Category Archives: Saturday Supplement

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

2013 Awards – Best Overseas Coffee Spot

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An espresso, in a classic white cup on a white saucer on a tableThe next shortlist for the 2013 Coffee Spot Awards is the “Best Overseas Coffee Spot” Award. The Coffee Spot spread its wings in 2013 and ventured outside of mainland Britain for the first time. There were trips to North America (Boston, New York City and Montréal) and Paris and great Coffee Spots were found along the way.

Now, I should say that “Best Overseas Coffee Spot” is perhaps a slight misnomer since I have deliberately only included Coffee Spots which weren’t included in shortlists elsewhere. This is perhaps a little arbitrary, but it allows me to spread the love more widely, which, after all, is the whole point of these Awards (and of the Coffee Spot itself).

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2013 Awards – Railway Stations

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An espresso, in a classic white cup on a white saucer on a tableThe next shortlist for the 2013 Coffee Spot Awards is the “Best Coffee Spot near a Railway Station” Award. This Award is new for 2013 and rewards those Coffee Spots serving great coffee to desperate travellers on Britain’s rail network.

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 a few minutes’ walk away and you didn’t know about it? Then this award is for you…

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2013 Awards – Coffee Spot Most Resembling…

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Upstairs at Coffee Bean Central, Plymouth: the espresso eye-viewThe last shortlist for today for the 2013 Coffee Spot Awards is the “Coffee Spot Most Resembling a Coffee Shop” Award. This Award was won in 2012 by Plymouth’s Coffee Bean Central and celebrates those archetypal Coffee Spots that look just how they should look…

Of course, coffee shops come in all shapes and sizes, and there’s more than one archetype, so this award reflects the wide range of coffee shops and all the different styles they represent, with entries from around the UK (Exeter, Coventry, Brighton and London).

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2013 Awards – Best Neighbourhood Coffee Spot

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An espresso, in a classic white cup on a white saucer on a tableThe third shortlist for the 2013 Coffee Spot Awards is the “Best Neighbourhood Coffee Spot” Award. The Award is new for 2013 and 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 2013.

This Award has quite a wide spread, with Coffee Spots from Boston, New York City, Montréal, Newcastle, Gateshead, Gatley (Manchester), London and just down the road from me in Godalming.

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2013 Awards – Most Unlikely Place

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The sign at the entrance to the Abriachan Campsite and CafeThe second shortlist for the 2013 Coffee Spot Awards is the “Most Unlikely Place to Find a Coffee Spot” Award. This was won in 2012 by Abriachan Campsite and Café. Finding Coffee Spots in cities such as London, Edinburgh and Bristol 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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2013 Awards – Where It All Began

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A latte with a fern-leaf motif in the milkThe first shortlist for the 2013 Coffee Spot Awards is the “Where It All Began” Award. This was won in 2012 by Boston Tea Party (Park Street). This award recognises those special places which played a big part in my personal coffee journey, Coffee Spots which inspired me or in some other way defined my coffee experiences.

This might be the last year I run this award since I’ve now visited/written about most of the formative places from my past. I might run it again for 2014 if I make it to Rome! However, this year it’s an interesting collection, with the majority of the shortlist coming from my trip to the USA in March this year.

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Coffee Spot Awards 2013

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An espresso, in a classic white cup on a white saucer on a tableMerry Christmas/Happy New Year to all my followers old and new! I hope you had a time and weren’t flooded out of house and home or had to spend the holidays without power (sadly a common occurrence where I live this year).

So, as 2013 comes to an end and we get 2014 underway, I release that it’s been the first complete year of Brian’s Coffee Spot. It’s time to look back on 2013 with the second Annual Brian’s Coffee Spot Awards. Last year I had 11 Awards, but this year, with so many Coffee Spots out there, I’ve increased it to 20. The shortlists for all 20 Awards were announced between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve, with the winners announced on New Year’s Day.

Anyway, thank you to everyone who has visited the Coffee Spot, followed me on Twitter, liked my Facebook page or +1ed me on Google+. While I do this for the love of it, it means a lot to me that so many of you take the time to read and comment on my writing. And help spread the love for good coffee.

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Coffee Spot Calendar: Last Chance

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An espresso on one of the tables in the garden at the back of the Boston Tea Party, Park Street, BristolA little while ago, I decided to take the plunge and go into the brave world of Coffee Spot merchandising with a Coffee Spot Calendar for 2014. I have to say that I’ve been overwhelmed with the response: I thought that if I could produce 50 of them and break even I’d be happy. As it was, I printed 100 and, as I write this, I have just seven five four two left  sold out! If you still want one, I might be getting some returns and I can always print some more, so do let me know if you are interested.

If you have somehow managed to miss the calendar so far, it’s professionally-printed, A4 in size, with the week starting on Monday. It’s on extra-glossy 235 g/m2 paper and I have to say that I am really pleased with the quality which far exceeded my expectations. However, you don’t have to take my word for it since fellow-blogger, The Coffeisseur, has written a review of it. Each month features a full-sized picture from one of the Coffee Spots I covered in that month. You can see all the pictures and which Coffee Spots have been featured in the gallery below.

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Brown & Green, Crystal Palace Station

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Brown & Green at Crystal Palace StationDespite the explosion of great places around the country, good Coffee Spots at railway stations are something of a rarity, so while on my way to visit (the now defunct) Bambino Coffee in Crystal Palace, I was delighted to chance upon Brown & Green. It’s a lovely little place, tucked into the corner of the equally lovely ticket hall, built back in the days when railway stations were architectural statements in themselves.

Brown & Green plays a couple of important roles. First of all, it’s a place to grab coffee on your way to catch the train. While the coffee won’t have third-wave purists purring with delight, it’s a distinct notch up from the average station fare. Secondly, it’s a (self-styled) coffee-and-brunch neighbourhood café which just happens to be located in a railway station. It’s in this capacity that I visited Brown & Green.

The brunch menu isn’t extensive, but it’s pretty decent and I was impressed. A word of warning though: just be aware that if you are coming for lunch/brunch, the kitchen closes at 14.30 (a perfectly respectable time if you ask me) after which there is only a limited food menu available.

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Rave Coffee Roasters

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Three bags of Rave Coffee, packed and ready to go!Today’s Saturday Supplement is the first in an occasional series called “Meet the Roaster”. I did cover a roaster, Leighton Buzzard’s House of Coffee last year, back when the Coffee Spot was young and the Saturday Supplement wasn’t even a twinkle in my eye. However, since the Coffee Spot’s focus is on places to drink coffee, rather than on how it’s produced, I’ve tended not to cover roasters.

That said, there are many wonderful small roasters out there and every now and then I find myself visiting one. So, I present the first “Meet the Roaster”, none other than Rave Coffee, who we met last month, when the Coffee Spot featured the café attached to Rave’s roastery in Cirencester.

That I went to Rave at all is down to Sharon, head box-packer and promoter-in-chief on twitter. Sharon arranged everything, handing me over to the owner, Rob, on arrival. I had a tour of the roastery, although “tour” might be overstating things: Rave fits nicely into a single industrial unit, going from green beans to bagged, roasted coffee via a series of stations around the room. It’s a little confusing to the untutored eye, but is actually a very smooth operation.

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