Category Archives: Saturday Supplement

A Saturday Supplement is any post that’s not a Coffee Spot

2019 Awards – Best Neighbourhood Coffee Spot

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The Milk Teeth logo from the chalkboard just inside the door at Portland Square.The last of today’s 2019 Coffee Spot Awards shortlists is the “Best Neighbourhood Coffee Spot”. In 2018 this went to Milk Teeth Café & Stores 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.

This Award has quite a wide geographical spread, with the shortlist featuring Coffee Spots from as far as Echo Park in Los Angeles to Kanazawa in Japan, as well as plenty from closer to (my) home, including Walthamstow and Streatham.

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2019 Awards – Coffee Spot with the Best Basement

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Barista skills in action: pouring two Kalita Wave filters simultaneously at Verve Coffee Roasters in Omotesando, Tokyo.Our third shortlist in the 2019 Coffee Spot Awards is the “Coffee Spot with the Best Basement” Award. As regular readers will know, I have a soft spot for Coffee Spots with good basements. In 2018 this went to Verve Omotesando.

To some, a basement is a dark, sometimes dingy, cramped space. However, when they are at their best, basements are cosy, welcoming spaces that provide the perfect spot to curl up with your coffee. This award celebrates those Coffee Spots with outstanding basements, the sort of places you want to go and spend all day in! It also includes those Coffee Spots which, while not technically basements, have that basement-like feel to them.

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2019 Awards – Best Takeaway Coffee

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A lovely espresso made using Electric Coffee Company's Rocket 88 blend at Can Do Coffee on Merchant Square, served in my Kaffeeform cup made from recycled coffee grounds.Our second shortlist in the 2019 Coffee Spot Awards is the “Best Takeaway Coffee” Award, which was won last year by CanDo Coffee, Merchant Square. It recognises those places which, braving the elements, still produce an excellent cup of coffee. This includes coffee carts, coffee stalls, those Coffee Spots which are so small that they only serve takeaway coffee and those Coffee Spots where I regularly get my takeaway coffee (even if they offer a regular sit-in option).

Traditionally, I haven’t featured many takeaway places on the Coffee Spot, but these days, as I travel more for work, I often have to grab a coffee to go during a break in the meeting (always remembering to bring my own cup with me!). As a result, I’m finding lots of great takeaway places out there, serving some really excellent coffee.

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2019 Awards – Most Unlikely Place to Find a Coffee Spot

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The Craving Coffee logo, from the wall of the coffee shop in Tottenham.The first shortlist for the 2019 Coffee Spot Awards is the “Most Unlikely Place to Find a Coffee Spot” Award, won in 2018 by Craving Coffee. Finding Coffee Spots in cities such as New York, Edinburgh or Manchester is to be expected. However, good Coffee Spots are everywhere, some of them are in very unexpected places, both geographically and in terms of setting.

This Award is very much defined by the nominees on the shortlist. Some of these are geographical, a reward for bringing great coffee to unexpected places. Others are a recognition of a great or unusual setting for a Coffee Spot.

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Coffee Spot Awards 2019

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An espresso, made by my Rancilio Silvia espresso machine, in a classic white cup and saucer from Acme & Co., New Zealand, distributed in the UK by Caravan Roastery.Merry Christmas to all my readers old and new! I hope you’re having a great Christmas. As 2019 winds towards its end, it’s once again time for the Coffee Spot Awards, now into their EIGHTH year! It seems only yesterday that my friend Andrew Rilstone suggested the first Coffee Spot Awards. If only I’d have known what I was unleashing back then…

2019 has been another busy year, with plenty of travel, including one almost-around-the-world trip, visiting Coffee Spots across the northern hemisphere (sadly I’ve yet to make it to Australia, but I’m working on it). The annual Coffee Spot Awards provides a chance for me to reflect on all the great places I’ve visited and to give them all some more well-deserved time in the limelight. As usual, there are 20 Awards, the shortlists for each being publishing between now and New Year’s Eve, with the winners being announced on New Year’s Day.

Thanks to everyone who’s visited the Coffee Spot, followed me on Twitter, liked my Facebook page, and looked at my pictures on Instagram. While I do this for the love of coffee, it means a lot to me that so many of you take the time to read and comment on my writing. Without you, it really would be pointless.

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Fortitude Bakehouse

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My 6oz with milk (aka a flat white), made with an Ethiopian Ana Sora, a naturally-processed coffee from Has Bean, served in a glass at Fortitude Bakehouse, London.Fortitude Bakehouse, tucked away in the heart of Bloomsbury behind Russell Square Tube Station, opened in the summer of last year, an event which largely passed me by, perhaps explaining why I left it until the start of this month to pay it a visit. It is, as the name suggests, a bakery, reminding me, in concept at least, of the original Exploding Bakery in Exeter.

There’s a single counter running the entire width of the shop, behind which the bakery bustles away, turning out sourdough sweets and savouries, all of which you’ll find laden on the counter. Even better, at the far end, a Victoria Arduino White Eagle espresso machine dispenses drinks from a concise espresso menu, using a single-origin from Has Bean. Although aimed mostly at the takeaway trade, there’s a small amount of seating inside, while outside on the quiet street, you’ll find six two-person tables.

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Society Café, The Corridor Update

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The mural on the wall of the basement in Society Cafe, The Corridor, in Bath, showing flowers growing in a coffee cup, with a small animal peaking its head out.Last month, Amanda and I paid a brief visit to Bath. After an afternoon exploring the fabulous Roman Baths, we retreated to the nearby Society Café in The Corridor, which I’d last visited just over five years ago, a quite shameful state of affairs that can only partly be blamed on my ridiculous travel schedule.

The second Society Café in Bath, after the original on Kingsmead Square, I found that, in many ways, little had changed, although for the last two years, Society has been using Origin as its house-roaster, rather than Round Hill Roastery (Round Hill still makes regular appearances as a guest). The upstairs had also received something of a makeover, introducing some more seating a giving the décor a little more colour.

However, the main change came when the basement was opened last year, doubling the amount of seating available. Naturally, Amanda and I had to explore.

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The 2019 Sprudgie Awards

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The official Sprudgie Award nomination for the Best Coffee Writing Award.I received an unexpected and very welcome surprise on Friday last week (who says Friday 13th is unlucky?) when the Coffee Spot was nominated for a Sprudgie. A what, I hear (some of) you ask? The Sprudgies are annual awards (decided by popular vote) from Sprudge, the US-based speciality coffee website, known from its mix of news, features and city guides (which I’ve used on my various travels).

The Sprudgie Awards are now into their 11th year. First came the nominations, in November, when Sprudge readers were invited to make suggestions in 12 categories. These were whittled down to eight contenders per category, the shortlists being announced on Friday, when voting opened. Anyone is free to vote (and if you really don’t like any of the shortlists, you can write in your own candidate). I’ve been nominated in the “Best Coffee Writing” category and would be delighted if you’d vote for me!

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The Coffee Spot Christmas Gift Guide 2019

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Rob Reeves settles down to read my book, The Philosophy of Coffee over a cup of coffee, brewed with a stove top espresso machine. Picture (c) Rob Reeves and used with permission.Welcome to the annual Coffee Spot Christmas gift guides. If, like me, everything ends up getting done at the last minute (I like to this it’s because I’m busy, rather than unorganised, but I’ll leave that to you to decide), then here’s some inspiration with an eclectic selection of gifts for your coffee-loving friends/relatives.

The coffee-loving community can be awkward to buy for, particularly if, like me, they’re towards the far end of the coffee-geek spectrum, when any choice runs the risk of being ill-informed. Do you get them coffee? Or coffee-related kit? Or a book about coffee perhaps?

Never fear, the Coffee Spot’s here to help you out, whether you’re a novice, looking for pointers for gifts for your coffee-obsessed friend, or if you’re that coffee-obsessed friend, looking for a handy guide to point your friends towards. There are also some suggestions for presents for your coffee-loving friends at the top of the slippery slope of coffee-geekdom, who just need a helping nudge to begin the headlong descent into the rabbit-hole of speciality coffee.

While this is a Christmas gift guide, feel free to return to it throughout the year. It serves just as well as a birthday/anniversary gift guide…

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Lost Sheep Coffee Update

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Detail from the chipboard box next to the Lost Sheep Coffee Pod in Saint George's Lane, Canterbury.When I first went to Canterbury, in May 2017, Lost Sheep Coffee was already a fixture in the city, having, in 2015, traded in its cart on the High Street for a neat black pod down by the bus station. By the time I returned, an awful lot had changed, starting with the neat black pod, which was no more, having been replaced by a much larger (although still small in the grand scheme of things) pod. In addition, Lost Sheep had started serving in its own coffee from its new roastery in Whitstable.

In fairness to Lost Sheep, had I returned six months after my initial visit, I’d have found both these changes. However, thanks to my extensive travels, it was 2½ years later, at the end of November 2019, that I finally returned to Canterbury, making a beeline for the bus station to check out the “new” pod.

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