw me staying closer to home. Nevertheless, there’s a strong shortlist this year, with quite a few new coffee shops making their mark.

Continue reading →